The Los Angeles Sparks are desperately trying to get into the playoffs this season, but they are running out of time to do just that. Of course, Los Angeles' season has been severely affected by injury, including Cameron Brink missing the first part of the season while recovering from her torn ACL injury.

On Tuesday night during a game against the Phoenix Mercury, the Sparks suffered another concerning injury. Star forward Rickea Jackson went down with an ankle injury during the second half and immediately left the game.

While that is a concerning sight for Sparks fans, they quickly got some good news. After a brief stint in the locker room, Jackson returned to the Los Angeles bench and eventually checked back into the game.

Unfortunately for the Sparks, Jackson's return was not enough to help them complete a comeback in front of their home fans and get a win over the Mercury. Despite a late push from Los Angeles, Phoenix was still able to come away with a very important 92-84 win in a game that had big playoff implications for both teams.

Jackson starred for the Sparks despite the brief absence, scoring 21 points on 7-for-11 shooting in 27 minutes. The Tennessee product knocked down four 3-pointers in the process and showed off all the skills that make her the future of the franchise in Hollywood.

While the future looks bright in Los Angeles, the present is starting to look a little bit bleaker after another loss. The Sparks now sit at 17-19 after this loss and have just eight games to go in the regular season. At the moment, they currently sit in the first spot out of the postseason field and are 1.5 games behind the Seattle Storm in the No. 8 spot.

That will be hard ground to make up in the coming weeks, but the Sparks do play against Seattle on Sept. 1 in what is likely a must-win game to make the playoffs.

Whether Los Angeles gets into the postseason or not, it can be confident heading into the offseason with a clear building block for the future in Jackson, who is averaging just a shade under 15 points per game this season. As for their playoff push, it is great news that her injury appears to be nothing serious coming out of Tuesday night's contest.