The Los Angeles Sparks came into their matchup against the Minnesota Lynx on Saturday a little short-handed. Julie Allemand is away from the team as she participates in Eurobasket for the Belgium national team, and Odyssey Sims was a late scratch from the lineup due to personal reasons. That left the team very thin in the backcourt. The Sparks made a roster move to address that with the signing of veteran guard Shey Peddy, the team announced.

The addition of Shey Peddy was a hardship contract, temporarily allowing the Sparks to make a roster move with multiple players out. Sims’ being out for the game against the Lynx gave the Sparks only eight available players. The signing now brings the Sparks’ active roster to nine players. In the WNBA, teams are allowed to add players past the maximum of 12 in the form of hardship contracts if they don’t have enough active players.

The No. 23 overall pick in the 2012 WNBA Draft, Peddy did not make her league debut until the 2019 season as a free agent with the Washington Mystics. Prior to that, she had carved out an extensive career playing professionally overseas.

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Peddy’s last season in the WNBA was in 2023 with the Phoenix Mercury. She appeared in 18 games that season at a little over 15 minutes per game. She averaged 5.2 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.8 assists with splits of 36.9 percent shooting from the field, 34.8 percent shooting from the three-point line and 80 percent shooting from the free-throw line.

Peddy played a total of one and half seasons for the Mystics, and three and a half seasons for the Mercury. Her best season to date was in 2022 when she started 24 of 34 games for the Mercury, averaging a career-best 9.9 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.6 steals. She gives the Sparks a veteran presence off the bench with the temporary absences of Sims and Allemand.

The Sparks have shown better consistency as of late, winning two of their last three games. In their most recent win against the Las Vegas Aces, Rickea Jackson had a breakout game to lead the way.