The Los Angeles Sparks failed to end the WNBA's longest playoff drought and there's no sign that will end any time soon.
Beyond the WNBA's fateful eight lies a searching seven.
With the 2026 WNBA regular season in its final stanzas, the eight-team playoff field has been established with four or fewer games left on every group's docket. The remaining seven are left to pick up the pieces for next season and are forced to ponder their fates as they watch the league's 30th postseason from the sidelines.
With that in mind, Ballislife looks into the futures of these voyages of the damned and what kind of waters they'll traverse on the trip ahead. This will be presented in the order of each team's elimination from playoff contention.
We go even further west for part five, which centers on the LOS ANGELES SPARKS ...
Team: Los Angeles Sparks
Record: 15-25 (and counting)
Last Playoff Appearance: 2020
Date of Playoff Death: August 20
What Went Wrong
Like any modern franchise, what transpired in this latest edition of Sparks basketball was foretold in post-credit scenes ... namely the offseasons of days gone by.
In January 2024, Los Angeles traded what eventually became the third pick in the 2026 draft (Awa Fam). The main yield of such a deal was landing half of the 2024 draft's opening quartet: Rickea Jackson went fourth overall, two choices after Cameron Brink's Golden State fate was further secured at No. 2.
But while Jackson impressively made a name for herself amidst a stiff class war and the Sparks continued sputtering in the WNBA's bottom half, Sparks management made it clear that it lost patience in its quest to end the league's longest playoff drought by far: the 25-year-old Jackson was straight-up swapped for seasoned Chicago Sky veteran Ariel Atkins in one of the blockbusters of the post-CBA transactional frenzy. It was the latest big budget endeavor from general manager Raegan Pebley, the de facto director of Los Angeles personnel affairs after the ousting of Curt Miller.
Breaking: The Chicago Sky and Los Angeles Sparks have agreed to a trade that'll send Rickea Jackson to the Sky and Ariel Atkins to the Sparks, sources told ESPN. pic.twitter.com/2SnRv1sF0y
— Alexa Philippou (@alexaphilippou) April 12, 2026
Post-Jackson Dive
While Atkins' arrival was well-justified in the quest to improve a defense that ranked at or near the bottom of most major metrics, including points allowed (league-worst 88.2), it left the Sparks relatively rudderless in the headliner department: with her development ravaged by recurring injuries, Brink has continued to serve as a sixth woman, for example.
With no first-round pick to work with again, the Sparks continued to embark on a shopping spree that put Rodeo Drive to shame: re-signing Dearica Hamby while adding Erica Wheeler and franchise legend Nneka Ogwumike (for what became a farewell tour) was exciting enough but the pièce de resistance came the year before with the arrival of Kelsey Plum in a multi-pronged deal with Las Vegas and Seattle.
Elliott Bay continued to take in SoCal assets: a pick used for Plum became the second choice of the 2025 draft, which the local Storm used to select Dominique Malonga. Los Angeles got the ninth pick from the Pacific Northwest and that consolation prize, Sarah Ashlee Barker, now resides in Portland after the expansion draft.
Nonetheless, Los Angeles seemed well-prepped for a playoff run with its plethora of veteran talents. It appeared that the Sparks' odyssey that featured a variety of false prophets (i.e. Miller, Liz Cambage, Chennedy Carter, Derek Fisher) was finally over after years of development hell.
Plum Doing
Unfortunately, this latest reboot has panned on the floor: Los Angeles began the year 7-6 behind a league-best scoring output from Plum, who earned 38 alone in a thrilling May 23 victory over her former Sin City employers. After those first 13, Los Angeles placed top three in scoring, field goal percentage, offensive rating, and pace while sitting just two games out of third.
Cracks in the Sparks' system were nonetheless present and most of them formed on the defensive front: Los Angeles was still letting up the most successful sinks per game as well as the most points during that stretch despite citing defense as the driving force of the Atkins deal. Nonetheless, Plum's prowess was enough to sufficiently mask such deficiencies in an effort that was perfectly defining the middle initial of MVP.
But like any doomed Hollywood project, the one thing that could not happen invariably came to pass: Plum was diagnosed with a lower leg injury in late June, which proved to be the unofficial ending of the Sparks' season. Without Plum to balance the continued defensive inefficiencies, the Sparks dropped all but four of 20 games that ensued after Plum was lost, leading to their eventual elimination.
KELSEY PLUM TONIGHT 🔥
— Women’s Hoops Network (@WomensHoops_USA) May 24, 2026
• 38 POINTS
• 9 ASSISTS
• 4 REBOUNDS
• 6/7 3PM
• 12/17 FG
• 37 MINUTES PLAYED pic.twitter.com/L9CKBpAc7E
Sparks Struggle to Ignite
Plum wasn't the only one that Los Angeles missed: the issues in both defense and rebounding (allowing the second-most points in the paint and earning the second-fewest second chance points) made the absences of Malonga and Fam particularly glaring. Five games after Plum's medically-induced departure, the Sparks parted ways with Pebley, embarking on a search for their fourth different general manager of the 2020s after the tenured Penny Toler's departure.
The empty general manager's office didn't stop the Sparks from taking drastic matters into their own hands: in a trade deadline jaw-dropper, Plum was traded to the Phoenix Mercury in a deal that got back Monique Akoa Makani and an extra raffle ticket in the Juju Watkins sweepstakes.
The rest of the season essentially served as a conga line of culmination for the misguided win-now attack: in addition to her struggles to shore up the defense, Atkins posted career-low offensive numbers and Hamby struggled to carry the shooting burden in Plum's place despite a valiant effort. Finally granted some semblance of health, Brink flashed her lottery potential but frequent fouling (averaging 3.6 in less than 20 minutes a game) remains a problem.
In a culmination of the defense and rebounding struggles, no team in the W is letting up more shots from the field than the Sparks, a stat that became beyond unsustainable once Plum was lost and later traded.
Top Silver Lining
If anyone understood the assignment of life after both Jackson and Plum, it had to be Rae Burrell, who flourished in a season-long promotion to the starting five following the controversial trade.
Granted a one-year extension with the hardly-hidden message of "prove it," Burrell posted career-bests in all major categories. Since Plum went down, she's one of eight WNBA regulars shooting at least 40% from three-point range (min. 4 attempts per game) and she has more than doubled her career-best assist output. Had the Sparks lingered in contention longer, Burrell would likely be giving Shakira Austin a run for her money in the Most Improved Player race.
While it won't end in the playoffs, Ogwumike managed to script a Hollywood ending in her Hollywood ending. The highlight came on the W's 30th birthday when Ogwumike sank a dramatic, victorious buzzer-beater in a rematch of the original league showdown against the New York Liberty.
After overseeing the process of a(nother) new CBA ratification as player association president, Ogwumike put up a sterling All-Star campaign that saw her post the second-best rebounding output of her career. Some have already called for the legacy sequel, as Ogwumike has proved to be a popular pick for WNBA commissioner in the wake of Cathy Engelbert's similar announcement, despite the president's reluctance to take on such a role.
Looking Ahead
Unrestricted Free Agents: Emma Cannon, Nneka Ogwumike (retiring)
Restricted Free Agents: Rae Burrell
Reserved Free Agents: Jihyun Park
There's a new executive producer attached this purple project, as Ariana Andonian has been named Pebley's successor as general manager. The post-Ogwumike era will be the first brand of WNBA work for Andonian, whose most prominent work has come with the Duke men's basketball program and the Philadelphia 76ers' G League club.
Andonian certainly won't be bored in her new posting: the Sparks have a major decision to make on their franchise trajectory. With Plum gone, Ogwumike retiring, Burrell set to hit the market and development mostly stunted by Seattle's de facto raiding of the draft cabinet, all signs point to a rebuild being the prudent move, especially with two horses in the race for local heroine Watkins (they currently hold the sixth and seventh-best odds entering the resumption of WNBA play).
Draft Dependent
But let's say one of those horses somehow takes the Trojan roses or even simply lands another top talent in a deep draft. Combine that with next year's projected opening of a $150 million practice facility and SoCal suddenly looks like a premier hardwood destination again, one that could be enticing to both Burrell and contestants from abroad. For all their recent flaws, the Sparks have hardly had an issue attracting name-brand talent. If the lottery balls bounce her squad's way, Andonian could well be tempted to fund another big budget blockbuster.
The roster hullaballoo has somewhat buried the spotlight around the director: Lynne Roberts won 21 games in her first WNBA excursion (the Sparks' best output since 2019) but this year was an undeniable step backward. The switch at general manager was a stern ending to Roberts' honeymoon and it'll be interesting to see how much leeway she gets in the post-Pebley era once the season lets out.
Is There Hope?
Like many a dreamer, it all depends on what the lottery tickets yield. No matter what transpires, however, there's plenty of reasons to keep an eye on the Sparks, even if they don't get any closer to ending their glaring playoff drought.
The draft is deep enough that Los Angeles could land two starlets that can contribute immediately. Brink is under contract for 2027, giving her enough medical leeway to consider this tour a de facto rookie season. Akoa Makani showed enough in Phoenix to the point where she can be good foundational clay for the developmental program's reboot. There's just under $4 million in cap space to work with and maybe more if and when Andonian and Co. work the trade block.
But the fact that Andonian will be trying to outrun the swings and misses of the prior regime from the get-go creates an ominous tone for the immediate future: Jackson showed continued signs of being a franchise cornerstone with Chicago while the Sparks will no doubt be kept well-informed of Fam and Malonga's progress in Seattle. There's definitely a chance to make things right but already-antsy Sparks fans might have to be a little more patient.
Previous Obituaries
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
