By Mykell Mathieu
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Sparks will have their chance to bring in a franchise player as they will be selecting second in the upcoming WNBA draft.
With this year’s draft being filled with potentially future all star players, the Sparks will have their choice of more than a handful of this players with their pick.
The Sparks were projected to pick third overall but moved up one spot with the lottery.
“It’s significant,” said Karen Bryant, the Sparks general manager who is entering her second offseason in the role. “As I’ve said to our staff for the last couple of weeks, now we’re on a recruiting path. There’s an opportunity for us to tell the narrative of the LA Sparks and to talk to all of the prospective draftees, what it could mean if they’re selected at No. 2.”
The organization sent head coach Curt Miller, who is entering his second season at the helm in LA, to be the team’s representative at the draft.
“Excited about adding an impact player in the locker room, as much as on the court,” Miller said during ESPN’s live broadcast before the lottery results were revealed. “High character, someone that’s coachable and wants to learn from these great veterans in the locker room.”
They weren’t lucky enough to get the top overall slot as the Indiana Fever was able to pick up the first overall pick selection for the second year straight. The Sparks are lucky enough to have two first round picks this year with them holding on to the 12th pick of the draft as well.
“To have two first-round picks in this draft is phenomenal for us,” Bryant said. “Super excited but I think when we get there it will be more clear by that point because we will have done a tremendous amount of homework and we will have locked in our free agents and have a much better idea what we think that missing piece is.”
The Sparks are coming off of a year where when all of their top players were on the court they looked like a playoff team but health issues and injuries was a problem most of the season.
With those injuries and health issues, the Sparks lost their final seven games of the season and missed the playoffs by one game.
The Sparks finished last season with a 17-23 overall record. The three-time WNBA champion franchise missed the playoffs for the third consecutive season, which was the first time that happened in the team’s 27-year history.
