WNBA: Can LA build a contender around Jackson, Brink this offseason?

The 2024 WNBA season ended for the Los Angeles Sparks quickly, as they missed the postseason for a fourth-consecutive season.

While we are still weeks away from free agency ramping up and months from WNBA action, the team has already begun getting to work for the 2025 season. The franchise parted ways with head coach Curt Miller and hired Lynne Roberts to take his place. Despite this low point in team history, they aren’t as far away as they seem from making some noise.

The Sparks have an All-Star in Dearica Hamby, an All-Rookie player in Rickea Jackson and Cameron Brink, who should be returning from her ACL injury ready to go. With this trio and the No. 2 overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft, it’s not farfetched to imagine Los Angeles making a run this season and returning to playoff contention.

Before that can happen, though, they need to fill out their roster. Here is a look at who is under contract, who will be a free agent and three questions the Sparks must think about during this free agency period:

Facts and figures*

Players under contract (contract status; 2025 salary)

• Julie Allemand (unprotected; $85,000)
• Cameron Brink (unprotected; $78,066)
• Lexie Brown (protected $96,408)
• Rae Burrell (unprotected; $125,000)
• Zia Cooke (unprotected $76,630)
• Dearica Hamby (protected veteran $202,000)
• Rickea Jackson (unprotected; $78,066)
• Azurá Stevens (protected veteran; $195,000)

Free agent (type; 2024 salary)

• Aari McDonald (restricted; $89,302)
• Kia Nurse (unrestricted; $142,500)
• Li Yueru (reserved; $64,767)

Total salary of free agents: $296,569

Total team salary: $1,036,170

Cap space: $570,930

2025 WNBA Draft picks (2025 salary)

• Round 1, No. 2 ($78,831)
• Round 2, No. 13 ($69,267)
• Round 3, No. 26 ($66,079)
• Round 3, No. 28 ($66,079)

1. Who must stay?

Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images

For a team that went 8-32 last year, almost no one is a must-keep player, minus Hamby, Jackson and Brink. WNBA rosters often have significant changes from year to year, and that is even more true for teams like LA that didn’t have much success last season.

The first step in free agency is the window between Jan. 11 and Jan. 20, when teams can make qualifying offers and core player designations.

Kia Nurse is an unrestricted free agent, so the Sparks could core her, meaning she will stay with the team on a one-year super max contract. LA making such a decision would be surprising, given that Nurse averaged 7.6 points, 1.6 assists and 1.3 rebounds per game. Aari McDonald is another interesting situation. The Sparks need to evaluate their guards and see who can contribute to their turnaround, and she is a restricted free agent.

2. Who can they add?

Sparks need quality guards like a fish needs water. Since the departure of Chelsea Gray after the 2020 season, they’ve struggled to find a sustainable backcourt.

Can the Sparks make a big splash and convince someone like Kelsey Plum of the Las Vegas Aces or Courtney Vandersloot from the New York Liberty to take their talents to LA? That might be too big of a jump, but maybe they can snag a guard from the Fever, such as Erica Wheeler or Kelsey Mitchell.

It will be interesting to see how the Sparks’ front office operates now that Miller is gone, and we should have a clearer vision of their plan for the first year of the Lynne Roberts era once the dust settles in free agency.

3. Who could they draft?

Photo by Michael Miller/ISI Photos/Getty Images

With USC forward Kiki Iriafen and Notre Dame guard Olivia Miles being deemed as the best players in the 2025 WNBA Draft behind UConn’s Paige Bueckers, the question being asked among fans is: Will the Sparks go with the best player available or opt for a guard regardless?

Personally, I think that the answer is Miles either way, but perhaps free agency will hint at the path they will take. If they clear up space for a starting guard and don’t make a splash in free agency, perhaps that means they’ll pick one up with the No. 2 pick. Or if they do grab a potential All-Star for the backcourt, that might indicate they’ll be leaning for a forward in the draft.

Regardless, this is a big season for Los Angeles. They have a new coach, a top pick, some exciting young players and a playoff drought they want to end. Making the right moves in the winter is key to having a good summer. If they miss the mark here, then the only thing that will change for the Sparks in 2025 will be the date on the calendar. And, frankly, that’s not an acceptable standard for a legacy franchise. Get it done. Start building a winner.

*Thanks to Her Hoop Stats for all roster information and salary numbers.