With the 2025 WNBA season set to begin this Friday, teams are required to cut their rosters down to either 11 or 12 players. Some teams have already made a few surprising roster cuts, including players who were just selected in the 2025 WNBA Draft. In the case of the Los Angeles Sparks, they still had a few cuts they needed to make to get to down the roster maximum, and they addressed that with a pair of moves late Wednesday.

The Sparks made a pair of roster moves with the cuts of Aari McDonald and Masha Kliundikova, the team announced. With those two cuts, the Sparks current roster stands at 13 players. They will have one more cut to make in advance of the May 15 deadline. The Sparks will tip off the 2025 season on May 16 against the Golden State Valkyries.

During Sparks’ media day, general manager Raegan Pebley spoke about the team’s training camp roster and the decision-making process in terms of potential cuts.

“We were actually intentional in not having as big of a roster as we could have. . .we felt it was important that we weren’t taking practice reps away from players that absolutely needed to get it this training camp,” Pebley said. “It’s so fast, this isn’t a practice league and we won’t get this time back. We still had a larger than 12 training camp, but you got to see what people can do. . .We need to see what people can do.”

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Aari McDonald had re-signed with the Sparks in the offseason after hitting restricted free agency. With a glut of guards on the roster, McDonald was always facing an uphill climb to make the team’s final roster. The Sparks brought in All-Star Kelsey Plum, re-signed veteran Odyssey Sims and brought over Julie Allemand and Shaneice Swain.

Allemand had joined the Sparks in a sign-and-trade with the Chicago Sky last offseason, but sat out the year after suffering an injury while playing overseas. She’s continuing to rehab from the injury while in camp with the Sparks. Swain was drafted by the Sparks in 2023, but had been playing in Australia to this point.

Kliundikova also faced a bit of an uphill battle in making the Sparks’ final roster due to their frontcourt additions. Last year’s No. 2 overall pick Cameron Brink is expected to return to the court, albeit not until June. The team already had veterans Dearica Hamby and Azurá Stevens on the roster, and they signed another center in Mercedes Russell in free agency.