{"id":859889,"date":"2026-09-25T06:54:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T06:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/859889\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T06:54:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T06:54:10","slug":"nneka-ogwumike-records-double-double-in-final-game-as-sparks-lose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/859889\/","title":{"rendered":"Nneka Ogwumike records double-double in final game as Sparks lose"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Sparks<\/a>\u2019 season was mere seconds away from ending on a high note. Then, the Golden State Valkyries scored 13 consecutive points late in the fourth quarter to dissolve a double-digits Sparks lead.<\/p>\n

Sparks star Nneka Ogwumike<\/a> concluded her WNBA career with 17 points and 15 rebounds in the 76-75 loss<\/a> to the Valkyries. Her double-double was her 19th this season, which set a Sparks single-season record.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re all bummed by the ending,\u201d Sparks coach Lynne Roberts said. \u201cBut I think it was a special night to celebrate [Nneka]. You saw how those fans adore her, so for her to get that moment and really get the spotlight and the flowers is really special. We all wanted to get the win for her, for us, but tonight\u2019s just about her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Immediately after the game, the Sparks announced that they would name their new practice facility<\/a> in El Segundo after Ogwumike, who retires as the Sparks\u2019 all-time leading scorer. Team president Stacy Johns, who took over in April, presented the newly named \u201cNneka Ogwumike Player Sanctuary\u201d proofs while the 15-year veteran had tears in her eyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted that for you guys, I wanted that for my teammates,\u201d she said, addressing the crowd. \u201cBut I wouldn\u2019t go down any other way, which is competing hard here in L.A. against some great competition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Golden State (32-12) secured the No. 2 seed in the WNBA playoffs with the win.<\/p>\n

The loss itself mattered little. The Sparks (16-28) were eliminated from postseason contention nearly a month ago after beginning with championship aspirations. In one of their most disappointing seasons to date because of the expectations attached, the Sparks go into the offseason trying to put the pieces together again.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of hard to think about after a loss,\u201d said Rae Burrell when asked how she processed this season. \u201cIt\u2019s not really at the top of my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ogwumike, who missed a free throw on a technical foul against the Valkyries with seconds remaining on Thursday, joked with the crowd after that she should have made the shot before beginning to address her career.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s just a testament to who she is,\u201d Burrell said of Ogwumike.<\/p>\n

This year marked their sixth consecutive season missing the playoffs and 10 years since they last won a WNBA title.<\/p>\n

What went wrong began before the team set foot on the court in May.<\/p>\n

The Sparks essentially tried to skip the rebuilding part of a rebuild, and then almost everything that could go wrong with that plan did.<\/p>\n

The Sparks have spent several years rebuilding since missing the playoffs in 2021. Rather than continuing to accumulate young talent around their lone lottery picks, Cameron Brink and Rickea Jackson, they decided they were ready to accelerate.<\/p>\n

But the acceleration didn\u2019t work, and the Sparks finished with the second-worst defense in the WNBA.<\/p>\n

They brought back Ogwumike, signed veteran point guard Erica Wheeler, extended Dearica Hamby and traded for Ariel Atkins to support Kelsey Plum, entering her second year with the franchise after they traded for her from Las Vegas. The idea was to surround the young core with veterans and immediately become competitive.<\/p>\n

Plum was supposed to be the offensive engine. Early in the season, the plan actually looked plausible: the Sparks were 7-5 with Plum and 1-3 without her before her second major injury. She had already missed three games with an ankle injury before suffering the lower-leg injury. They then traded her to Phoenix.<\/p>\n

There wasn\u2019t a true second star alongside Plum, nor was there wasn\u2019t enough high-level perimeter creation, and they sacrificed some of their young assets to assemble a veteran-heavy team that still wasn\u2019t good enough to contend.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m proud of our culture in terms of these guys play their asses off,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cI think that\u2019s the first thing you need to look at when you\u2019re evaluating how you did as a coach, is how did your team compete? There was so much change and injuries, but am I satisfied? No, but you can only control what you can control.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sparks also desperately needed Brink to become the defensive backbone of the team.<\/p>\n

Instead, she missed a significant portion of the season while the team was simultaneously trying to fix the league\u2019s worst defense from 2025.<\/p>\n

Roberts noted that injuries prevented the Sparks from picking up any momentum during the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had two tough years of injuries, and I\u2019m not trying to blame anything on that,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s just the reality. You know, there has been a lot of change.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked if she believes she should return as the Sparks head coach next season, coach Lynne Roberts said yes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think what this org needs is some stability, and a vision and a direction, like a plan,\u201d she said. \u201cNot that we haven\u2019t had one, but I think now that we\u2019ve got people in place, just give us a goalpost, and we\u2019ll march down the field in that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sparks have two lottery picks thanks to the Plum trade and their dismal place in the standings, but they have a lot to do to make the playoffs next season. They have Atkins, Wheeler and Hamby still under contract. Rae Burrell is a restricted free agent.<\/p>\n

With a new general manager in Ariana Andonian, the Sparks are facing an offseason of resetting \u2014 again, without Ogwumike \u2014 but at least with some assets.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s already things that I wish I could go back and change or tweak or whatever,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cBut the moment I stop doing that, I need to retire.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Sparks\u2019 season was mere seconds away from ending on a high note. Then, the Golden State Valkyries…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":859890,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[36413,9209,48944,144006,10504,362998,362999,8229,4385,14861,15652,14763,31878,23629,99,1599,434],"class_list":["post-859889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ankle-injury","tag-ariel-atkins","tag-dearica-hamby","tag-final-game","tag-kelsey-plum","tag-lackluster-season","tag-lone-lottery","tag-loss","tag-nneka-ogwumike","tag-place","tag-plan","tag-playoff","tag-spark","tag-sparks","tag-sports","tag-team","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859889","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=859889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859889\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/859890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=859889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=859889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=859889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}