There’s a lot at stake as the Sparks sit three games outside of the playoffs at the midway point of the season.
If the 8-14 Sparks don’t improve in the second half of the season, they will miss the playoffs for a franchise record fifth consecutive season.
If they don’t reach the postseason, the Sparks will have nothing to show for it.
The team has already traded away its 2026 first-round pick to the Seattle Storm, which currently has the second-best odds at becoming the No. 1 pick due to the team’s current two-year cumulative record.
Despite a 1-4 start, the Sparks did end the first half of the season by winning two games in a row for the first time this season. The Sparks beat the Connecticut Sun 92-88 on July 13 and beat the Washington Mystics 99-80 on July 15. The Sparks shot 53.5% against the Mystics.
The organization is 22 games into Sparks head coach Lynne Roberts’ tenure after going 8-32 last season and making a coaching change.
“The shooting percentages that we’ve had the last couple of games, that’s a direct correlation of shot quality, the shots you have taken and that’s the huge emphasis of what we’re trying to do,” Roberts said after the team’s last game. “I’m proud of us. I’m proud of these guys for sticking with the process because it’s hard. Adversity is hard and it challenges you and it shows you what you’re really made of and we’re not done, but I do feel like to your point, things are starting to click.”
Sparks All-Star guard Kelsey Plum is averaging 20.1 points (third in the league) and 5.8 assists (sixth in the league). Sparks forward Dearica Hamby is averaging 17.2 points (11th in the league), 7.5 rebounds (10th in the league), 3.7 assists and 1.9 steals (second in the league). Sparks forward Azurá Stevens is averaging a career-high 14.7 points and 8.7 rebounds (3rd in the league) on 50.4% shooting from the and 40.6% shooting from 3-point range. Sparks forward Rickea Jackson is averaging 13.1 points.
That quartet is averaging 65.1 of the team’s 83.2 points, which is 78.2% of the team’s scoring output. The Sparks bench is only averaging 12.5 points, which is the worst among the league’s 13 teams.
“I think it’s just time together,” Roberts said. “I came in asking them to play in a way they have never played, a lot of them, and it just takes time. That’s why I’m grateful that they have bought in and they’re giving us everything that they have.”
BRINK APPROACHING A RETURN
The Sparks are patiently awaiting the return of forward Cameron Brink, the team’s No. 2 selection in last year’s draft. Brink is the final piece to the rotation that Roberts said she envisioned before the season. However, the 6-foot-4 defensive stalwart has not played since tearing her ACL and meniscus in June 2024. She has been ramping up her rehabilitation process at recent practices, including playing 5-on-5 against the team’s male practice players before the All-Star break. Brink’s reintegration could be a big boost for a team that scores a competitive 83.2 points per game (sixth in the league) but has allowed 86.9 points per game, which is 12th out of 13 teams.
The Sparks (3-8 at home, 5-6 on the road in the first half of the season) have been inconsistent at best. The team’s best wins came against the Golden State Valkyries in the season opener on May 23, the Las Vegas Aces on June 11, the Indiana Fever on June 26 and July 5 (Caitlin Clark did not play in either game) and the Washington Mystics on July 15. The team’s lack of wins against the top five teams in the league — the Minnesota Lynx, New York Liberty, Phoenix Mercury, Seattle Storm and Atlanta Dream — is concerning because eight of the team’s last 22 games are against those upper-echelon opponents.
The Sparks will begin the second half of the season with three games on the road against the Washington Mystics (Tuesday), Connecticut Sun (Thursday) and New York Liberty (Saturday). Two of those teams, Washington and New York, are ahead of the Sparks in the league standings. Only six of the team’s final 22 games are against non-playoff teams, which means the Sparks will have to begin earning signature wins against teams above if they want a realistic chance at making the postseason. The regular season ends on September 11, just eight weeks away.
