{"id":804613,"date":"2026-08-06T12:56:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T12:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/804613\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T12:56:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T12:56:12","slug":"nneka-ogwumike-says-she-isnt-giving-up-on-sparks-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/804613\/","title":{"rendered":"Nneka Ogwumike says she isn’t giving up on Sparks’ season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aug. 6, 2026 4 AM PT <\/p>\n

CHICAGO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0If you ask those with the Sparks<\/a> day-to-day operations, not a ton has changed since they sent Kelsey Plum to Phoenix<\/a> at the trade deadline.<\/p>\n

Externally, the move to trade away one of the league\u2019s top scorers is seen as waving the white flag on yet another disappointing season<\/a>. To Nneka Ogwumike<\/a>, it\u2019s just part of the business of the WNBA and she is still hoping for a chance to compete for the league\u2019s final playoff seed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just locking in and staying focused on being able to manage the variables of a season,\u201d she said ahead of the team\u2019s loss to Sky in Chicago<\/a> on Wednesday. \u201cI\u2019ve been doing this a long time, so nothing that\u2019s happened has really surprised me per se. Maybe in the context of this season, yeah, a few things have. But being professionals, coming out, understanding as we did last game, that no matter what, like a game has to be played, so you might as well win.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sparks were supposed to be back in playoff contention<\/a> this season after bringing in Ogwumike, Ariel Atkins and Erica Wheeler<\/a>. Instead, they are six games behind Washington for the eighth playoff spot after a six-game losing streak ahead of the trade deadline that was finally snapped with a win at Portland on Sunday. A loss to Sky on Wednesday night didn\u2019t help.<\/p>\n

The Sparks ownership group fired general manager Raegan Pebley in mid-July<\/a>, seemingly changing direction near the deadline. Shortly after, Plum informed the team she wouldn\u2019t return after her contract expires this season. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s also different when someone feels like they maybe want to fit somewhere else,\u201d Ogwumike said. \u201cI\u2019ve been in situations where it was unexpected for everyone. It wasn\u2019t so unexpected for us. We want her to be happy. We want her to be healthy, so I think that there\u2019s a bit of comfort for everyone knowing that, and also being able to get it done in a way where I feel like everybody\u2019s OK with it. It breathes a little bit of life into the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Head coach Lynne Roberts noted that since the Sparks have been without Plum<\/a> since June 24 with a lower left leg injury, they had already adjusted to what life would be like without her on the court for the rest of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would have been more of an adjustment to add her back,\u201d she said. \u201cSo we are just building on what we\u2019ve been doing the last month.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sparks got good value for Plum in guard Monique Akoa Makani and a first-round pick in this year\u2019s draft that, like their own, is likely to be a lottery pick.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe can play the one and the two,\u201d Roberts said of Akoa Makani. \u201cShe\u2019s comfortable with both of those. What I like is that it\u2019ll take some pressure off of Ariel and (Wheeler). They\u2019re playing too many minutes, but Makani\u2019s a tremendous defender, and (she brings) her on-ball ball screen defenses, her analytics, it\u2019s elite. So that would be a huge boon for us. She was a starting point guard for a team in the WNBA Finals last year as a rookie. She\u2019s a talent, so she\u2019s going to fit in quickly and easily.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The Sparks Nneka Ogwumike claps hands with Rae Burrell against the New York Liberty on July 28.<\/p>\n

(Katelyn Mulcahy \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

If the Sparks don\u2019t make the playoffs, they will likely pick sixth overall, since the WNBA weighs results of two combined seasons to come up with the odds. They would have an outside shot at the first overall pick, where USC star Juju Watkins<\/a> is expected to be the top pick should she choose not to return to school for another college season.<\/p>\n

Ogwumike didn\u2019t seem ready to declare the season lost, even while acknowledging that things have gone wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been playing better,\u201d she said. \u201cWe want to be able to turn that into some kind of streak.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aug. 6, 2026 4 AM PT CHICAGO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0If you ask those with the Sparks day-to-day operations, not a ton…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":804614,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[9209,341704,10504,17591,6452,8229,4385,18223,5190,10265,23629,99,1599,6533,6601,434],"class_list":["post-804613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ariel-atkins","tag-guard-monique-akoa-makani","tag-kelsey-plum","tag-last-game","tag-league","tag-loss","tag-nneka-ogwumike","tag-portland","tag-season","tag-sky","tag-sparks","tag-sports","tag-team","tag-trade-deadline","tag-wednesday","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804613","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=804613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/804614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=804613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=804613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=804613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}