LOS ANGELES — The Sparks have lost 13 of their last 15 games, but head coach Lynne Roberts said there’s still a lot to play for over the last eight games of the season.
“A lot can be achieved in eight games,” Roberts said, “and we’re going to keep chopping wood. We’re not ever going to quit.”
The 12-24 Sparks were officially eliminated from playoff contention after Thursday’s 124-88 blowout loss to the Atlanta Dream at Crypto.com Arena.
The Sparks are on a six-game losing streak and will miss the playoffs for a franchise-extending sixth consecutive season, each of them below .500.
“I think it’s just about the mindset,” Sparks guard Monique Akoa Makani said when asked what’s left to accomplish without being able to make the playoffs. “Right now we need to focus on finding that pride within ourselves to be able to just finish the right way. Individually, I think it takes one human at a time.”
Los Angeles Sparks second-year guard Monique Akoa Makani on what she wants to see her team accomplish during the last eight games of the 2026 WNBA season.
Akoa Makani helped the Phoenix Mercury make the 2025 WNBA Finals as a rookie.
She was acquired by the Sparks in a deal… pic.twitter.com/BJhTlITSwF
— John W. Davis (@johnwdavis) August 21, 2026
The Sparks will host the Connecticut Sun on Saturday night with a prime opportunity for a win. Connecticut (9-26) ranks 14th of the 15 teams in the league standings. However, two of Connecticut’s nine wins this season have come against the Sparks. Saturday’s game will be the third and final game between the two non-playoff squads this season.
Roberts said her team is still trying to win every time they play and wants to give younger players, like Akoa Makani, Chance Gray and Tonie Morgan, extended stretches of playing time off the bench.
“It is a lot of information at once, but I think I’m doing my best,” Morgan said after her first career home game Thursday. “My teammates are doing a great job, and the coaching staff has been doing a great job at helping me execute to the best of my ability.”
Morgan, a former developmental contract player, was originally selected by the Chicago Sky in the third round of the 2026 WNBA draft. The 5-foot-9 guard out of Kentucky signed a standard contract Aug. 15 and is averaging 6.5 points and 2.5 assists in 15 minutes across her first four career games.
“Obviously, it’s a positive thing, so I was very grateful,” Morgan added. “Very excited, but I just want to show up every day, do my job and try and help the team.”
Morgan’s upgraded contract came after making a strong impression within four weeks of joining the organization, according to Sparks assistant general manager Zack Knowlton.
“She is a dynamic playmaker who competes at a high level and has shown an ability to make those around her better,” Knowlton said at the time. “We’re excited about her continued development and the opportunity for her to contribute to our team.”
Gray, whom the organization selected in the second round of this year’s draft, said she has embraced playing multiple positions and taking on varied roles.
“I look at it as a positive,” Gray said, “being able to be utilized in different ways. That can be something that helps the team, so I’m ready to do whatever the team needs me to do in that moment, whether that’s being on the ball, a defender, or a spot-up shooter. I just try to play for my teammates, my coaches as hard as I can, and that’s what I like to do.”
Gray is averaging three points in 10.8 minutes in 33 games.
Akoa Makani, a second-year point guard who was acquired Aug. 2 by the Sparks from the Phoenix Mercury along with draft picks for All-Star guard Kelsey Plum before the trade deadline, said she wants to continue acclimating to her new team.
“I think I just need more reps,” Akoa Makani said, “to be able to first feel good for myself and then I’ll be able to make everybody else feel good around me.”
Akoa Makani, who helped Phoenix reach the WNBA finals as a rookie, is averaging 4.3 points and 1.7 assists in 16.7 minutes. However, she recently missed nearly two weeks after suffering an ankle injury in the team’s last victory, an 89-82 win against the first-place Minnesota Lynx on Aug. 6. She scored three points and had two assists in her first game back, while playing only 15 minutes on a time restriction against Atlanta.
“I think we’ve got great talent for sure,” Akoa Makani said. “But now, it’s about, I would say, learning to know each other more, especially for me, because I just got here and then just finding confidence because I think the biggest strength of any player in the world, any sport, is how confident they can be when they step on the court and then I think the rest is going to follow.”
CONNECTICUT (9-26) AT SPARKS (12-24)
When: 6 p.m. Saturday
Where: Crypto.com Arena
TV: Prime Video, Spectrum SportsNet
POSTGAME: Rookie guard Chance Gray, Coach Lynne Roberts and rookie guard Tonie Morgan after the Los Angeles Sparks’ 124-88 loss at home to the Atlanta Dream. pic.twitter.com/5w5JV9pdZO
— John W. Davis (@johnwdavis) August 21, 2026