Projecting Sparks’ 2025 Rotation Under New HC Lynne Roberts

Following a third consecutive lottery-bound season in 2024, the Los Angeles Sparks decided to shake things up in a big way, firing now-former head coach Curt Miller following his two lackluster seasons with the franchise. L.A. went just 8-32 in the league, the WNBA’s worst record, but struggled with health issues, including an ACL tear that limited 2024 No. 2 overall draft pick Cameron Brink to just 15 games.

Miller finished with a 25-55 overall record during his Los Angeles tenure. He currently boasts a 165-141 overall record as a WNBA head coach, highlighted by his run with the 2022 Connecticut Sun to the WNBA Finals. They fell to now-Sparks All-Stars Dearica Hamby and Kelsey Plum’s Las Vegas Aces, 3-1.

Miller was ultimately replaced by Lynne Roberts in November, who ditched a nine-year stint as the head coach of the Utah Utes four games into the club’s 2024-25 season (during which Utah went 3-1) to take one of the premiere gigs in the WNBA.

Roberts, an offense-focused coach, guided the Utes to three consecutive NCAA Tournament berths across her three most recent finished seasons at the helm, and was named the Pac-12 Coach of the Year in 2023.

With Utah, Roberts posted a 165-116 cumulative record (74-86 in the Pac-12), getting the club as far as the 2023 NCAA Sweet Sixteen.

Factoring in Roberts’ prior stints with the Chico State Wildcats and Pacific Tigers, she boasts a 386-291 overall record as a collegiate head coach.

Just five months prior to taking the Sparks gig, Roberts had agreed to a long-term contract extension that would have kept her at the helm of the Utah Utes through the 2029-30 season. extension to remain at Utah through 2030.

Per Aaron Heisen of The Los Angeles Daily News, Roberts explained her decision to take the leap into the pros during an introductory presser with the franchise.

“This is a golden opportunity,” Roberts said in November. “As a competitor, the chance to coach the best players in the world, that’s what I want.”

Roberts, who is good friends with both UCLA women’s basketball head coach Cori Close and USC women’s head coach Lindsay Gottlieb, is hoping to form something of an allegiance to help grow the game of women’s hoops in one of the country’s top media markets.

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Sparks general manager Jennifer Raegan Pebley revealed that she wants Roberts to connect with Close and Gottlieb, who have been at the forefront of two elite NCAA programs themselves.

“That was intentional,” Pebley said. “We were bringing someone into this role that had pre-existing relationships because this is a community of women’s basketball and, quite frankly, women’s athletics that is exceptional.”

Roberts made some overhauls to her approach following a lackluster 5-16 season in 2020-21. Heisen writes that Roberts began steering her team away from midrange shooting, prioritizing more efficient looks in the paint or from 3-point range.

So how will Roberts opt to employ an intriguing roster, comprising talented second-year pieces Brink and Rickea Jackson; All-Star veterans Hamby and Plum; post-bound former champ Azurá Stevens; wing Rae Burrell; guard Julie Allemand; and whomever L.A. selects with its No. 9 pick in this spring’s 2025 WNBA Draft?

Here’s a projection of Roberts’ top eight prior to the start of the season.

Starters: Plum (point guard), Rae Burrell (shooting guard), Jackson (small forward), Hamby (power forward), Brink (center)

Key Bench Pieces: Odyssey Sims, Azurá Stevens, Emma Canon, Anneli Maley

The real questions are how Roberts will proceed with her starting shooting guard and center positions. She needs to start Plum and Hamby, while she’ll likely start Jackson and Brink in some capacity. She could either opt to add an even bigger center than Brink and shift her to a power forward role so her body takes less punishment in the post, which would create a jump-sized starting wing cohort with Jackson and Hamby, or install a veteran wing like Odyssey Sims or Burrell as her starting two-guard alongside Plum.

Given how much Roberts is prioritizing a projected pace-and-space scheme, we’re predicting she will start Burrell at the shooting guard spot and play Burrell and Stevens off the bench.

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Burrell, a fourth-year shooting guard/small forward, emerged as a significant bench rotation wing last year, averaging 5.9 points on .362/.333/.780 shooting splits. She’ll have room to grow in Roberts’ offense, and is a far better 3-point shooter than 5-foot-8 combo guard Sims, although she is way greener. Burrell also enjoyed an enticing breakout season in the Unrivaled 3-on-3 league earlier this year.

Sims, a better passer but poorer shooter, split her 2024 season between the Dallas Wings and the Sparks. With L.A., the 5-foot-8 win averaged 9.8 points on .438/.154/.838 shooting splits, 5.1 assists, 1.7 rebounds and 0.9 steals a night.

Stevens replaced Brink as L.A.’s starting five, but will likely move back to a bench role.

Anneli Maley has been lighting up Australia’s NBL1 West this season, but she’s largely unproven at the WNBA level, having played just four games for the Chicago Sky in 2022. Allemand has also been mostly playing abroad since her own 2022 Chicago Sky stint. Guard Shaneice Swain is another intriguing new addition. She’ll be a rookie after having played professionally in Australia’s WNBL.

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