LOS ANGELES — The Sparks have several looming questions ahead of the team’s season opener on Friday when they host Brittney Griner, Diana Taurasi, and the Phoenix Mercury to tip off their WNBA season on ESPN.
1. Will the Sparks make the playoffs?
After missing the postseason for two straight years (2021, 2022) for the first time since the franchise’s first two years in the league (1997, 1998), and finishing last year with a 13-23 record, Sparks fans desperately want (and need) their team to make the playoffs. It will only take a top 8 out of 12 finish to reach the postseason for the first time since 2020, the WNBA’s bubble season in Bradenton, Florida.
No current Sparks were active the last time the team made it to and subsequently lost in the second round to the Connecticut Sun and then coach Curt Miller, who is now the Sparks head coach.
Sparks forward Nneka Oguwmike, a seven-time All-Star, and the WNBA’s Most Valuable Player in 2016, is the only current player who played for the franchise that season, but Ogwumike did not play in the one-and-done playoff loss due to a migraine.
“We’re only concerned about us and getting better and it’s anyone’s goal to make the playoffs,” said Sparks veteran point guard Jordin Canada, a former UCLA and Windward High School star. “Like we say in the huddle and we say every day, we have to focus on each other and we have to focus on how the Sparks can get better and if we do that then we’ll get to the playoffs.”
2. How many Sparks will be 2023 WNBA All-Stars?
The Sparks currently have five All-Stars on the team’s 2023 roster. 2017 All-Star guards Jasmine Thomas and Layshia Clarendon, two-time All-Star forwards Dearica Hamby (2021, 2022) and Chiney Ogwumike (2014, 2018) and seven-time All-Star forward Nneka Ogwumike (2013–2015, 2017–2019, 2022).
Nneka Ogwumike is the leading candidate to be named a 2023 All-Star.
Meanwhile, Hamby, who is expected to play on Friday after giving birth in…
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