{"id":668423,"date":"2026-05-27T17:04:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T17:04:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/668423\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T17:04:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T17:04:20","slug":"the-wnbas-top-scorer-just-went-down-and-other-players-will-have-to-step-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/668423\/","title":{"rendered":"The WNBA\u2019s top scorer just went down, and other players will have to step up"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kelsey Plum sprained her ankle at practice on Tuesday afternoon, the Los Angeles Sparks announced. She will be re-evaluated in one week, which means she\u2019ll miss at least three games, if not more than that. The Sparks are scheduled to face the Washington Mystics<\/a>, Connecticut Sun<\/a>, and Las Vegas Aces over the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

Now, they\u2019ll have to get through those games without their best player \u2014 and one of the best players in the WNBA as a whole.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Plum has been the WNBA\u2019s leading scorer so far, averaging 26.8 points per game. She\u2019s shooting 58.9% from the field and 48.8% from three through the season\u2019s first 6 games, while also averaging 6.3 assists per game, the 5th-most in the league.<\/p>\n

The Sparks, meanwhile, are 3-3, winners of three of their last four games after starting the year 0-3.<\/p>\n

But, Plum\u2019s absence throws a wrench in things. The roster\u2019s other guards \u2014 Rae Burell, Ariel Atkins<\/a>, Erica Wheeler<\/a>, Chance Gray, Ta\u2019Niya Latson \u2014 will have the opportunities to step up, but none of those players bring Plum\u2019s scoring prowess to the table.<\/p>\n

Wheeler will have to play a particularly important role as a playmaker; the 35-year-old veteran is currently averaging 5.5 points and 4.8 assists in 27 minutes per game, but will likely see the ball in her hands more with Plum sidelined.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Dearica Hamby<\/a>, Nneka Ogwumike<\/a> will also need to step up <\/p>\n

The Sparks will also need more from their second and third-leading scorers, Dearica Hamby and Nneka Ogwumike. Hamby is averaging 18.5 points and 8.2 rebounds per game, while Ogwumike is averaging 15.6 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. In the wake of Plum\u2019s absence, both will have to stuff the stat sheet.<\/p>\n

One positive for the Sparks? Cameron Brink<\/a> is beginning to play some of her basketball. Brink tore her ACL a few months after being drafted second overall in 2024, but began the season fully healthy and has been increasingly impactful.<\/p>\n

She was great in Saturday\u2019s 101-95 Sparks win over the Las Vegas Aces, tallying 16 points on 7-11 shooting to go along with a steal and a block. That was her fourth double-digit scoring game in five outings. While Brink plays an entirely different role than Plum on the court, with the All-Star guard sidelined, her offensive contributions become even more important.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

The good news for Los Angeles<\/a> is that an ankle sprain is not a long-term concern, and Plum should be back in action sooner rather than later. But, they\u2019ll have to find ways to survive the absence of one of the league\u2019s most formidable scorers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kelsey Plum sprained her ankle at practice on Tuesday afternoon, the Los Angeles Sparks announced. She will be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":668424,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[9209,5041,4384,48944,14401,10504,4677,3031,3029,4385,99,80663,8253,434],"class_list":["post-668423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ariel-atkins","tag-cameron-brink","tag-connecticut-sun","tag-dearica-hamby","tag-erica-wheeler","tag-kelsey-plum","tag-las-vegas-aces","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-sparks","tag-nneka-ogwumike","tag-sports","tag-the-sparks","tag-washington-mystics","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668423","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=668423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/668424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=668423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=668423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=668423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}