WNBA Star Rickea Jackson Returns, Claps Back at Pregnancy Rumor

WNBA Star Rickea Jackson Returns, Claps Back at Pregnancy Rumor originally appeared on Athlon Sports.

It has been an unusual few days for L.A. Sparks star Rickea Jackson, whose 2025 season has not quite gotten off to the start that she had hoped. Jackson has played only three games this season and in those games, appeared to struggle with the overhaul the Sparks underwent this offseason. Making matters worse, she suffered a concussion in the third game.

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That was on May 27. Over the weekend, she took time away from the team for personal reasons, but was back at practice on Tuesday. Though her time away fueled a wide range of rumors—that she was unhappy with the team, that she wanted to be traded, even that she was pregnant–she revealed that she took time to help get over the concussion.

“I feel weird, I never had a concussion before,” she said. “It’s definitely weird for your brain to go through those things. You just wake up and you feel, out of it. But I am just happy to be out there. We’re here to win. If personal time is needed, the concussion, lingering things, there’s a lot of things that go into things like that. But just happy to be back with my team.”

Jackson said she was taken aback by some of the speculation that was put out about her, including the wild rumor that she was pregnant, which she joked about online by posting a selfie with a basketball against her stomach and the hashtag, “It’s a girl.”

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No actual media outlets reported that Jackson was pregnant—it was purely a social-media rumor.

Said Jackson: “You just got to be realistic about yourself. At the end of the day, media isn’t about facts anymore. It’s about who can get out the quickest story that’s going to blow up the most. So that’s the media, you take it with a grain of salt and not being gullible. I feel like, whatever sounds juiciest, that’s what people want to go with. Like, ‘Oh, this is—I’m pregnant apparently!’ Like so, media is media.”

But the fact is, Jackson does not appear to fit very well with the new-look Sparks, with coach Lynne Roberts in place and three-time All-Star Kelsey Plum now at the center of the attack. Jackson has averaged just 7.0 points, down from 13.4 points last year as a rookie. She was moved out of the starting five in the game in which she had her concussion.

“Everything is new here. New system, new everything. It takes time. But chemistry is built on time,” Jackson said.

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“This new system is built to be unpredictable, play a little freelance on the sides, but still have a structure if needed. So it’s all about the chemistry piece, and that’s a piece that’s continuing to build. I feel like we’re going to get there as time goes on.”

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 4, 2025, where it first appeared.