With Nneka Ogwumike in Seattle, who will emerge as the team’s leader on offense and defense? That’s just one question the franchise faces as it looks toward the future.
The Sparks have several questions surrounding this year’s team, including who will replace Nneka Ogwumike as the team’s leading scorer, will rookie forwards Cameron Brink and Rickea Jackson be a part of the organization’s long-term “core four” and will an up-tempo style of play result in the franchise’s first winning season since 2020.
“Certainly a team without a bonafide superstar so we’re going to see a lot of team basketball,” Sparks coach Curt Miller said. “We’re going to be best when we’re sharing it, unselfish, not playing through one person. I look forward to seeing who steps up. There are a lot of really good pros in our locker room that have been complementary pieces, not they have a chance to be even more prominent roles.
“I love how we’re going to be underappreciated and undervalued and I look forward to how all of that comes together, that chip on the shoulder, it’s almost an us-against-everybody mentality because we’re going to be undervalued.”
The Sparks are rebuilding around the 6-foot-4 Brink and Jackson, the No. 2 and No. 4 picks in the 2024 draft, respectively, who the team’s front office believes can be the foundational centerpieces of the team’s transition to modern basketball, where every player on the roster can shoot effectively from 3-point range and the team’s top six players could be starters on any team across the WNBA.
“Realistically, I’m a rookie so I expect to have those ups and downs but it’s all about managing it,” Jackson said after Tuesday’s practice at the team’s training facility at El Camino College. “I’m looking to have fun. I’m looking for us to win and be competitive and I’m looking for us to shock a lot of people.”
Sparks guard Lexie Brown believes the rookies can help the team push the pace.
“We want to have a lot of spacing, we want to have a lot of shooting and we want to run and Cam can do all of those things and Rickea is also coming (along) and starting to get a little bit more comfortable being more aggressive and confident in herself but at the end of the day, we just want to run,” Brown said. “We want to be a hard team to play against. We want people to pull up to L.A. and be like ugh we have to run with these girls. We want to get after it defensively as well.”
However, if the Sparks want to improve on last season’s 17-23 record, in which they missed the playoffs for the third straight season, at least one or two players on the roster must emerge as All-Star-caliber players.
