There\u2019s a lot at stake as the Sparks sit three games outside of the playoffs at the midway point of the season.<\/p>\n
If the 8-14 Sparks don\u2019t improve in the second half of the season, they will miss the playoffs for a franchise record fifth consecutive season.<\/p>\n
If they don\u2019t reach the postseason, the Sparks will have nothing to show for it.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s current two-year cumulative record.<\/p>\n
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<\/a> on July 13 and beat the Washington Mystics 99-80<\/a> on July 15. The Sparks shot 53.5% against the Mystics.<\/p>\n The organization is 22 games into Sparks head coach Lynne Roberts\u2019 tenure after going 8-32 last season and making a coaching change.<\/p>\n \u201cThe shooting percentages that we\u2019ve had the last couple of games, that\u2019s a direct correlation of shot quality, the shots you have taken and that\u2019s the huge emphasis of what we\u2019re trying to do,\u201d Roberts said after the team\u2019s last game. \u201cI\u2019m proud of us. I\u2019m proud of these guys for sticking with the process because it\u2019s hard. Adversity is hard and it challenges you and it shows you what you\u2019re really made of and we\u2019re not done, but I do feel like to your point, things are starting to click.\u201d<\/p>\n 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 Azur\u00e1 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.<\/p>\n That quartet is averaging 65.1 of the team\u2019s 83.2 points, which is 78.2% of the team\u2019s scoring output. The Sparks bench is only averaging 12.5 points, which is the worst among the league\u2019s 13 teams.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s just time together,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cI came in asking them to play in a way they have never played, a lot of them, and it just takes time. That\u2019s why I\u2019m grateful that they have bought in and they\u2019re giving us everything that they have.\u201d<\/p>\n BRINK APPROACHING A RETURN 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\u2019s 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\u2019s lack of wins against the top five teams in the league \u2014 the Minnesota Lynx, New York Liberty, Phoenix Mercury, Seattle Storm and Atlanta Dream \u2014 is concerning because eight of the team\u2019s last 22 games are against those upper-echelon opponents.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n Originally Published: July 21, 2025 at 5:45 PM PDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s a lot at stake as the Sparks sit three games outside of the playoffs at the midway…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27537,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[2356,23758,3031,13489,3029,99,434],"class_list":["post-27536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-california","tag-la-sparks","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-county","tag-los-angeles-sparks","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThe Sparks are patiently awaiting the return of forward Cameron Brink, the team\u2019s No. 2 selection<\/a> in last year\u2019s 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<\/a> in June 2024. She has been ramping up her rehabilitation process at recent practices, including playing 5-on-5 against the team\u2019s male practice players before the All-Star break. Brink\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n