Five games into the 2024 WNBA season, the Los Angeles Sparks have seen great individual performances and broken attendance records, but the results haven’t been there. They’ve lost four games, only beating the winless Washington Mystics.
Here’s an update on the good, bad and ugly in Los Angeles.
The good
The Sparks’ lottery picks have been playing stupendously. No. 2 pick Cameron Brink finished with a new career high of 21 points against the Dallas Wings on Sunday, and No. 4 pick Rickea Jackson is averaging 11.3 points per game and regularly leads the bench in scoring.
Los Angeles has a lot of work to do to become a contender, but these two rookies are part of a bright future. Watching them play is a joy, and the win-loss column results almost become irrelevant as long as they get heavy minutes so they can grow and develop as fast as possible.
The bad
Los Angeles has a bench problem.
Only Jackson has been consistent, and besides her, it’s slim pickings in terms of who you can rely on to play well for an extended period of time. Sparks head coach Curt Miller has begun to get more liberal with his minutes, doling out extended time to Li Yueru and Zia Cooke in hopes of finding some other positive contributors. However, it’s still a big question mark on who, if anyone,…
