CHICAGO — If you ask those with the Sparks day-to-day operations, not a ton has changed since they sent Kelsey Plum to Phoenix at the trade deadline.
Externally, the move to trade away one of the league’s top scorers is seen as waving the white flag on yet another disappointing season. To Nneka Ogwumike, it’s just part of the business of the WNBA and she is still hoping for a chance to compete for the league’s final playoff seed.
“I’m just locking in and staying focused on being able to manage the variables of a season,” she said ahead of the team’s loss to Sky in Chicago on Wednesday. “I’ve been doing this a long time, so nothing that’s happened has really surprised me per se. Maybe in the context of this season, yeah, a few things have. But being professionals, coming out, understanding as we did last game, that no matter what, like a game has to be played, so you might as well win.”
The Sparks were supposed to be back in playoff contention this season after bringing in Ogwumike, Ariel Atkins and Erica Wheeler. Instead, they are six games behind Washington for the eighth playoff spot after a six-game losing streak ahead of the trade deadline that was finally snapped with a win at Portland on Sunday. A loss to Sky on Wednesday night didn’t help.
The Sparks ownership group fired general manager Raegan Pebley in mid-July, seemingly changing direction near the deadline. Shortly after, Plum informed the team she wouldn’t return after her contract expires this season.
“It’s also different when someone feels like they maybe want to fit somewhere else,” Ogwumike said. “I’ve been in situations where it was unexpected for everyone. It wasn’t so unexpected for us. We want her to be happy. We want her to be healthy, so I think that there’s a bit of comfort for everyone knowing that, and also being able to get it done in a way where I feel like everybody’s OK with it. It breathes a little bit of life into the situation.”
Head coach Lynne Roberts noted that since the Sparks have been without Plum since June 24 with a lower left leg injury, they had already adjusted to what life would be like without her on the court for the rest of the season.
“It would have been more of an adjustment to add her back,” she said. “So we are just building on what we’ve been doing the last month.”
The Sparks got good value for Plum in guard Monique Akoa Makani and a first-round pick in this year’s draft that, like their own, is likely to be a lottery pick.
“She can play the one and the two,” Roberts said of Akoa Makani. “She’s comfortable with both of those. What I like is that it’ll take some pressure off of Ariel and (Wheeler). They’re playing too many minutes, but Makani’s a tremendous defender, and (she brings) her on-ball ball screen defenses, her analytics, it’s elite. So that would be a huge boon for us. She was a starting point guard for a team in the WNBA Finals last year as a rookie. She’s a talent, so she’s going to fit in quickly and easily.”
The Sparks Nneka Ogwumike claps hands with Rae Burrell against the New York Liberty on July 28.
(Katelyn Mulcahy / Getty Images)
If the Sparks don’t make the playoffs, they will likely pick sixth overall, since the WNBA weighs results of two combined seasons to come up with the odds. They would have an outside shot at the first overall pick, where USC star Juju Watkins is expected to be the top pick should she choose not to return to school for another college season.
Ogwumike didn’t seem ready to declare the season lost, even while acknowledging that things have gone wrong.
“We’ve been playing better,” she said. “We want to be able to turn that into some kind of streak.”