WNBA: How the Sparks must improve to make the playoffs

The Las Vegas Aces ended the Los Angeles Sparks’ five-game winning streak on Tuesday, but even in defeat, LA can take away some positives. For one, they welcomed back Cameron Brink.

The No. 2 pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft looked good in limited action for the Sparks. With her back, they have a fully healthy squad for the first time in years. And with 18 games left to play, and are just two games away from the eighth and final playoff spot.

To make up that ground and play postseason games for the first time since 2020, they have two big things they need to improve upon:

Keep the turnovers down

LA turns the ball over far too much. In their most recent loss to Las Vegas, they had 20 turnovers. It’s hard to win games when you’re giving up possessions and allowing other teams to have fastbreak opportunities.

On the season, the Sparks are averaging 15.8 turnovers per game. That’s the second-most in the WNBA. In losses, they average 17.3, compared to just 13.9 turnovers in victories. The correlation is clear: The less the Sparks turn the ball over, the more likely they are to win games.

The good news is they’ve been improving in this category thanks to Julie Allemand. Since returning from EuroBasket Women duties, she has been starting for the Sparks and playing at a high level in the backcourt as an on-ball decision maker.

Allemand has a 3.06 assist-to-turnover ratio, which is the 12th-best in the WNBA. If Allemand’s play stays at this level, then she can help the Sparks’ turnover numbers continue to go down.

Better bench play

The Sparks are getting an All-Star season from Kelsey Plum, a career year from Azurá Stevens and excellent numbers from Dearica Hamby. Despite their key starters outperforming expectations, LA is still struggling to win games.

So, how can they improve when their best players are already taking care of their jobs? Well, the extra production will have to come from the supporting cast. This hasn’t happened for most of the year. The Sparks’ bench has an offensive rating of 37.6, which is tied for the worst in the WNBA alongside the Atlanta Dream.

Barring a trade or a free agent signing, the two players who can help in this department are Rae Burrell and Cameron Brink.

Burrell returned to the court in July after injuring her knee in the season opener and has given the Sparks some offensive juice off the bench. Since coming back, she’s averaging almost seven points per game and the team has won six of their last nine matchups. She seems to have a green light to be aggressive as a scorer with the second unit, and it’s been working.

Defensively, the bench will now have a reinforcement with Brink.

In her 14-minute season debut against the Aces, she had a steal and a block. Brink also ended the night with a plus-minus of +5, which is hard to do when your team loses by double figures.

If Burrell can bring the offense and Brink the defense, that just might be enough to get the Sparks over the hump and into the playoffs. If not, then improving the bench depth will be a top priority in the offseason.

Overall, the Sparks are in a solid position. Everyone is healthy, and there are enough games remaining to see just how good they can be. If they can clean up the turnovers and get something from their reserves, all while the starters hold up their end of the bargain, they should be able to play beyond the 44 scheduled regular-season games.