LOS ANGELES — With seven games remaining in the regular season, Sparks coach Lynne Roberts has a direct message for her team.
“We’re not going to quit,” Roberts said. “I promise you that.”
With that call to action, the ninth-place Sparks will look to keep their fading playoff hopes alive in the final contest of a four-game homestand against the Washington Mystics on Sunday at Crypto.com Arena.
The Sparks (17-20), who have lost two in a row after Friday’s loss to the Indiana Fever, are 2-1 against the Mystics this season.
Sparks All-Star guard Kelsey Plum is averaging 20.1 points and 5.8 assists. Forward Dearica Hamby, who won the 2022 WNBA championship alongside Plum with the Las Vegas Aces, is averaging 17.9 points, 7.8 rebounds and 3.3 assists. Plum and Hamby are among the league’s highest-scoring duos at 38 points per game.
Guard Sonia Citron leads the Mystics with 15.3 points per game. Fellow rookie All-Star Kiki Iriafen, the former Harvard-Westlake and USC standout forward, averages 13.0 points and 8.6 rebounds for Washington, which is 16-23 going into Saturday’s game with the Valkyries (19-18) in San Francisco.
The Sparks’ 76-75 loss to the Indiana Fever dropped them two games and three wins behind the Valkyries.
“We can kinda still control our own destiny,” Hamby said. “We can go 5-2 and make a shot at this, so turn the page and keep going.”
With less than two weeks of guaranteed basketball left, Roberts believes her team has a choice in how the rest of the regular season plays out.
“We can emotionally, mentally check out and just kind of go through the motions or we can dig down,” Roberts said. “I know these guys are going to dig down.”
Roberts added that she’s not giving up before the end of her first season leading the Sparks, as the three-time WNBA championship organization tries to end a franchise-worst four-year playoff drought.
“I’ve been saying it all season, we have a choice of how we respond,” Roberts added. “We’re not eliminated and I refuse to buy into that. Does this make it harder, yes. But things are hard. This is hard. This league is so good.”
The Sparks had four players score in double figures in Friday’s defeat, but the team’s balanced offense was plagued by 22 turnovers and being outrebounded by a 40-30 margin.
Rae Burrell led the Sparks’ bench with 12 points. She and fellow reserves Cameron Brink, rookie Sarah Ashlee Barker and Julie Vanloo were all positive in the plus-minus statistical category.
“I thought they did well,” Roberts said of the reserves. “We’re looking down the barrel of three games in four days and I trust them. I thought Cam did a good job defensively. She’s so tough to score on in the paint and Rae brought some serious life there, especially in the third.”
MYSTICS (16-23) AT SPARKS (17-20)
When: 5 p.m. Sunday
Where: Crypto.com Arena
TV: Spectrum SportsNet
Lynne Roberts, Dearica Hamby and Azura Stevens postgame interview after the LA Sparks’ tough 76-75 loss against the Indiana Fever. pic.twitter.com/GoQF8NvjDk
— John W. Davis (@johnwdavis) August 30, 2025
Will the Los Angeles Sparks still make the WNBA playoffs?
I’m breaking down the Sparks’ 76-75 loss at home to the Indiana Fever and I’ll tell you what that means for the team’s playoff hopes.
The Sparks are 17-20 overall with 7 games left in the regular season. pic.twitter.com/NxHJzKurHm
— John W. Davis (@johnwdavis) August 30, 2025