LAS VEGAS — Four-time MVP A’ja Wilson scored 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the Aces to an 89-79 victory over the Sparks on Tuesday night and clinch at least a No. 3 playoff seed for Las Vegas.
The Aces (30-13), on a six-game winning streak, will get home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, which begin Sunday. If the standings hold, they would face No. 6 seed Washington (27-16) in the best-of-three series.
Chelsea Gray scored 17 points for the Aces, Stephanie Talbot had 14 points and Jackie Young totaled 14 points and 11 assists.
Nneka Ogwumike, who was honored before the game, scored 17 points to lead the Sparks (16-27). Erica Wheeler added 16 points.
The Aces used a 15-point run in the first quarter to take early control, going up 17-5. They led by 17 points when the Sparks went on their own long run, an 11-point spurt in the second period to cut the lead to 35-29.
The Sparks then remained within striking distance, but never closed the gap. Las Vegas’ 10-point run in the third period put the Aces back in control with a 63-45 lead.
The Aces presented Ogwumike, an eight-time All-Star and 2016 MVP, with a flower bouquet before the game. Ogwumike, who announced Aug. 19 she would retire after this season, also received a standing ovation from the crowd. She also is president of the players’ union.
The Sparks played without Dearica Hamby (left knee) and Cameron Brink (right ankle). Hamby, who played in the Aces’ organization from 2015-22, averages 14.4 points and 7.0 rebounds. Brink, the second overall pick in the 2024 draft, averages 9.5 points and 5.0 rebounds.
Nneka Ogwumike answered the same question she’s been facing for almost two months.
Why now? Why leave the WNBA when she still leads the Sparks in scoring and rebounding, has played a central role in helping the league negotiate a transformative new collective bargaining agreement and returned to the city where her pro career began?
Ogwumike is at peace with her decision. And when she steps onto the court in a Sparks jersey for the last time Thursday, she will do it without regrets.
“I’m mostly grateful,” Ogwumike said. “I haven’t really been thinking much else besides just being grateful for the opportunity to have had a 15-year career in the WNBA and also to finish in a Sparks jersey.”
There is a lot for which to be grateful.
Ogwumike entered the WNBA as the No. 1 overall pick of the Sparks in 2012. Now, 15 seasons later, she is leaving the league as one of its most accomplished players — and as the most prolific scorer in Sparks history.
Sparks forward Nneka Ogwumike, left, tries to drive past Lynx forward Napheesa Collier during a game in Minneapolis.
(Matt Krohn / Getty Images)
“It feels freeing,” Ogwumike said of her decision to retire. “It feels like there’s a level of autonomy that I’m able to have, and I’m very happy about that.”
The numbers only begin to tell the story.
Ogwumike was rookie of the year after averaging 14 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. Four years later, she produced the best season of her career, averaging 19.7 points per game, winning MVP and leading the Sparks to their third WNBA championship.
She spent 12 seasons with the Sparks before leaving for Seattle, then returned to Los Angeles this season to finish her career.
Along the way, she established herself among the most productive players in league history. Ogwumike will finish her career fourth all-time in scoring with 8,013 points, behind Diana Taurasi, Tina Charles and DeWanna Bonner. She is third all-time in rebounds with 3,571 and third in steals with 716.
And on July 17, she added one more piece of history to the résumé, passing Lisa Leslie to become the Sparks’ all-time leading scorer.
Sisters Chiney, left, and Nneka Ogwumike pose for a photo at the Bird’s Eye View After Party during WNBA All-Star weekend.
(Daniel Boczarski / Getty Images for Vox Media)
“This is where it all started [for me],” Ogwumike said. “So very happy to be able to share this time, both the beginning and the end of my career in L.A., and I had a majority of my career playing for this organization, so it really does mean a lot to be able to finish in it as well.”
The return, however, did not unfold quite the way Ogwumike or the Sparks had envisioned.
Los Angeles entered the season with playoff expectations after bringing Ogwumike back, signing Erica Wheeler and trading for Ariel Atkins. The Sparks had not made the postseason since 2020, and the hope was that Ogwumike’s return could help change that.
Instead, the season became a struggle. The Sparks will finish 10 games out of a playoff spot, leaving Ogwumike’s final games less about a postseason push and more about what she could leave behind.
“The season is not at all what I expected, but it doesn’t mean that I can’t come out here to do my job and try and be great, and be great as a result,” Ogwumike said. “And as always, playing with my teammates as well.”
That has meant spending time with the young players who will carry the Sparks forward after she is gone.
Sparks coach Lynne Roberts and Nneka Ogwumike talk on the sideline during a win over the Indiana Fever in July.
(Katelyn Mulcahy / Getty Images)
Ogwumike has particularly focused on Cameron Brink, the young forward who represents a significant part of the organization’s future.
“I think right now I’m really spending a lot of my time trying to pour into Cam as well,” Ogwumike told reporters this week. “I really do think that she’s the future of the league. … I’m happy to be able to leave whatever I can before I throw my feet up.”
It is a fitting final role for a player whose career has stretched across generations of the WNBA.
“She’s poured into me since I got into the league,” Dream forward Angel Reese said in August. “Kind of like one of my first vets, always being there for me, always texting me, and also really like educating me on the things that were going on, knowing that it was a big CBA coming up.”
Her final contribution might not be something that appears in a box score. It might be what she passes on.
“She’ll be missed,” said Valkyries forward Gabby Williams, who played with Ogwumike in Seattle the previous two seasons. “As a friend, but also as a fan. I’ll miss watching her in the W.”
Williams knows what Ogwumike’s career has meant to the league, but she also understands what comes next.
“I’m really happy for her,” Williams said. “Happy she gets to take that next step. I know what it means to her. I’m glad her last year was pivotal for the CBA and she’ll always have her name written on that.”
Ogwumike, though, isn’t spending much time looking backward.
She hasn’t thought about what her final moments in the WNBA will feel like, only the gratefulness she feels to have had her 15-year career.
“I haven’t,” Ogwumike said when asked if she has thought about her last moments in the league. “Still just focused on playing.”
Leslie, a two-time WNBA champion and member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, became the first female professional athlete to receive a statue outside of Crypto.com Arena on Sunday. After the ceremony, the Sparks earned a 105-84 win over the Portland Fire.
Leslie’s friends and family gathered outside the arena for the unveiling of the statue Leslie dubbed “The First Lady,” celebrating her 12-year pro basketball career in Los Angeles. Many speakers, including former Sparks coach Michael Cooper and Lakers legend Magic Johnson, noted Leslie’s accomplishments while also saluting her as a kind person.
Leslie became the second WNBA player to be honored with a bronze statue outside of a U.S. pro basketball arena, joining the Seattle Storm’s Sue Bird.
Lisa Leslie celebrates on stage after her statue is unveiled outside Crypto.com Arena on Sunday.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
“We know there is a low percentage of women who have statues in our country,” Leslie said. “I just feel like we are just starting to get our flowers and reap some of the benefits of hard work, blood, sweat and tears that we put into it.”
Leslie sat courtside with her family watching her former team beat the expansion Fire. Rae Burrell led the Sparks with 20 points and added two assists. Nneka Ogwumike finished with a double-double and Ariel Atkins had 14.
Burrell led the team with 13 first-half points. The Sparks led by as many as 20 points in the third quarter, during which several Sparks reached double-figure scoring.
The Sparks kept their foot on the gas in the fourth quarter despite playing without Cameron Brink, Dearica Hamby and Aaliyah Nye.
Many Sparks said they felt blessed to have formed relationships with Leslie. Burrell said Leslie has been a big help during her career. The retired star has responded when players around the WNBA have sought advice.
Ogwumike said the team was happy to attend the pregame statue reveal.
Sparks legend Lisa Leslie takes photos with family and friends at her statue unveiling outside Crypto.com Arena on Sunday.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
“That’s history, you know? I am very adamant about players coming in and knowing their history,” Ogwumike said. “That’s something you can’t let go of. I think we can see, especially in the NBA, where they are honoring these legends and they are coming back. I think we’re entering an era where there is so much history.”
Leslie grew up in Compton. During the ceremony, she spoke about watching her siblings whenever her mother went to work as a truck driver. She said she pushed to make good things happen for her siblings and didn’t quit or make excuses when life was difficult. She embraced challenges and often challenged herself.
Cooper said Leslie would go head-to-head with some of the Lakers players during practice to give herself a bigger challenge and it was impressive to watch her hold her own. Leslie was determined to be the first player in the WNBA to dunk, which helped redefine what was possible in women’s basketball.
The statue outside of Crypto.com Arena depicts her dunking a basketball.
Lisa Leslie and her family celebrate as her statue is unveiled outside Crypto.com Arena on Sunday.
(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)
“I hope they see themselves out there. I hope you can find a girl that looks like you, whether she has long hair or short hair,” Leslie said. “That’s the key for kids in general. You have to see yourself. If you see it, then you also start to dream and believe that you can be it.”
Leslie recalled walking around Los Angeles as a child. Her affection for the city receiving a statue here more meaningful.
“I also feel a certain level of pride,” she said. “I feel like we are such good people in L.A.”
Leslie’s statue stands next Lakers Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gigi Bryant. Leslie called Kobe her younger brother during the ceremony and is happy to be close to him again.
Leslie’s career will be hard to repeat, but she sees it as a blueprint WNBA players can follow.
She said she is pleased with the direction the WNBA is heading, leaps and bounds ahead of her experience joining the league in 1997. She said it’s been great to see sponsors pouring in and helping the game grow.
“I am so proud of where the women’s game is,” Leslie said. “But the dream was always that we hoped that our USA, everybody across the board, could see the beauty in us, could see the strength in us and our resilience. I am so proud of the product that’s on the floor.”
