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You don’t often see WNBA teams willing to let their rookie guard another team’s best player. It’s hard to throw a neophyte into the fire against professional defenses when they’re still getting acclimated to the league, and it’s common to see them struggle mightily until at least Year 2. More time to work out, get stronger and faster, and finally “fit in” amongst the veterans that rule the W.
Not Sarah Ashlee Barker, though.
The Alabama product was drafted by the Los Angeles Sparks with their ninth overall pick in the 2025 draft, coming onto a Los Angeles team in flux. They had just acquired Kelsey Plum through a three-team trade that sent Jewell Loyd to the Las Vegas Aces, and they had to figure out how to add another “dawg” to the team alongside Plum without sacrificing any more of their core.
Barker was an answer to that need. While her three-point shooting is going to be an eventual strength to the Sparks’ offense, it’s her defensive tenacity and toughness on that end of the floor that has gotten her a golden opportunity under newly-hired head coach Lynne Roberts – a starting role.
“She has a competitive spirit that I absolutely love coaching… She plays her tail off and she’s one of our best catch-and-shoot three-point shooters, so I anticipate her to continue… I’ve been really impressed with her mental and physical toughness,” said Roberts about Barker after they dropped a game to the Phoenix Mercury.
Barker hasn’t had to rely so much on her catch-and-shoot ability because she’s playing with the league’s leading scorer as of the end of May – Plum. With that scoring around her, she’s been able to focus solely on the intangibles that keep a rookie like her on the floor – her defense, rebounding, and boxing out.
Defensive rebounding rules everything in the WNBA, and if you’re not efficient at it, you’re going to have a hard time generating fast break scoring or, really, any scoring for that matter against a league led by forwards that eat boards for all meals.
Barker does an excellent job at getting these defensive boards considering her “shorter” 6-foot height because she’s able to contain opposing teams’ forwards and centers with seeming ease. That speaks to her strength and grit, which is exactly what Roberts can see with Barker on the floor.
In this clip, we see Barker positioning herself under the basket with the task of containing Janelle Salaün of the Golden State Valkyries. Salaün is 6-3 and is sealed off with ease by Barker, who snags a defensive board off of a missed Kayla Thornton three-pointer. She anticipates and engages with Salaün rather than re-positioning herself around or next to her.
In this sequence, Barker doesn’t need to use her strength but rather her timing to make a defensive board possible. It’s tough to not only start as a rookie in this league but to have to out-hustle starting caliber bigs for rebounds the way Barker has to begin the year. Here, she’s simply at the right place at the right time – trailing to help Mercedes Russell in her defense of Elizabeth Williams, and can tap the rebound out of Williams’ reach and into the hands of Dearica Hamby.
In addition to her rebounding and tap-out prowess, she’s just been great at standing firm as a perimeter defender this season. She’s holding opponents to just 30 percent shooting from deep, on par with players like Napheesa Collier and Alysha Clark. As a team, the Sparks are holding teams to about 32 percent from long range – not the best in the association, but amongst the best like the Seattle Storm, Minnesota Lynx, and Phoenix Mercury.
Her worst game so far this season was after getting the defensive assignment on Phoenix Mercury All-Star-in-the-making Satou Sabally. Sabally finished up that game with a ridiculous 25 points in 29 minutes, mostly thanks to getting to the free throw line 15 times in that contest. It’s a nearly impossible ask for any guard to defend Sabally – a rookie taking on that responsibility is beyond tough.
Even so, Barker earned respect from her vets after that game and performance.
“She had a difficult assignment guarding Satou [Sabally], but I think she came out and just gave it her all, and she’s been showing us that from day one. [She’s] just really tough, knows when to make the right plays, locked in on what we’re trying to do offensively, but defensively, she’s been really tough and solid, so it was impressive to see that,” said Stevens after the loss.
The most common lineup for the Sparks this season is one featuring Barker, Plum, Hamby, Azura Stevens, and Odyssey Sims. They’ve played a total of 68 minutes together through six games, and have posted a positive net rating of 2.8 over that span. But, their third most used lineup – Barker, Plum, Stevens, Hamby, and Julie Allemand, is the one finding some serious success.
That unit has posted a 20.3 net rating over just 19 minutes played together so far this season. But, this is one that Roberts is beginning to start more often, sliding Sims to the bench and leaning fully into a defensively-minded lineup with lethal shooting.
Barker doesn’t have to be perfect this season. She’s in her first year of WNBA action. Areas of growth for her will include acclimating to more on-ball actions on offense to alleviate pressure on Plum in halfcourt sets, and to work on cutting her turnovers down – which, she has already begun to do. Her three-point shooting has also been slumping, but she’s getting clean looks that will eventually fall.
One thing that she’s clearly taking pride in, though, is her defensive presence in this starting lineup. For a rook, she’s holding her own.
