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There were several interesting storylines at play during the WNBA’s opening night on May 16. One of the most compelling was Kelsey Plum making her debut with the Los Angeles Sparks after spending her entire professional career with the Las Vegas Aces’ franchise to this point. Not to mention that the Sparks were facing the Golden State Valkyries in the expansion franchise’s first-ever regular season game.
And Plum delivered in her debut, scoring 37 points (on 11 of 19 shooting, including 4 of 6 from three-point range), dishing out 6 assists, and amassing 5 steals in 40 minutes played.
This performance two different types of impressive WNBA history. One is that Plum’s 37 points is the most ever by a player in a season-opener game, let alone for a player debuting for a new team.
It’s also the first time that a player has scored at least 35 points while also tallying at least 5 assists and 5 steals in a single game in WNBA history.
The WNBA’s X account caught up with Plum after the game and asked her if she could have ever envisioned her debut with the Sparks going so well.
“I mean, I envisioned to win,” Plum said. “It was an incredible atmosphere. You know, a lot to work on, but yeah it was really fun. I love playing basketball!”
When asked what it was like playing with her Sparks teammates, Plum said, “It was super fun! Obviously, we’re still gonna work on our cohesion and figuring things out. But they really gave us a good run in the fourth quarter, but just proud of the way we responded.”
Plum is clearly feeling good about her decision to come to Los Angeles right about now.
