-
Mechelle VoepelESPN.com
The 2021 season was a year to forget for the Los Angeles Sparks. Can additions such as Liz Cambage, Chennedy Carter, Jordin Canada and Katie Lou Samuelson make 2022 a much different experience? Or will the Sparks find themselves in the midst of a chemistry experiment gone wrong after talent additions that include a couple of big personalities?
Cambage confirmed Saturday to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne that she has committed to play for Los Angeles this season. Also Saturday, the Sparks made a trade to bring in guard Chennedy Carter and signed free-agent guard Jordin Canada. Thursday, the Sparks obtained forward Katie Lou Samuelson in a trade.
Can it all work? Last year, the Sparks went 12-20 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2011 and just the fifth time since the league launched in 1997. Two marquee Sparks players, forward/center Candace Parker and guard Chelsea Gray, left prior to last season, and Parker went on to win the WNBA title with the Chicago Sky.
Franchise stalwart Nneka Ogwumike was controversially left off the U.S. Olympic team and missed 14 Sparks games due to a knee injury. Younger sister Chiney Ogwumike was limited to seven games last season with the Sparks, also with knee issues.
Guard Brittney Sykes had a brilliant season defensively for Los Angeles, but it was a disappointing year for the team overall. The Sparks are not used to being on the periphery of the WNBA playoff race. Now, they appear poised to make news this season, which they hope will all be of the good kind.
But let’s start with the 6-foot-8 Cambage, who seemingly has always wanted to play in Los Angeles. When she was drafted by Tulsa as a 19-year-old in 2011, it was a dreadful fit for the Australian in a relatively small U.S. city where she later said…
Source : espn
