Sparks' Kelsey Plum Evolving Game in Surprising Ways with LA

Four-time All-Star Los Angeles Sparks point guard Kelsey Plum has seen her game evolve in a fascinating way during her inaugural season at Crypto.com Arena.

The San Diego native (well, La Jolla) has been a stabilizing force for an L.A. squad that struggled to stay afloat with health issues early in the year, but has recently vaulted into the playoff conversation.

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In their first season under former Utah Utes Pac-12 Coach of the Year Lynne Roberts, the Sparks are 15-16 overall, good for the No. 6 seed in the WNBA. Across the last 11 games, L.A. has posted a sparkling 9-2 record.

As Ira Gorawara of The Los Angeles Times, Plum has taken major strides as a passer of late.

“I’ve always been known as a scorer and I learned that over time, your impact on the game a lot of time is because you can score, you’re going to draw attention and find people,” Plum said. “On the run we’ve been on, we’re better when I’m kind of doing both.”

In the Sparks' latest clash, a 94-91 home victory against the rising Seattle Storm, Plum dished out seven dimes against three turnovers — while also scoring a team-high 20 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field (3-of-7 from deep) and 5-of-5 shooting from the foul line and pulling down six boards.

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This season, the 5-foot-8 University of Washington product is averaging a career-best 6.1 assists a night, plus 19.8 points on a .414/.365/.906 slash line, 3.2 boards and 1.2 swipes per.

“Leadership is hard, figuring out when to push, when to pull, when to give it up, when to take it over,” Roberts said. “[Plum] just continues to get better and better at it... She’s so competitive and wants to win.”

Plum, 30, has done plenty of that over the course of her decorated career. She won consecutive championships with the 2022 and '23 Las Vegas Aces, and during that first title-winning season with the squad was also an All-WNBA First Team honoree.

With the Aces, Plum was on absolutely loaded rosters, including her now-Sparks teammate Dearica Hamby. Now, Plum is the unquestioned leader of the club, a role Hamby had carved out last season. Still, those two multi-time All-Stars (Hamby missed out this year) and former champs are now leading a talented squad that also includes rising stars Cameron Brink and Rickea Jackson.

L.A. may not be at the level of the Minnesota Lynx (27-5), New York Liberty (20-11) or a healthy Phoenix Mercury (19-12) or Indiana Fever (18-14) just yet. But the Sparks are clearly capable of getting there, and Plum's growth as a passer has been a major part of that.

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