The Los Angeles Sparks are staring down a brutal 12-24 record, reeling from a six-game losing streak, and officially out of playoff contention. This isn’t just another bad stretch, folks; it’s the backdrop to Nneka Ogwumike’s final season, and it’s turning into a lottery run for the sixth straight year. What was supposed to be a push for the postseason has completely imploded, leaving fans wondering what exactly went wrong.
Everything That Could Go Bad, Did
This season was supposed to be different for the Sparks. They started 8-8, a respectable mark that hinted at a turn-around. But then, everything truly went south. The team has now dropped 13 of their last 15 games, a collapse that’s hard to stomach. The recent Thursday night loss to the Dream? Yeah, let’s just forget that one ever happened. What a gut punch. And against the Connecticut Sun, their opponent tonight, the Sparks are already 0-2 this season. They didn’t even hold a lead in their Tuesday loss to the Sun in Boston. It’s a tough pill to swallow, but as Sparks guard Ariel Atkins put it after that Tuesday defeat, “You don’t really have a choice. I think at the end of the day, we all have to understand there’s a bigger picture.” She admitted she hasn’t been the player she wants to be, but stressed the goal is to “continue to push through and find a way to fight. And that’s what we’re going to do every day.”
A Farewell Tour Amidst the Collapse, With Glimmers of the Future
The real heartbreak in all of this? This is Nneka Ogwumike’s last season. She’s retiring after the 2026 campaign, making the rest of these games a bittersweet farewell tour. Ogwumike shared in a press conference last Thursday that free agency led to a one-year deal, which she now sees as “a blessing in disguise.” She realized in training camp that one more season was all she had left, and she was “okay with that,” wanting to play her best to help her teammates in her final run. It’s noble, but the team’s performance has to be a tough way to go out.
The Sparks officially being eliminated from the playoffs means a directive for the bench to play more minutes the rest of the way. Maybe that’s the “bigger picture” Atkins was talking about. We saw some good minutes from Chance Gray and Tonie Morgan on Thursday. Cameron Brink actually logged 27 minutes that game, her second most ever, and dropped 14 points. You gotta wonder if this is the Silver lining here, a chance to see what the future holds for the organization. For tonight, though, the keys remain the same: no untimely turnovers, no bad starts, shoot better behind the arc, get some stops, especially in transition. They need to avoid getting down by 20 and try to keep the Sun under 120 points. Even without Brittney Griner and Aaliyah Edwards, the Sun still have problems for the Sparks: former Spark Olivia Nelson-Ododa, talented lead guard Leila Lacan, and former Bruins Kennedy Burke and Charlisse Leger-Walker all caused fits on Tuesday.
Tonight, at home in Crypto, the Sparks will try to get their first win of the season against the Sun. It’s the second of four home games, and while the playoffs are gone, there’s still pride, and the development of the next generation, on the line.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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