Our MVP, and other midseason awards. Plus: Change is coming in L.A.

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Welcome back to No Offseason. Today:

✖️ Sparks GM out

🏆 Our midseason awards

🗳️ Take our poll!

Let’s go.

Change-Up: Sparks’ makeover is underway

The Sparks have been desperately trying to reestablish a winning culture for the entirety of the 2020s, missing the playoffs the past five seasons. Halfway through the 2026 campaign, which was touted as a contending season, the Sparks are under .500 and once again outside of the playoff picture.

On Sunday, the organization announced it “agreed to part ways” with general manager Raegan Pebley. But the timing is curious, to say the least.

Pebley leaves a wake of questionable decisions over the course of her two-plus-year tenure, but with less than three weeks to go before the WNBA trade deadline, was now really the moment to make a change?

It’ll be interesting to see how the team approaches the GM hire. Pebley came with a coaching track record, but no front-office experience. Veteran executive Karen Bryant was the GM before her but never intended to actually stick around, and Derek Fisher backed into the GM role when the Sparks fired Penny Toler in 2019 and never bothered to replace her. Ownership values front-office expertise, based on the track record with the Los Angeles Dodgers (they share ownership), but the WNBA has a very different pipeline of available GM candidates.

Assistant GMs Zach Knowlton and Nate Nielsen will jointly handle the role on an interim basis. Their first order of business must be figuring out what moves can be made at the trade deadline, specifically as it pertains to guard Kelsey Plum.

Pebley landed Plum in a three-team trade that cost the Sparks the No. 2 pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft, which amounted to center Dominique Malonga. In Plum’s first season with the Sparks, she earned her fourth All-Star nod, averaging 19.5 points per game, 5.7 assists and 3.1 rebounds. The Sparks went 21-23 and finished ninth in league standings, narrowly losing out on the final playoff spot to expansion franchise Golden State Valkyries.

The two-time WNBA champion agreed to return to L.A., signing a one-year, $999,999 contract. She was once again named an All-Star reserve, though she has missed 10 of 22 games and the Sparks are 3-7 without her.

The question the Sparks have to answer ahead of the deadline: Can they count on Plum to return in free agency?

If the answer is no, they have to shop Plum and go all in on the JuJu Watkins sweepstakes.

Fast Breaks

📈 ICYMI, Cheryl Reeve set the regular-season wins record last week, with 380 victories. The Lynx coach already owned the WNBA playoff wins record.

🎬 Angel Reese is exactly where she should be. Why she’s the perfect fit for the Dream, in the “Hollywood of the South.”

👫 Former Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff had a courtside date night during the Sparks’ win over the Sky last week. “I love the W,” Harris said.

🏀 Speaking presidentially, the WNBA will be the first pro league to host events at Chicago’s new Obama Presidential Center.

🏙️ Over in New York, Betnijah Laney-Hamilton isn’t getting a ton of minutes in her 11th season in the league. Is her future uncertain with the Liberty?

📋 The Aces waived Chennedy Carter, highlighting a spate of roster changes before the contracts became guaranteed.

🎙️ And as always, listen to our latest “No Offseason” episode, wherever you get your podcasts!

Midseason Awards: And the 🏆 goes to …

Every team except for the Mystics has played at least half of its 44-game schedule, making this the perfect time to check in on the state of the league.

First, the standings:

Now, let’s dish out some wanted and unwanted honors. Here are awards we’d give out if the season ended today:

Biggest standings surprise

The Mercury have to be the biggest surprise in the WNBA standings at the halfway point of the season because of where they finished last year. General manager Nick U’ren struck out in free agency, but still the team returned perennial MVP candidate Alyssa Thomas and 2021 Finals MVP Kahleah Copper. I’d venture to guess no one expected them to have fewer than 10 wins at the halfway mark. — Annie

I certainly didn’t have the Lynx sitting atop the standings after losing two starters and two more rotation players in the offseason … oh, and Napheesa Collier hasn’t yet played. Point me in the direction of whatever fountain of youth Natasha Howard is drinking out of. — Sabreena

MVP

If the season ended today, my vote would go to four-time MVP A’ja Wilson. — Annie

Co-sign, but Olivia Miles is right there, especially after a 16-point, three-assist fourth quarter to close out the Mercury last night. — Sabreena

ROTY

Miles, next question. — Annie and Sabreena

Coach of the Year

This has to be Cheryl Reeve, considering where the Lynx are at despite injuries, including to 2025 MVP runner-up Napheesa Collier, and roster turnover. — Annie and Sabreena

Coach on the hot seat

Tyler Marsh is at the top of this list. While the Sky have navigated injuries early in the season, including leading scorer Rickea Jackson, they have enough to be better than a seven-win team. — Annie

Is anyone actually expecting Sun coach Rachid Meziane to be the coach when the Comets tip off in Houston next season? It wouldn’t be surprising if the Sun let Meziane go early to see what they have in assistant coach Roneeka Hodges. — Sabreena

What’s going on here?

The Liberty have a roster that’s almost unfair when it comes to depth, but at the halfway mark, first year coach Chris DeMarco is still trying to get it to translate. Sure, they’ve dealt with injuries and absences, but that’s what the depth is for. Two-time MVP Breanna Stewart is too often tasked with being the Liberty’s savior. As the All-Star break approaches, the Liberty have to start making their championship caliber roster make sense. — Annie

How does a team with a four-time MVP lose not one, but three separate games by 30+ points? The Aces have a maddening tendency to let go of the rope in a blowout and then flip the switch the next time out. Last season’s 17-game winning streak (spanning the regular season and playoffs) proved you can never count out Las Vegas. But shouldn’t a great team — a dynastic one, even — be a little more consistent? — Sabreena

You Gotta See This: Crash-out crisis averted?

One of the funniest moments of the WNBA season transpired in Montreal on Sunday when Betnijah Laney-Hamilton hit Marina Mabrey with a shoe (!!) during a stoppage in play. It was so unexpected that there isn’t even a good camera angle of Laney-Hamilton launching the shoe, though it very clearly lands on Mabrey’s back.

For a game that had been pretty tense leading up to the throw, it’s kind of remarkable that nothing escalated after Mabrey was hit. In fact, everyone came out a winner.

⭐ One star for Laney-Hamilton for calmly exiting the floor after getting ejected (the shoe toss was her second technical of the game) and giving the driest answer possible about the throw. Courtesy of the New York Post: “I would never intentionally try to hit someone with a shoe, especially while they’re not looking. Teammate (Jonquel Jones) was without a shoe, so I did my best to try and get it to her. Unfortunately, it did hit someone.”

⭐⭐ Two stars for Sabrina Ionescu for immediately restraining Mabrey before she could confront Laney-Hamilton in the heat of the moment. Unfortunately, she had no such luck cooling down her head coach postgame.

⭐⭐⭐ Three stars for our crash-out queen! Mabrey made it through the ordeal unscathed even though she already had one technical foul and then produced an iconic postgame moment. She also commented on Ionescu’s Instagram post about the Sabrina 4 release Monday, writing, “Throw me one 😂”.

Decisions: Which school alumni are you taking?

The 2026 All-Star rosters have three schools with multiple players represented: UConn, South Carolina and Notre Dame, which actually leads the way with four All-Stars. The Huskies and Gamecocks each have three.

It had us wondering, which alumni group would you take in a 3-on-3 round-robin tournament? We’ve picked the five leading scorers from each school to make up the teams.

UConn: Paige Bueckers, Breanna Stewart, Gabby Williams, Azzi Fudd and Azurá Stevens

South Carolina: A’ja Wilson, Allisha Gray, Aliyah Boston, Kamilla Cardoso and Zia Cooke

Notre Dame: Marina Mabrey, Sonia Citron, Kayla McBride, Jackie Young and Jessica Shepard

Leave a comment with your pick. We’ll reveal the results in next week’s edition.

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This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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