WNBA: The Sparks are finding new, painful ways to lose games

In our last update on the Los Angeles Sparks, the team was 2-3 and showing signs of becoming the playoff-contending team they aspire to be.

Since then, it’s been a bevy of losses in Los Angeles as the Sparks have dropped four of their last five games. Their most recent loss on Monday against the Golden State Valkyries presented a new way for the Sparks to lose.

They didn’t lose in regulation, instead delaying the inevitable by coming up short in overtime against the expansion team from NorCal by making just one basket in the last five minutes of the game. Afterwards, Kelsey Plum expressed her frustration not with the result or the team’s poor play down the stretch, but with how the game was officiated.

While calls can be debated until the end of time, losing by such a narrow margin and feeling as though you got the short end of the stick made Plum respond this way postgame. We’ll see if the WNBA responds in kind with a possible fine in the coming days.

Commissioner’s Cup catastrophe

Another recent, brutal loss for Los Angeles occurred at the start of the month.

In their first Commissioner’s Cup game, the Sparks lost to the Phoenix Mercury 85-80. In the closing minute, they missed every shot imaginable. With 52.5 seconds left, Plum missed a 3-pointer. After an offensive rebound by Julie Allemand, Plum bricked a 13-footer, and with 8.1 seconds left, Dearica Hamby went 0-for-2 from the free throw line, all but ending the game for Los Angeles.

Since 2021, the Commissioner’s Cup has been an in-season tournament that serves as a test of each team’s standing. The Sparks are three games into this year’s Commissioner’s Cup competition and sit at 1-2, which is the second-worst record in the Western Conference. That’s not exactly the kind of position a team vying to turn things around desires to be in.

While there are still three more Commissioner’s Cup games on the schedule, it’s pretty clear Los Angeles will not be representing the West in the title game on July 1.

LA still has reasons for optimism

Luckily for the Sparks, there is still plenty of time to improve and even make the playoffs in 2025. Despite finding new ways to lose, they haven’t been far from winning. In five of their seven losses, the games were decided by 10 points or less. If LA can put complete games together and score down the stretch, more of these single-digit games will turn into victories instead of defeats.

Individually, many rotation players are performing well. Kelsey Plum and Dearica Hamby are currently the highest-scoring duo in the WNBA.

Azurá Stevens is off to the best start of her career, averaging 14.6 points and shooting 40 percent from deep as a bona fide starter. Los Angeles also has reinforcements on the way. While there is no timeline for when Cameron Brink will return to the lineup, she has begun doing on-court work.

Rae Burrell is currently out with a right leg injury, but she’s three weeks into recovery and has a timeline to return in late June or early July. Once Brink is back and Burrell is available, head coach Lynne Roberts will have her full roster and her vision for what the Sparks can be will be fully realized. If the injury bug leaves Los Angeles alone, they’ll have the second half of the year healthy and ready to make a postseason push.

While the current results don’t provide much optimism, a road to a successful season is available for the Sparks, so long as they trust the process and stay together through these challenging times.