Sparks, Mercury will be severely shorthanded, up to 7 players may be out for regular-season series finale

The Los Angeles Sparks are eliminated from the playoffs, but they still have two games to go in a season where they have been decimated by injuries.

Against the Phoenix Mercury tonight, Odyssey Sims is probable for the game tonight despite dealing with a right-hand injury. The second-overall pick from the 2014 WNBA Draft by the now-defunct Tulsa Shock has not played a full season since she was on the Minnesota Lynx in 2019. She would go on to sign a hardship contract with the Dallas Wings on June 25 this year before she left her home state of Texas and signed with the Sparks on Aug. 17 due to the number of injuries on the team. In 13 games (eight starts) for the Sparks since joining last month, she is averaging 11.0 points, 5.2 assists and 1.5 rebounds per game. Sims was also on the Sparks in 2017.

Besides Sims, the Sparks still have a massive injury report with four players out for different reasons.

The Sparks’ second-overall pick in this year’s WNBA Draft, Cameron Brink, suffered a season-ending ACL tear and former University of Arizona star Aari McDonald (Right Ankle) is also sidelined. Layshia Clarendon (Mental Health) will not be with the team while Lexie Brown is still in a long battle with Crohn’s disease.

Brink underwent surgery on her left knee after she sustained the catastrophic injury on June 18 against the Connecticut Sun. As she was driving towards the basket, she fell awkwardly and struggled to get up. Before she was shut down for the rest of her rookie year, the 6-foot-4 forward averaged 7.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 15 WNBA games.

McDonald, who played for Arizona from 2018-21, has been inactive for the past five games and will be so tonight. The Atlanta Dream’s third-overall pick in the 2021 draft has suited up for 26 games (10 starts) and posted 8.7 points, 3.7 assists and 2.0 rebounds per game in her first year as a Spark. Atlanta traded McDonald and the No. 8 pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft in exchange for Jordin Canada and the No. 12 pick (Nyadiew Puoch). The Sparks then flipped the No. 8 in another trade.

Being diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in the offseason, Brown went from a normal starter to being dropped to the bench this year for Los Angeles. As this season has progressed, she was eventually ruled out indefinitely and hasn’t appeared in a game since June 20. The Duke product played 16 games (eight starts) and had 8.1 points, 3.3 assists and 2.3 rebounds per game this season.

The 11-year WNBA veteran Clarendon played in 21 games this year, was injured, came back, played one game after the Olympic break and has been unavailable due to mental health reasons.

For Phoenix, UCLA product Charisma Osborne (Left Lower Leg) has been out since June 22, but she was upgraded from out to doubtful and has a sliver of a chance to suit up back in the city where she played collegiately. Mercury star Kahleah Copper (Back) and Rebecca Allen (Right Hamstring) remain out.

Osborne was a Bruin for five seasons (2018-23) and played 152 games for UCLA. The Fontana, Calif. native has played just two games in her first WNBA season.

Tip-off between the Mercury and Sparks commences at 7:30 p.m. PT inside Crypto.com Arena in L.A.