{"id":455914,"date":"2026-02-08T07:01:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T07:01:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/455914\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T07:01:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T07:01:19","slug":"an-inside-look-at-how-3-sparks-rookies-are-adapting-to-wnba-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/455914\/","title":{"rendered":"An inside look at how 3 Sparks rookies are adapting to WNBA life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Well before fans stream into Crypto.com Arena for the Sparks<\/a>\u2019 rematch against the Phoenix Mercury, Sarah Ashlee Barker<\/a> is on the court two and a half hours early. The first out of the tunnel, as she\u2019s been all season, she fires off jump shots with a stone-faced expression.<\/p>\n

Thrown unexpectedly into a starting role as a rookie, Barker\u2019s rise in the WNBA<\/a> has outpaced even her own expectations. Amid a season riddled with injuries, the Sparks have leaned on their first-round pick. <\/p>\n

On this day, Barker was trying to adjust to a new role coming off the bench after forcing some plays that hindered the team\u2019s success.<\/p>\n

Life for a rookie in the WNBA demands adaptability. <\/p>\n

An uncommon sight across the league, the Sparks kept all three of their recent draft picks on the roster. They are former college standouts who earned conference honors, with one winning a national championship. But they face far greater physicality, speed and overall grit in the WNBA.<\/p>\n

\"Sparks <\/p>\n

Sparks guard Sarah Ashlee Barker, right, drives to the basket against Golden State Valkyries guard Julie Vanloo on May 6.<\/p>\n

(Jeff Chiu \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

For Barker, the jump to the WNBA has been grueling. In a short time, she\u2019s faced some of the league\u2019s top players \u2014 Chelsea Gray<\/a>, Nneka Ogwumike<\/a>, Rhyne Howard<\/a>. At times, she\u2019s held her own. But there are also moments when she\u2019s looked every bit like a rookie.<\/p>\n

When Sparks coach Lynne Roberts<\/a> first told Barker she\u2019d be starting, the message was short and direct: \u201cHey kiddo, you\u2019re going to be starting. I believe in you. I have confidence in you. I trust you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThose matchups are tough,\u201d Roberts acknowledged. \u201cThat\u2019s throwing a rookie in the deep end, but I do think she was ready for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barker was soon shifted to the bench to \u201ctake some pressure off,\u201d but it didn\u2019t last long. The injury-plagued Sparks needed her to start again.<\/p>\n

Back in the starting lineup, she delivered her best stat line of the season: 12 points and seven rebounds in 34 minutes during a loss to the Seattle Storm on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

She continues to bounce in and out of the starting lineup, depending on the team\u2019s needs. Barker credits veterans on the team, especially from Kelsey Plum<\/a>, for helping her adapt.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s been a leader to me pretty much since I got to L.A.,\u201d Barker said. \u201cShe has so much experience, so I listen to everything she says.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Barker arrived in L.A., she joined Plum\u2019s intense workouts \u2014 a challenge that left her breathless but determined, Roberts said. At practice, Plum takes a hands-on approach, guiding Barker through defensive shifts and assignments.<\/p>\n

Off the court, Plum\u2019s is just as involved. In a now-viral clip<\/a>, Plum revealed Barker had played through training camp wearing an \u201cold\u201d pair of Sabrina Ionescu<\/a>\u2019s signature shoes \u2014 \u201ca disaster,\u201d Plum joked. That led Plum to contact Ionescu, who sent Barker six new pairs.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s always telling me just to have fun too with the game,\u201d Barker said. \u201cBut being able to have that presence and being able to teach me in any way, it does mean a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

A lower-profile journey \"Sania <\/p>\n

Sania Feagin, right, poses for a photo with WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert after being selected 21st overall by the Sparks in the WNBA draft in April.<\/p>\n

(Pamela Smith \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Sparks second-round pick Sania Feagin<\/a> has seen little game action. For Feagin, this isn\u2019t uncharted territory.<\/p>\n

Despite being the nation\u2019s No. 1 high school forward and a five-star recruit, she had to wait her turn as a freshman at South Carolina behind some of the country\u2019s top talent, including Aliyah Boston, Laeticia Amihere and Victaria Saxton.<\/p>\n

Facing a logjam of talent, much like her current situation with the Sparks, Feagin didn\u2019t start until her junior year and didn\u2019t become a regular in the Gamecocks\u2019 rotation until her senior season. Just as she did in college, Feagin is using time on the sideline to observe, learn and prepare \u2014 knowing that when her name is called, she doesn\u2019t want to squander the minutes she gets.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew it was going to be different,\u201d Feagin said of her rookie year. \u201cBut since I am in the same boat, I can\u2019t do nothing but to learn to trust the process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Feagin has only spoken once with Roberts about earning more minutes. Roberts encouraged her to keep learning and assured her that things would eventually fall into place. She has repeatedly said Feagin is working her way into the rotation and believes she\u2019ll be a starter in the league one day.<\/p>\n

For now, Roberts knows Feagin is itching to play, which makes keeping her engaged and motivated during this waiting period a delicate balancing act.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t want them to be OK with not playing,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cThey have to understand that they don\u2019t control when I put them in, but when you do get put in, you control how ready you are. \u2026 Those are the conversations we\u2019ve had with her. And of course, she wants to play. … She\u2019s staying ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just before training camp cuts, general manager Raegan Pebley and Roberts told Feagin she had made the team \u2014 and made sure she understood how rare that was for a second-round pick.<\/p>\n

Trying to stay on roster \"Sparks <\/p>\n

Sparks guard Liatu King shoots over Minnesota\u2019s Maria Kliundikova during a game on June 14.<\/p>\n

(Matt Krohn \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The odds of landing a roster spot are stacked heavily against a third-round pick. One of just three currently on a WNBA active roster, forward Liatu King<\/a>\u2019s rookie season has been nothing short of a whirlwind.<\/p>\n

The former Pitt and Notre Dame star was selected by Sparks with their final draft pick and spent the next month battling for a roster spot during training camp. When final cuts were revealed, King found herself on the outside looking in \u2014 waived and boarding a flight back to South Bend, Ind.<\/p>\n

For many, getting cut is a tough pill to swallow. But King chose not to dwell on the disappointment. Instead, she returned to Notre Dame and got back in the gym with coach Carlos Knox.<\/p>\n

Pebley and Roberts gave King specific areas to work on \u2014 feedback she took seriously. And Pebley told her to stay by the phone.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe said this league is so crazy, anything can happen,\u201d King said of Pebley. \u201cShe was true to that. People get hurt. People have to go places. The unknown is always happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

King\u2019s phone rang a week and a half later. The Sparks were already down a key contributor after Rae Burrell injured her knee in the season opener. Then Rickea Jackson suffered a concussion in the next game and entered protocol, leaving the team in urgent need of reinforcements.<\/p>\n

The first call went to King, who signed a rest-of-season hardship waiver contract. The turnaround from waived to role player came even faster than from draftee to cut.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been surreal, to be honest, and I didn\u2019t know it would happen that quickly,\u201d King said of her Sparks debut, when she played 13 minutes. \u201cI Ubered to Chicago [from South Bend, Ind.]. Then I flew from Chicago to LAX, and then the same day, we [flew] … to Phoenix to play the Mercury the next day. I was literally in three different time zones.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unfazed, King said Roberts told her she\u2019d be playing at the three-spot in place of Jackson and Burrell. Her quick insertion into the rotation, she says, \u201cis just a testament to always being ready, always keeping close connections.\u201d<\/p>\n

An unclear future<\/p>\n

Roster moves in the WNBA come with a heavy dose of uncertainty \u2014 and for rookies, that volatility is even sharper. With the WNBA All-Star break less than a month away, nearly half of this year\u2019s rookie class (42%) have already been released from teams across the league. Of those, some were initially cut and re-signed, like King, or were picked up by other teams.<\/p>\n

Now, King is one of the 22 rookies still active on a WNBA roster and currently in the rotation. But her future remains in limbo. With only 12 coveted roster spots and several sidelined players expected to return, the Sparks\u2019 front office will soon have to decide which hardship signees will be dismissed.<\/p>\n

Julie Allemand is expected back from EuroBasket in late June. It\u2019s unclear when Odyssey Sims, out for personal reasons, will return. Cameron Brink, who suffered a torn ACL last season, had targeted a return around the all-star break. The biggest factor affecting King\u2019s spot is Burrell\u2019s potential return. She was injured May 17 and expected to miss six to eight weeks, making her comeback possible between late June and mid-July.<\/p>\n

King has done enough to earn praise from teammates and coaches, with Roberts saying \u201cshe has earned my trust, because I know when she goes out there, she will give me everything she has.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next few months will serve as a long-term tryout for King to prove her worth, not just to the Sparks, but to teams around the league.<\/p>\n

Like King, teammate Emma Cannon faced similar challenges nearly a decade earlier. Undrafted out of Florida Southern, she spent six years bouncing around overseas \u2014 in Australia, Germany and Russia \u2014 before finally making her WNBA debut at 28 with the Phoenix Mercury.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s super hard, especially when at that time, it was only 144 spots and you\u2019re trying to get one,\u201d Cannon said, noting the league\u2019s notoriously limited roster spots.<\/p>\n

With King in particular, Cannon sees a reflection of her own journey, having been waived and signed to hardship contracts multiple times throughout her career. When King was let go, Cannon was one of the first to reach out.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been in Liatu\u2019s shoes before,\u201d Cannon said. \u201cI wanted her to know that just because one door closed, doesn\u2019t mean that another one won\u2019t open. I told her to make sure that she stays confident in what her abilities are, that she continues to work hard. \u2026 Look, we called her right back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cannon relates to each of the rookies, having walked their paths at different points in her career. She started at the bottom, coming off the bench with limited minutes, averaging just 13 per game as a rookie.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust that first year, it was super nerve-wracking, I\u2019m not gonna lie,\u201d Cannon said. \u201cYou finally get to where you wanted, and it\u2019s here \u2014 and you just want to make sure you do everything in your power to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cannon recognizes the daily grind and small victories that are keeping the trio on the roster. She sees Barker embracing an unexpected starting role, Feagin staying ready and making the most of limited minutes and King clawing her way back from being waived to logging meaningful time.<\/p>\n

Only three rookies \u2014 Paige Bueckers, Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen \u2014 have more starts than Barker this season.<\/p>\n

Barker admits the start to her pro basketball career has \u201cdefinitely been a lot,\u201d but says she\u2019s found ways to stayed grounded. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve learned to be where your feet are, be exactly where you are in the moment,\u201d Barker said. \u201cThat\u2019s the mindset I need to be in, because if you make it just about basketball 24\/7, it will kind of overtake you.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Well before fans stream into Crypto.com Arena for the Sparks\u2019 rematch against the Phoenix Mercury, Sarah Ashlee Barker…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":455915,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[213114,213116,213115,10504,6452,213113,5483,38913,10505,15509,5190,213117,23629,99,1599,434],"class_list":["post-455914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-barker","tag-cannon","tag-feagin","tag-kelsey-plum","tag-league","tag-liatu-king","tag-lynne-roberts","tag-minute","tag-rae-burrell","tag-rookie","tag-season","tag-spark-rookie","tag-sparks","tag-sports","tag-team","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455914","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=455914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}