{"id":758283,"date":"2026-07-12T09:20:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T09:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/758283\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T09:20:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T09:20:18","slug":"how-emma-cannon-impacts-the-los-angeles-sparks-beyond-stats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/758283\/","title":{"rendered":"How Emma Cannon impacts the Los Angeles Sparks beyond stats"},"content":{"rendered":"

When a coach claims \u201cthere\u2019s no better person to have on your team,\u201d the assumption might be that they\u2019re referring to the player averaging 20-plus points per game, a perennial All-Star or a rookie with mountains of potential. But when Los Angeles Sparks head coach Lynne Roberts said that at a Sparks practice in June, she was referring to reserve forward Emma Cannon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s an incredible person,\u201d Roberts said at a practice in July. \u201cI love coaching her. I love having her on the floor.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cannon, who Roberts referred to as \u201cteam-first,\u201d has only played in eight games this season and is averaging fewer than five points per game. On paper, she\u2019s an unlikely recipient of this compliment. But watching only a few minutes of a Sparks game, it\u2019s evident why.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She leads the bench players\u2019 pregame huddle, hyping up her teammates and doing a dance with a massive grin on her face. She\u2019s the first player off the bench at a timeout or to celebrate a 3-pointer. She sits in the chair directly next to the coaches, a spot typically reserved for the most recent player to exit the game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever Emma hangs up the high tops, she needs to coach, and she\u2019ll be a phenomenal coach,\u201d Roberts told reporters after the team\u2019s July 8 win over the Indiana Fever. \u201cShe understands her role. She\u2019s all about the Sparks and all about doing whatever she can to help us win, whether she plays or not. She\u2019s the same, and every day in practice, she\u2019s the same. The respect I have for her, I really can\u2019t say it enough. \u2026 She\u2019s definitely a huge part of the fabric of this team.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since going undrafted in 2011, Cannon has played on 23 different rosters, moving nearly every year. She has played internationally in Germany, Israel, Australia, Russia, Poland, Turkey, and China. She made her WNBA debut with the Phoenix Mercury in 2017 and has since played for the Las Vegas Aces, Connecticut Sun, Indiana Fever, and now Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

Cannon\u2019s journey in professional basketball has shaped her in a lot of ways. She previously published words of wisdom<\/a> for undrafted players online, and now, as a key veteran leader for the Sparks, she\u2019s sharing those in person.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdversity will hit at some point; it\u2019s just about what you do when it happens, and how you attack it,\u201d Cannon told The IX. \u201cLosses are losses, but there are also positives in losses. You can always learn from your mistakes, so that you don\u2019t make them again.\u201d<\/p>\n

During her first stint with the Mercury, Cannon became close with Diana Taurasi<\/a>, whom she credits as one of the veterans who really made her feel at home and taught her what it meant to lead. <\/p>\n

\u201cDiana Taurasi was my number one vet when I came into the league,\u201d Cannon said. \u201cJust watching her work\u00a0ethic, and how she just came in every day and put the work in, and even with her being who she was, she never missed a day.\u201d<\/p>\n

She says current teammate Kelsey Plum<\/a> has a similar mentality.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Cannon\u2019s current presence on Los Angeles\u2019 roster speaks volumes to her impact on the team. Although the season hasn\u2019t gone the Sparks\u2019 way, and they\u2019ve faced injuries and roster instability, they\u2019ve stood by a 37-year-old bench player despite only being allowed to roster 12 players. <\/p>\n

When Cannon does get minutes, she makes the most of them. Roberts joked that Cannon has \u201cnever met a three she doesn\u2019t like,\u201d as evidenced by her numbers. In the 45 minutes Cannon has played this season, she\u2019s taken 21 shots, 14 of them being threes. This averages out to 9.5 3-point attempts per 40 minutes<\/a>. She\u2019s making them at a 57% clip and, among all players, ranks ninth in the league<\/a> in points per play with 1.28.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On the floor, Cannon has the calm presence of a veteran player who isn\u2019t rattled by getting a few minutes at a time or only entering the game to give someone a quick breather. <\/p>\n

Cannon\u2019s opportunities for playing time have only increased in the last month. After Cameron Brink<\/a> suffered an ankle injury in mid-June with an unclear timetable to return, Roberts noted that Cannon\u2019s size and 3-point shooting would be useful for Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

In Los Angeles\u2019 first game after Brink was injured, Cannon scored 5 points in four minutes against the Minnesota Lynx on June 17. Roberts referred to her performance as one of the few \u201cbright spots\u201d of the evening.<\/p>\n

\u201cEmma came in ready,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cShe talks on defense, she sets hard screens, she executes, so I think she earned opportunity,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s what you do: when you get a chance, make it count. And she did.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Friday night\u2019s matchup against the Chicago Sky, Cannon entered a tie game in the third quarter and promptly hit a three to take the lead, much to the delight of the Sparks bench. A minute later, sporting her signature grin, she scored again. Then again, at the start of the fourth quarter, to bring the lead back to five. She finished the game with 9 points and four rebounds \u2014 three on the offensive end \u2014 in 13 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cEmma Cannon was great. So proud of her,\u201d Roberts said after the game.<\/p>\n

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Cannon isn\u2019t taking the limited playing time to heart, but rather taking advantage of every moment she gets to be on the court, something she encourages other reserve players to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would just say, just always come in and do your work,\u201d Cannon Said. \u201cWork hard, because you really truly never know when your number is being called. You don\u2019t always have to be a starter to make an impact on the team, and that\u2019s something that I\u2019m big on. I know that I\u2019m a leader on this team, and I know a lot of people come to me if they need anything, but at the end of the day, I know I put the work in.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Off the court, Cannon is a mom of three. Her twins, Sage and Suede, were born last April, right before the season kicked off. They joined her at media day, one in each arm, at one month old. Her older son, Dior, is four. To Cannon, being a mom is separate from her approach to being a valuable teammate. When it comes to her children, she tries to ensure they see \u201cthat Mommy is always happy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s necessarily changed me or anything,\u201d Cannon said. \u201cBut it\u2019s worth more, because I do have children that are watching me. They see me do everything, and they want to be like me, and I think that\u2019s amazing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Her teammate Erica Wheeler<\/a>, who also played with her in Indiana, disagrees, describing Cannon as a softie, who\u2019s a good person to cry to.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s very encouraging,\u201d Wheeler told The IX. \u201cShe sees someone drop their head; she\u2019ll be the first one to go pick them up because that\u2019s just who she is. And also she\u2019s a mom, so it\u2019s just a natural thing when somebody is sad or anything or not even feeling good, her energy is always good, so she tries to pick you up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cannon also said that her dad calls her a butterfly because of her ability to \u201ccommunicate and get along with a lot of people.\u201d She says she\u2019s been like this her whole life, equating her leadership capabilities to her general aura of happiness.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI know my teammates very well,\u201d Cannon said. \u201cI come in every day with a positive mindset, positive attitude. I love this game, so I try to put in everything that I can. \u2026 I don\u2019t want to boost my ego. I believe I am a great person at the end of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Wheeler agrees that Cannon is trusted by her teammates, building relationships through her ability to connect on a personal level.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe has that human side, that feelings side that a lot of people just don\u2019t get to show,\u201d Wheeler said. \u201cEmma is one of those people that you can cry, you can laugh with her, you can tell her your deepest secrets. She\u2019s gonna, she\u2019s gonna, she\u2019s gonna hold it down.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Wheeler also noted that Cannon\u2019s work ethic helps her endear herself to teammates and coaches.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re putting in your work, you\u2019re gonna gain my respect anyways because that means you love the game, you respect the game, and you\u2019re trying to do whatever it is to be your best self to help the team,\u201d Wheeler said. \u201cAnd she\u2019s doing that every day.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cannon acknowledges that she\u2019s experienced her fair share of hardship in her career. The volatility of moving from overseas to the WNBA and back again (and again, and again). That whiplash requires an immense level of commitment, dedication, and mental fortitude. A few years ago, she also lost her mom, who she says was a major inspiration and resource for her.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mom passed away three years ago, and that\u2019s something that she loved: me playing basketball,\u201d Cannon said. \u201cShe loved watching me play, so anytime that I\u2019m able to do it, I want to make sure that I\u2019m making her proud.<\/p>\n

No matter how her amount of playing time increases or decreases as the season progresses, Cannon is focused on accomplishing one goal: staying true to herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether I play or I don\u2019t play, [the goal] is that I never change,\u201d she said. \u201cThat I\u2019m still solid for every person that comes to me that needs me, and that I show up and make sure that today is the best day.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When a coach claims \u201cthere\u2019s no better person to have on your team,\u201d the assumption might be that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":758284,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[49427,3029,5483,99,434],"class_list":["post-758283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-emma-cannon","tag-los-angeles-sparks","tag-lynne-roberts","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758283","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=758283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/758284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=758283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=758283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=758283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}