3 Los Angeles Sparks Players on Thin Ice After the WNBA Draft

The Los Angeles Sparks are one of three teams who had two first-round picks in the 2024 WNBA Draft. 

The Sparks were looking to add two cornerstone players with the second and fourth overall picks as they usher in a new era of basketball in Los Angeles. The Sparks ultimately went with Cameron Brink and Rickea Jackson, who are two fantastic players to start a rebuild with.

Things will be different in Los Angeles this season as won’t see Nneka Ogwumike or Jordin Canada, who played well for the Sparks in 2023. Ogwumike signed with the Seattle Storm in free agency, while Canada signed with the Atlanta Dream, which was part of a sign-and-trade deal that landed Aari McDonald and the eighth overall pick in this year’s draft to Los Angeles.

There aren’t a ton of expectations for the Sparks as they are a long shot to win the WNBA title this season. But head coach Curt Miller will have them playing hard and we should see growth throughout the 2024 season.

Nonetheless, before we look ahead to the regular season, it’s a perfect time to look at the roster with the WNBA Draft now in the books. Below, we’ll discuss three players who could be on thin ice as Year 2 of the Curt Miller era begins.

1. McKenzie Forbes

The Sparks are heading into training camp with 18 players, which means some tough decisions are on the horizon for Miller and the rest of his coaching staff. Forbes, who was drafted in the third round of the 2024 WNBA, will try to defy the odds of being drafted late and make the team.

Forbes is not unfamiliar to most women's basketball fans in the state of California as she played high school hoops at Folsom HS and then spent her freshman year of college at Cal. After that, she headed east for a few years playing at Harvard, where she became a team captain and was named to the second-team All-Ivy League.

The former Folsom HS star eventually ended her collegiate career this season with USC, where she averaged 14.3 points, 3.3 assists, and 3.1 rebounds per game. She also shot 37.4 percent from three-point range, which could help make this Sparks’ team. Last season, the Sparks shot 33.3 percent from the beyond (ninth in the WNBA).

The Sparks’ coaching staff and front office seem excited to add Forbes to the team and it’s a squad where there are minutes to be had. 

For rookies in the WNBA, it is tough for them to make the team based on the number of rosters available. However, Forbes has a good shot at making the team despite us having her listed under thin ice.