{"id":63772,"date":"2025-08-12T10:48:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T10:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/63772\/"},"modified":"2025-08-12T10:48:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T10:48:07","slug":"sparks-coach-defends-kelsey-plum-from-dirty-player-claims-amid-suspension-calls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/63772\/","title":{"rendered":"Sparks coach defends Kelsey Plum from \u2018dirty player\u2019 claims amid suspension calls"},"content":{"rendered":"

The post Sparks coach defends Kelsey Plum from \u2018dirty player\u2019 claims amid suspension calls<\/a> appeared first on ClutchPoints<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Los Angeles Sparks<\/a> are trying to make a late push to qualify for the playoffs. Kelsey Plum<\/a> and company have won nine of their last 11 games, including a victory over the Seattle Storm, 94-91, on Sunday.<\/p>\n

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The Sparks are in ninth place with a 15-16 record<\/a>. The Storm and the Golden State Valkyries are not too far ahead with 16-16 and 15-15 cards, respectively. The Valkyries are playing the Connecticut Sun, as of writing.<\/p>\n

Amid the jockeying for position for the playoffs, the game between Los Angeles and Golden State on Saturday got heated. With only four minutes left in the fourth quarter, and the Valkyries comfortably ahead, Plum tripped Veronica Burton was whistled for a flagrant foul. The Sparks lost the contest, 72-59.<\/p>\n

Burton and her teammates took exception to Plum\u2019s action. Fans, meanwhile, urged the WNBA to suspend the four-time All-Star and former Sixth Woman of the Year.<\/p>\n

Sparks coach Lynne Roberts, however, stressed that the 30-year-old playmaker wasn\u2019t trying to hurt<\/a> Burton.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe flagrant, she was trying to kick the ball. She didn\u2019t mean to\u2014I didn\u2019t see the replay, but I saw it live, and I know she didn\u2019t mean anything by it. She\u2019s not a dirty player,\u201d said Roberts in a report from Sports Illustrated\u2019s Joey Linn.<\/p>\n

Plum, who won two titles with the Las Vegas Aces, is one of the fieriest competitors in the league. Even the All-Star Game is very serious for her<\/a>. Her flagrant foul, however, didn\u2019t sit well with many, deeming it a deliberate move.<\/p>\n

The WNBA has not meted out a sanction for Plum.<\/p>\n

She was shipped to the Sparks via a three-team trade in the offseason after an alleged clash with Aces coach Becky Hammon. She\u2019s averaging team-highs of 19.8 points and 6.1 assists on top of 3.2 rebounds and 1.2 steals.<\/p>\n

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Los Angeles will battle the New York Liberty on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Related: Kelsey Plum reveals \u2018growth moment\u2019 after thrilling win vs. Storm<\/a><\/p>\n

Related: Valkyries\u2019 Veronica Burton reacts to Sparks star Kelsey Plum\u2019s flagrant foul<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The post Sparks coach defends Kelsey Plum from \u2018dirty player\u2019 claims amid suspension calls appeared first on ClutchPoints.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63773,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,3458,40996,18088,1612,631,3460,1522,632,25560,3457,1611,82,35344,25737,630],"class_list":["post-63772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-connecticut-sun","tag-flagrant-foul","tag-golden-state","tag-golden-state-valkyries","tag-kelsey-plum","tag-las-vegas-aces","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-sparks","tag-lynne-roberts","tag-new-york-liberty","tag-seattle-storm","tag-sports","tag-the-sparks","tag-veronica-burton","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}