The Los Angeles Sparks resume the 2024 WNBA season on Thursday at home against the New York Liberty, but they will be missing several key players due to injury. In addition to Cameron Brink (ACL) and Lexie Brown (Crohn's) who were already sidelined prior to the Olympic break, the Sparks will also be without both Aari McDonald and Stephanie Talbot who are both out with foot injuries.
Stephanie Talbot's foot injury is not new, it's something that she had been dealing with during the first half of the season. She aggravated the injury back on July 7 against the Phoenix Mercury when she excited the game early and did not return.
Talbot is fresh off winning a bronze medal with Australia in the Olympics. During the medal clinching game against Belgium, Talbot finished with six points, seven rebounds, four assists and one blocked shot.
The injury to Aari McDonald though is something new though and could be concerning for the Sparks. McDonald had been the team's starting point guard since mid-June. She's played in all 24 games so far this season.
McDonald was acquired in an offseason trade with the Atlanta Dream. She's been averaging 9.3 points, 2.2 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.0 steals with splits of 40.6 percent shooting from the field, 31.5 percent shooting from the three-point line and 84.3 percent shooting from the free-throw line. Her assist numbers are a career-high.
Second half of 2024 WNBA season will shape Sparks future
With the Sparks set to tip-off the second half of the regular season against the visiting Liberty, their future could hang in the balance. As it stands, the Sparks are only four games back of the eighth and final playoff spot with 16 games remaining. A playoff push is not out of the question despite being unlikely.
Currently, the Chicago Sky hold the eighth seed while the Sparks are in 10th place. The Dream are in 9th place and three games back of the final playoff spot. The Sparks are also a mere half a game back of both the Washington Mystics and Dallas Wings for the best odds at the No. 1 pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft.
The expected top pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft is UConn star Paige Bueckers. Bueckers can play point guard which is a major position of need for the Sparks. The team is going to have to weight the cost/benefits of either making a late season playoff surge or a improve their late season lottery odds.
The Sparks have not made the postseason for three consecutive years now. The last time they were in the playoffs was the 2020 season in the bubble. Back then, the WNBA's old playoff format had the Sparks receiving a first round bye. They lost in the second round against the Connecticut Sun when the first two rounds were single elimination. The WNBA change their postseason format to eliminate byes and to make all playoff series to be at least a best of three.
The Sparks accelerated their rebuild with two lottery picks in the 2024 WNBA draft that became Cameron Brink and Rickea Jackson.
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