LOS ANGELES — Lynne Roberts did not mince words.
Kelsey Plum, who will miss her third consecutive game with a leg injury, learned Thursday that she was not named an All-Star starter. Plum, a four-time All-Star and two-time WNBA champion, is averaging a career-high 23.9 points on 52.7% shooting from the field and 6.4 assists per game.
“It’s ridiculous,” Sparks coach Lynne Roberts said in an exclusive interview with the Southern California News Group. “It’s become a social media popularity contest, not about who the most impactful players are. She’s the best one-on-one player in the league. She’s having an MVP season. It’s shocking, yet not surprising.”
The Sparks are 1-5 without Plum, who is expected to be out until at least late July.
“I feel like Kelsey Plum has been the best guard in the league, hands down,” Sparks guard Kiana Williams said.
“I feel like she’s playing incredible,” Williams said. “She’s a starter in my eyes.”
The Sparks (8-10) will have a prime opportunity to get back in the win column when they host the Seattle Storm (5-17) to begin a three-game homestand Monday. Both teams are on two-game losing streaks, including Seattle’s 77-72 road loss to Portland Saturday.
The Sparks lost their last two games by an average of 26 points. However, they are hopeful a string of practices has helped improve the defense enough to win the upcoming games with a long-range objective of ending a franchise-long five-season playoff drought.
“I actually stopped (practice) at one point, and I said that, if we’re trying to do A and we give up B, that’s alright,” said Roberts, in her second year with the Sparks. “The other team is not going to end up with zero, and what has been an issue for us is when the other team starts to do stuff, adversity hits, and we get a little bit soft defensively, and so in practice you’re able to get on them and elevate that defense again so we don’t get in those lulls in games.”
The Sparks are 1-0 against Seattle this season, picking up an 88-83 road victory on June 10. Nneka Ogwumike scored a team-high 24 points. Plum scored 19 points. Cameron Brink scored 15 points.
However, Brink (ankle), like Plum, are both sidelined indefinitely with injuries.
Seattle is led by Dominique Malonga, a 6-foot-6 second-year center, who routinely dunks in pregame warmups and has made a 3-pointer in nine of the 14 games she’s played in this season.
Malonga, the No. 2 selection in the 2025 draft via a pick traded to Seattle for Plum, is averaging 16.9 points and 7.3 rebounds at just 20 years old.
Monday’s game will be the Sparks’ first contest since consecutive blowout losses, 125-97 to Toronto on June 25 and 111-87 to Indiana on June 27. The team’s coaches and players agreed to use their downtime to relearn the team’s defensive principles and to implement effective counters, such as a zone defense.
“I feel like it’s something that’s needed,” Sparks forward Emma Cannon, 37, said.
“It’s been good,” Sparks rookie guard Chance Gray added. “I think it came at the right time. We’ve been able to get back to fundamentals and just work on all the basic stuff that we need to.”
“I’m big on just control what you can control,” said Sparks rookie forward Laura Ziegler, who is on a developmental player contract alongside Kate Martin. “Also, for me, it’s showing up every day.”
Cannon said she has been a vocal leader, focused on keeping her teammates encouraged.
“I told them that this is a learning process,” Cannon said. “It’s something that we need to dig deep in, and I know that’s something that nobody truly loves, loves, loves defense, but I feel like if we get all five people that’s on the court on the same page, it becomes really fun.”
Williams has played in all three games as the team’s backup point guard since being signed by the Sparks on June 19.
“Our offense is incredible,” Williams said, “but you have to want to guard someone and get stops so you’re not trying to outscore teams because it’s a tough league to try to outscore teams.”
Meanwhile, Cannon has played in the fewest games of any player on the active 12-woman roster. However, after averaging 4.8 points in 5.6 minutes in five games, she knows her worth.
“My place on this team is solidified,” Cannon said. “I’m very happy with where I am. I love my teammates. I’m a great leader. I bring aggressiveness on and off the court, and I’m also a great person on and off the court, so I’m great where I’m at.”
SEATTLE (5-17) AT SPARKS (8-10)
When: Monday, 7 p.m.
Where: Crypto.com Arena
TV: USA, Spectrum SportsNet
Los Ángeles Sparks head coach Lynne Roberts told me it is “ridiculous” that Kelsey Plum was not named an All-Star starter because she’s having a career year.
Coach Roberts believes Plum is the best 1-on-1 player in the WNBA and is having an MVP season. pic.twitter.com/ZMuzOkL1RY
— John W. Davis (@johnwdavis) July 5, 2026
Veteran forward Emma Cannon on the Los Angeles Sparks winning through adversity with Kelsey Plum and Cameron Brink out with injuries.
Cannon breaks down the accountability, aggressiveness and the perspective needed to play effective defense after the team’s reset week. pic.twitter.com/eTL7wp8Vwm
— John W. Davis (@johnwdavis) July 2, 2026
Rookie guard Chance Gray on being drafted to be a shooter by the Los Angeles Sparks.
In a midseason rookie report, Gray discusses her development as a shooting guard after being drafted out of Ohio State in the second round of the 2026 WNBA draft to be an outside shooter. pic.twitter.com/G0KNyJqqnA
— John W. Davis (@johnwdavis) July 2, 2026