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Los Angeles Sparks star Cameron Brink has enjoyed a mostly smooth recovery process since suffering a torn ACL last June, but as with any injury rehab, there’s been some bumps along the way.
Brink was named to the Lunar Owls squad in the 3-on-3 women’s startup basketball league, Unrivaled, ahead of its inaugural season that kicked off this January. The former No. 2 pick of the 2024 WNBA draft has been seen shooting the ball during practices while wearing a leg brace but will sit out her first season in Unrivaled.
While Brink has still made herself available to reporters for team media sessions, one interaction left a particularly sour taste in her mouth.
“I was doing some media for press when I was in Miami for Unrivaled and three different reporters asked me if I was playing,” Brink said on her new podcast, Straight to Cam with Sydel Curry-Lee. “And honestly, looking back on it, I’m very sensitive. This has been the hardest thing I’ve ever had to go through, and so just being prompted like that especially when I don’t feel like it’s on my own terms to talk about, I just get very emotional about it.
“The reporter asked me, ‘So what specifically are you able to do? And like, why are you here, basically?’ And I just sat there and I kind of lost it.”
Brink explained that she understood why it would be confusing to some people that she was taking a roster spot on the Lunar Owls despite being physically unable to play. Even so, she seemed to expect a higher level of tact from reporters asking about her recovery from a brutal season-ending injury.
“To be clear, I think people just don’t realize that ACLs take nine to 12 months,” continued Brink. “Anytime someone asks me about it in that kind of setting I just feel so—I’m not back yet. And why can’t you just accept that?”
Brink did say that her teammates have been nothing but supportive and expressed her high hopes for getting back to full health in time for Year 2 of the WNBA. Brink averaged 7.5 points, 5.3 assists and 2.3 blocks per game through 15 appearances in her rookie season before suffering her ACL injury.
