Tag: Los Angeles Sparks

NBA world reacts to LeBron James, Damian Lillard linking up at L.A. Sparks game

See the best reactions from LeBron James and Damian Lillard’s encounter at the Sparks game.

As the 2020-21 NBA season approaches the NBA Finals, the last series of the entire season, the WNBA season still has plenty of action left.

NBA players have been attending WNBA games in their free time, too. Recently, Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis attended an L.A. Sparks game.

Davis was interviewed at halftime about various topics ranging from his groin injury, offseason preparation and more.

Then LeBron James was seen courtside at the Sparks game Wednesday, but it was the appearance of another basketball star that had the NBA world intrigued.

Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard, who has been rumored to want a trade out of Portland, also came to observe the Sparks game, and his interaction with James on the sidelines had many buzzing.

Here are the best reactions to the encounter between James and Lillard:

Notre Dame alumnus Devereaux Peters goes off on USA Basketball

A former Notre Dame player is not holding back on players getting snubbed from the Olympics.

With the Tokyo Olympics a month away, folks are gearing up to see if the U.S. women’s basketball team wins its seventh straight gold medal. The Olympic roster features some of the most prominent players in the sport. Among the snubs from the team is former WNBA MVP Nneka Ogwumike, who was averaging 16.4 points through five games for the Los Angeles Sparks this season before being sidelined with a knee injury. When asked about Ogwumike, who was expected to have recovered in time for the Olympics, U.S. coach Dawn Staley said the following:

“Breaks my heart that Nneka isn’t on this team. Having to make a decision today, if we had to make a decision a month from now I’m sure she’d be healthy. This was one of the things she wanted to do.”

That explanation wasn’t good enough for two-time WNBA champion and Notre Dame product Devereaux Peters. She was livid about Ogwumike being left off the roster for the third time in as many opportunities. In fact, she took to Twitter and unleashed quite a scathing rant about USA Basketball (Warning: Thread features NSFW language):

Peters was not even the closest person to Ogwumike to speak out about this. Sparks coach and general manager Derek Fisher made his feelings known, as did Ogwumike’s sister and teammate, Chiney:

It’s nice to see an Irish alumnus stick up for players in her sport that she feels are getting duped. Even if you don’t agree with Peters using vulgar language to get her point across, you can’t deny that she’s a fighter. Especially these days, there never can be enough female sports figures afraid to speak their minds.

Jasmine Walker drafted No. 7 overall to Los Angeles Sparks

Former Alabama WBB forward Jasmine walker is the No. 7 overall pick in the 2021 WNBA draft. She will begin her professional career with …

Former Alabama women’s basketball forward Jasmine Walker is the No. 7 overall pick in the 2021 WNBA draft to the Los Angeles Sparks.

Walker was a projected first-round pick, so this comes as no surprise.

While at Alabama, Walker broke the record for the most points scored in a single game with 41 and recorded 21 double-doubles.

In 2020, the Sparks made the playoffs as a No. 3 seed, but were unable to win it all. As a franchise, the team holds claim to three WNBA championships, with the most recent one being in 2016.

Roll Tide Wire will continue to publish updates on Jasmine Walker as she begins her professional career with the Los Angeles Sparks.

USC hires Julie Rousseau to chair Black Lives Matter Action Team

The USC Trojans have hired former LA Sparks and Pepperdine Waves head coach Julie Rousseau to chair the Black Lives Matter Action Team.

The USC Trojans have hired Dr. Julie Rousseau to be the chair of the athletic department’s new Black Lives Matter Action Team, according to a release on Twitter Tuesday morning.

“We are incredibly fortunate to have someone with Dr. Rousseau’s experience, compassion and ability to connect with people to lead this effort,” AD Mike Bohm wrote in a statement.

Rousseau is a native of Los Angeles who played college basketball at UC-Irvine in the early 1980’s. She moved her way up the coaching ranks after her playing career ended, eventually coaching the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA for parts of two seasons in 1997 and 1998. She was also an assistant at Stanford from 2000-2004 and the head coach of the Pepperdine Waves from 2004-2013.

“A native of Los Angeles with experiences as a student-athlete, college and professional coach, and educator, Julie is uniquely qualified to lead our USC athletics Black Lives Matter Action Team,” Bohm said in a statement. “Julie’s passion and vision, strong leadership skills and outstanding reputation, as well as her innovative academic background, make her a wonderful fit to guide this critically important initiative.”

The Black Lives Matter Action Team will work with student-athletes to “ensure that all voices are equally represented.”

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LeBron James one of many NBA players to support WNBA tip-off

LeBron James was one of many NBA players to support the official start of the WNBA season on Saturday.

Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James was one of many players across the NBA who sported WNBA-branded gear on Saturday in honor of the start of the WNBA.

The WNBA season kicked off for real on Saturday morning as No. 1 pick Sabrina Ionescu made her WNBA debut in an 87-71 loss at the hands of the 2018 WNBA champion Seattle Storm, who welcomed back 2018 MVP Breanna Stewart and veteran point guard Sue Bird after both missed the entirety of the 2019-20 season due to injury. James and the Lakers played in a scrimmage on Saturday against the Orlando Magic and James pulled up to the scrimmage with the orange WNBA hoodie that many other players wore on Saturday.

In addition to James, players around the league such as Oklahoma City’s Chris Paul and Portland’s Carmelo Anthony, posted photos of them in their WNBA hoodies to show support for the ladies who started their season this weekend.

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LeBron James, UNINTERRUPTED drop gear for Oregon’s Sabally before WNBA Draft

The Los Angeles Lakers star gave some new gear to one of the likely top picks in Friday’s WNBA Draft.

We finally have something that resembles a real sporting event coming up tomorrow night as the WNBA Draft will take place Friday night on ESPN. And one of the expected top picks in the coming draft, Oregon forward Satou Sabally, got a pretty dope care package from LeBron James, Maverick Carter and the folks at UNINTERRUPTED.

Sabally’s Oregon teammate Sabrina Ionescu is widely expected to be the No. 1 pick in tomorrow’s draft to the New York Liberty, but the latest mock draft from ESPN, and mock drafts for the past few months, have been mostly considering Sabally in the No. 2 spot to the Dallas Wings. LeBron made sure she has some UNINTERRUPTED merch wherever she goes tomorrow.

Sabally, a member of the German National Team who spent her early childhood in Gambia before settling in Berlin, averaged nearly 17 points and seven rebounds per game last season. She was also a 37.8% 3-point shooter over her three-year college career. While Sabally and her Oregon teammates did not get the opportunity to play in the NCAA tournament, tomorrow could be a big night for them in the WNBA draft.

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Recapping the WNBA’s wild free agency period

The WNBA’s new collective bargaining agreement has sparked major movement in its free agency period.

WNBA free agency has only been upon us for a day and a half and things are already getting insane.

In just a couple days, here’s where we are:

  • Angel McCoughtry left the Atlanta Dream and signed with the Las Vegas Aces
  • Kristi Toliver left the WORLD CHAMPION Mystics and signed with the Los Angeles Sparks
  • The Phoenix Mercury signed and traded DeWanna Bonner to the Connecticut Sun

Those are three big moves that all impact last year’s semi-finalists. The Mystics got worse after having a historic offensive year while the Sun, Aces and Sparks all got a lot better.

This is NBA-level chaos for the WNBA in February when the offseason is supposed to be dead. You absolutely love to see it.

It’s all thanks to the WNBA’s new CBA

The league’s new collective bargaining agreement was the secret sauce the league needed to get its offseason popping.

Teams really just ain’t broke anymore, to put it bluntly. They have more money to play with. The league’s max salaries have jumped up to $215,000 from $117,500 last year, and the league’s salary cap spiked by more than 30%.

The league will be a lot better for it

The league might literally have more super teams than it can handle right now. Three teams in the W have at least three 2019 All-Stars their team — that’s a FOURTH of the league.

That’s not even counting the Mystics, who have Finals MVP Emma Meesseman, or the Storm, who were without Brianna Stewart and Sue Bird for most of last season. Or what about the Sun with Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner? The list goes on.

To put things simply, the WNBA is going to be wild next year.

This is absolutely great for the WNBA as it continues to grow its brand. People love watching super teams despite how much they claim to hate them. All we have to do is look to the NBA’s ratings for proof.

The NBA is as competitive as its ever been right now during the Warriors’  lost year and the league’s ratings are down. When people were firing off their snake emojis at Kevin Durant? Ratings weren’t a problem.

That theory withstands the test of time. Whether it’s Magic’s Lakers, Jordan’s Bulls or LeBron’s Heat, people watched. As much as folks cry about parity, it hasn’t gotten people to watch.

Super teams sell. The WNBA has plenty of them. You can do the math from there.

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