Weekly WNBA takeaways: Sparks are dangerous; Kelsey Mitchell is carrying Fever

Kelsey Plum has been spectacular. She's got the second-best scoring average (20.1 PPG) of her career. The UConn alum has also posted career highs in assists (5.9 per game), steals (1.5), rebounds (3.2) and free-throw percentage (91.7).

Plum is attempting 6.0 free throws per game. Her previous career high was 4.1. Yet, she's still shooting 37.7 percent from three-point range with 2.6 makes per game.

Dearica Hamby (17.6 PPG) and Jackson (13.6 PPG) have each played well, too, maybe the best basketball of their careers. The No. 2 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft, Cameron Brink, has also been cleared to return after suffering an ACL injury in her rookie season, according to CBS Sports.

Brink is expected back on the court "soon." She averaged 7.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.3 blocks and 1.1 steals in 22 minutes last season. The former Stanford star should upgrade a defense that currently ranks 11th out of 13 teams in defensive rating.

Five of the next seven games are at home for the Sparks, who trail Washington for the final playoff spot by one game, but own a potential tiebreaker due to their 2-0 record against the Mystics.

The Sparks have already improved their win total by three compared to 2024, but a postseason berth is now a realistic goal with 19 games remaining. 

Here are some other WNBA takeaways from the past week. 

Atlanta keeps laying bricks

The Atlanta Dream are 3-2 over their past five games, but when you realize all of those were on the road, it becomes a lot more impressive.

That's especially true when you consider that Atlanta just defeated Phoenix, which owns the WNBA's third-best record, and Minnesota, the team with the best record, in back-to-back games.

On Sunday night, Atlanta survived a 32-point effort from MVP favorite Napheesa Collier to win in Minnesota. Brittney Griner led the way with 22 points. That was four days after beating the Mercury on the road by double digits. 

With Griner, Allisha Gray, Brionna Jones, Rhyne Howard and Jordin Canada, the Dream have five scorers averaging double figures. They are fourth in offensive rating (107.5) and defensive rating (101.3).

This is a team to watch in the WNBA playoffs.

Kelsey Mitchell carries the Fever 

Despite the injury to Caitlin Clark, the Fever haven't lost any ground in the playoff race thanks to All-Star guard Kelsey Mithcell.

Mitchell hasn't done it alone, but she has been spectacular. In three games last week, Mitchell averaged 28.3 points per game, thanks in part to 35 points (seven three-pointers) in a win over Chicago.

Indiana is 14-12 and sits in sixth place. Mitchell, who has eclipsed the 20-point mark seven times in her past eight games, is a big reason why. 

Indiana needed a star to emerge without Clark on the floor. Mitchell has been that, which is why the Fever are still just 1.5 games out of the WNBA's top four.