WASHINGTON — A very cool moment in Los Angeles Sparks history happened Friday night.
When you talk about the history of the WNBA, Lisa Leslie is one of the first people you think of. She was one of the inaugural players and ushered in the new league with the utmost class, as well as excellence on the court, becoming the first WNBA player to dunk in a game and winning back-to-back championships with LA in the league’s fifth and sixth seasons. Oh, by the way, she won three MVP awards, making her one of only four players with at least three.
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But you can’t talk about the history of the WNBA without also talking about Nneka Ogwumike, the president of the players association since 2016 who has negotiated two collective bargaining agreements, including the latest one in 2026 that more than quintupled players’ maximum salary to $1.4 million. She has an MVP award and a championship of her own, and is one of the best players of her generation.
Together, Leslie and Ogwumike make up two of the Sparks’ all-time Big 3, with Candace Parker being the other. They are the only three players in franchise history with at least 2,000 made field goals while wearing the purple and gold.
On Friday night, Nneka added eight more to her total, the second of which was her 2,333rd and put her ahead of Leslie for No. 1 on the Sparks’ all-time list.
What’s staggering is how much more efficient Nneka has been.
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Parker shot 48.2 percent from the field as a Spark. Leslie shot 47 percent. Ogwumike is shooting 54.5 percent thus far, which is No. 1 in franchise history. Her overall mark of 53.9, if you count her two years with the Seattle Storm, is 10th all time in the W.
Passing Leslie is an honor that wouldn’t have come if Ogwumike hadn’t come back to LA. Much has been made of how this isn’t a farewell tour for the soon-to-be 36-year-old. No. She came back to win a championship.
Well, the Sparks won their game against the Washington Mystics Friday night, 92-87, without their best player in Kelsey Plum to improve to 4-3 after a 1-3 start. They beat the league favorite and defending champion Las Vegas Aces in their previous game without Ogwumike.
Impressive stuff for a team that got off to a disappointing start. Perhaps they can compete for a championship somewhere down the line this season. For now, it’s just all too fitting to see Ogwumike achieve this franchise record. It wouldn’t have been right had she left it lingering and never returned to claim it.
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You can tell from her words that she feels that way:
Lisa is ultimate company. And being a part of this organization has always been about legacy. So I’m grateful to just be even mentioned amongst greats like Lisa. But then also to be able to play with someone who’s probably going to pass my record in the years to come in Cam (Brink). It’s all about honoring that legacy and nurturing it as well. So I’m just happy to be here doing it in a Sparks jersey.
Ogwumike also passed Leslie on the all-time WNBA rebounds list in the same contest, now sitting at sixth with 3,312.
How Nneka Ogwumike and Erica Wheeler came through in the clutch for LA in DC
Ogwumike’s final field goal of the night was a 3 from the right wing that broke an 81-81 tie with 1:51 to go.
The game was far from over at that point, but it was a huge shot in the clutch from the ultimate leader. She remained calm all game long and chipped in with baskets here and there that proved to be crucial in the end, none more than that shot.
“It was the right shot at the right time, and I’m glad that I took it,” Ogwumike said.
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She finished with 20 points and 11 boards, but the Sparks wouldn’t have won without Erica Wheeler, Dearica Hamby and Cameron Brink all having big nights as well.
Wheeler recorded 14 of her 21 points in the fourth quarter, including scoring LA’s final eight after Ogwumike’s big 3.
Wheeler has played for five different teams, but is familiar with being a Spark, having played for them in 2021 when she was fifth in the W in clutch points per game. She’s only averaged double figure scoring four times in 10 years, but last year with the Storm was one of them, and she appears to be ready to be a key contributor for this Sparks team. In the fourth, she put her head down and aggressively drove to the basket; she just wouldn’t be denied.
Her first basket of the final frame came on a difficult layup where she was just barely able to pull ahead of the defense. That made it 71-64 Sparks. Another driving layup made it 75-66, and she was pumped. Then, she got creative, throwing it off the back of Michaela Onyenwere on an inbound and gathering it herself for an easy lay-in that made it 77-69. With 1:10 remaining she drove down the left side and pulled up for a short bank shot that went down for a score of 86-81. Then, after back-to-back Sonia Citron layups cut it to 86-85, she wasted no time finding a wide-open lane for an easy drive and score with 29.8 ticks left.
She would ice the contest with a 4-for-4 effort at the charity stripe down the stretch, sealing the five-point win. Not to mention, she tallied eight assists.
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Here’s what Sparks head coach Lynne Roberts said about Wheeler:
E is just the epitomization of toughness. She’s just a tough cookie. Mentally tough, physically tough. She had seven assists at halftime, so she was dealing, and it opened things up for her in the second half.
That toughness—it’s confidence. It’s confidence that comes from the work. She executed great and is just fearless. I don’t know where we’d be without her. So I’m super proud of her and what she brings to this team—not just what you saw tonight, but all the things in the locker room. She’s a winner and has just this ultimate toughness that I love coaching.
Wheeler actually didn’t lead LA in dimes, despite being the team’s point guard and despite eight usually being high enough to lead a team.
No. It was forward Dearica Hamby who had a career-high nine assists (and just one turnover) to go along with 14 points, seven rebounds and four steals. She quietly flirted with a triple-double, while Ogwumike and Wheeler stole the spotlight.
How Cameron Brink is shaking off the pressure and contributing to winning in big ways
Also stealing the spotlight was Brink, who led all scorers at the break with 14 points before finishing with 16 in just 17 minutes off the bench.
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At the 4:43 mark of the second quarter, she drew a charge on Mystics star center Shakira Austin, which was Austin’s third foul and sent her to the bench. On the ensuing Sparks possession, Brink drove from behind the arc for a layup that cut her team’s deficit to 29-27 (an Austin basket was later taken off the scoreboard, so it was really 27-27 at this point). With 3:07 left in the frame, she buried a triple from the left corner to dramatically give LA a 32-31 advantage (the scoreboard was later corrected to 32-29).
Brink’s big second quarter wasn’t done there. A
fter she made two freebies to make it 36-34 Sparks with 1:13 remaining before halftime, she batted away a Georgia Amoore pass intended for Kiki Iriafen, and it led to a Chance Gray 3 on the other end. Brink would rattle in her second trey of the contest from the right wing at the shot clock buzzer with 17.7 ticks left to produce the halftime score of 42-37 LA. She finished an efficient 2-for-3 from distance.
Her 16 points tied her season-high, achieved in last Saturday’s upset win over Vegas, a game in which she added eight rebounds. After playing just eight minutes in the Sparks’ opener, she has started to string together some really good basketball, and was able to carry momentum over from the Aces game, even though that was six days earlier. It was needed with LA missing Plum.
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Brink is facing a lot of pressure, as she is expected to have a big impact for her team—now and especially in the future. The team traded away another young talent in Rickea Jackson this offseason, leaving a lot on Brink’s shoulders as the future of the franchise. It’s good to see her finding success.
After the game, Brink expressed appreciation for her teammates in helping her rise to the moment:
I’m really lucky. Every day I come to practice with a smile on my face and just really excited to be around this group. Obviously without KP it was kind of daunting, for me at least. She’s a big engine to this team. But I think just leaning on everybody and just enjoying my company (allowed me to step up).
Brink was also asked about the Mystics’ frontcourt being a particularly difficult challenge and how practicing against Ogwumike and Hamby prepares her for such a challenge. Here’s how she responded:
I have to give props to Shakira, Kiki, all of their bigs. They’re a very tough guard. And playing with Kiki (at Stanford), she’s just getting better and better, so I’m really happy to see her grow here.
But iron sharpens iron. I think I learn so much every day from Nneka, Dearica, all of our vets, even our rookies. And I’m just really proud of the way we pour into each other. But yeah, having Nneka by my side, the milestone she just hit is just so amazing. I’m just really lucky to be able to learn as much as I do every day.
The Sparks are going to be dangerous when Plum returns. They proved they can be dangerous even without her, defeating a good Mystics team on the road.
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Next up, they travel to Connecticut for the second game of a back-to-back Saturday at 6 p.m. ET.
