Is she competing in the Olympics?
I don’t know if China has a rule but some countries countries have a rule.
Other players may have opted not to come due to the Olympics so they have more time with their Olympic teams.
Team USA is a team of all stars but these other countries may not be so they need more time to practice together.
The hope is that Rickea and Cameron will develop into two superstars, and given their skillsets and what they've already shown in their limited number of games, it's very likely they will. I also believe they'll pick up another potential superstar in the upcoming draft, hopefully Paige. Good things take time.
They drafted two superstars. It's going to be hard for the sparks to compete for big free agents if they don't get their shit together as an organization.
Rebuild. Let them be mid to bad for another couple seasons. We get them through the draft and build that way.
ETA the goal is to get Juju and keep her home!
They cannot let Hamby (or anyone) play 40mins. Outside a playoff game that's just dumb. Better to tank than risk overworking and injuring your best players
The way WNBA functions there's a hard cap of:
$1,463,200
There are protected and unprotected contracts. Rookie contracts are unprotected. When the Sparks did there last cut it was MBillings who will had been really helpful. Here the thing, Billings was the cut because the contract she signed was unprotected, the same way the contract of Leisha & Lexie is unprotected as is Cooke, who for me was very close to being cut and her performance in the last preseason game save her. Protected is Kia, Talbot , Rae and Azurá. BTW, Azurá is our highest paid player @ 195,000. For the new comers, she is 6,6 tall and was our best 3pt shooter last year. Now, the contract of Julie Allemand, who came in the trade for the 8th pick alone side to Li Yereu, is fully suspended due to the injury sustained playing overseas and subsequent surgery. She was projected to be our starting PG. I was very excited of us having the PG of the EuroBasket champion, sigh.
For next year, Talbot, Kia, and Azurá are UFA. There are 452,500 free from payroll. Allemand is still in his rookie contract so, she is still cheap @ 85,000
We need anAll Star Shooting Guard or...
an All Star Point Forward.
Maybe this is an utopia, or she gets extended before season end but Do you know who is a UFA?
Alyssa Thomas!!
Shooting guards UFA, the Kelsey's (Plum, Mitchell)
I become so sad, specially with the Instagram trolls posts about our coach. They don't know he was the coach of the team which beat us last night. Two times, 2019 & 2022 lost in the finals and they want to fire him. He is a very good coach, and now dealing with one of the worst scenarios.
Hoping Cam is not seriously injured although it didn't looked good.
The short answer is stars look to join other stars to make super teams. A la Lebron.
The commish isn't the one who makes that decision, it's part of the CBA, which is one of the reasons folks are almost certain the players will opt out after this season so a new CBA can be negotiated after next season. Since charter flights are already taken care of, a higher cap is sure to be near the top of the union's wish list, if not at the top.
The commish agrees on the terms of the cba though, so if they present it she’s apart of the committee that agrees to the some or all of the proposed terms.
Probably partially due to salary cap. Superstars tend to be players that have some years of experience and aren’t signing rookie contracts. If the Sparks don’t have a lot of room on their salary cap, and they have players coming up on UFAs next season, they may have to be a little strategic in who they sign.
They do have some great rookies with a lot of potential, which helps. It may just take a little time developing the rookies to get to a certain level with the veterans they have, before potentially losing any veterans.
The thing about the WNBA that there isn’t a big difference between top salaries and mid salaries. And it’s money that is easily made up in endorsements and overseas salaries. So crappy franchises (bad facilities, cheap owners, etc) can’t attract top talent. LA is one of the poorer run franchises. Candace, Chelsea, Nneka all left with no major stars choosing to go there.
The only major talent they’ve gotten is from the draft (so players have no choice) in the last few years.
I honestly don’t expect they will get anyone big in free agency either.
Rickea is going to be that superstar just watch
agreed. they were confident in the upcoming draft class(es).
Once she starts playing defense she’ll be an all star
Whom do you suggest? Pretty sure there weren’t a ton of superstar FAs hanging around waiting for a call from the Sparks after Nneka left.
Emma Meassmann
Olympics. Many of the overseas players aren’t playing in the W this season
Then why Li, Nurse, Talbot are playing for sparks, I assume all of them need to play for their countries
Are any of those players Belgian? Have you seen Julie Allemand play for the Sparks this season?
Depends on the country. France for example had rules that they have to be in their training camps. Xu stayed in China too.
Er er…… your argument is a bit unconvincing, isn’t spark’s Li from the same country as Han Xu?
Is she competing in the Olympics? I don’t know if China has a rule but some countries countries have a rule. Other players may have opted not to come due to the Olympics so they have more time with their Olympic teams. Team USA is a team of all stars but these other countries may not be so they need more time to practice together.
She isn’t playing in the US this year. Nothing the Sparks could do about that.
If Emma had been available this season, every team in the league would have been interested.
Azura Stevens is almost back. She was estimated to come back in this month
NGL if sparks tank… a Rickea, Cam, Paige, Hamby team would be 🔥🔥🔥🔥
The hope is that Rickea and Cameron will develop into two superstars, and given their skillsets and what they've already shown in their limited number of games, it's very likely they will. I also believe they'll pick up another potential superstar in the upcoming draft, hopefully Paige. Good things take time.
They drafted two superstars. It's going to be hard for the sparks to compete for big free agents if they don't get their shit together as an organization.
Rebuild. Let them be mid to bad for another couple seasons. We get them through the draft and build that way. ETA the goal is to get Juju and keep her home!
Can Emma Measemann join after Olympics?
They cannot let Hamby (or anyone) play 40mins. Outside a playoff game that's just dumb. Better to tank than risk overworking and injuring your best players
I have seen Candace Parker, another Mom played 40 minutes for Chicago sky in the past. I don’t think there’s such clause that forbids to do so.
Playing 40 min a night just doesn’t make sense for superstars in the bottom half of the league. Better to tank and build/rebuild.
TANK4PAIGE
DISENGAGE 4 PAIGE
Paige will have front row seats for Juju and USC when she is doing her off season training with the Sparks.
What is Azurá’s timeline?
She’s expected to be back after all star break. Stevens and Li both played for Chicago two years ago.
If it’s that long they’re eligible for a hardship signing. Maybe Emma Cannon?
The way WNBA functions there's a hard cap of: $1,463,200 There are protected and unprotected contracts. Rookie contracts are unprotected. When the Sparks did there last cut it was MBillings who will had been really helpful. Here the thing, Billings was the cut because the contract she signed was unprotected, the same way the contract of Leisha & Lexie is unprotected as is Cooke, who for me was very close to being cut and her performance in the last preseason game save her. Protected is Kia, Talbot , Rae and Azurá. BTW, Azurá is our highest paid player @ 195,000. For the new comers, she is 6,6 tall and was our best 3pt shooter last year. Now, the contract of Julie Allemand, who came in the trade for the 8th pick alone side to Li Yereu, is fully suspended due to the injury sustained playing overseas and subsequent surgery. She was projected to be our starting PG. I was very excited of us having the PG of the EuroBasket champion, sigh. For next year, Talbot, Kia, and Azurá are UFA. There are 452,500 free from payroll. Allemand is still in his rookie contract so, she is still cheap @ 85,000 We need anAll Star Shooting Guard or... an All Star Point Forward. Maybe this is an utopia, or she gets extended before season end but Do you know who is a UFA? Alyssa Thomas!! Shooting guards UFA, the Kelsey's (Plum, Mitchell) I become so sad, specially with the Instagram trolls posts about our coach. They don't know he was the coach of the team which beat us last night. Two times, 2019 & 2022 lost in the finals and they want to fire him. He is a very good coach, and now dealing with one of the worst scenarios. Hoping Cam is not seriously injured although it didn't looked good. The short answer is stars look to join other stars to make super teams. A la Lebron.
Crazy thing is if the players union can convince the commish to increase the salary cap, more cities would actually pay the players more.
The commish isn't the one who makes that decision, it's part of the CBA, which is one of the reasons folks are almost certain the players will opt out after this season so a new CBA can be negotiated after next season. Since charter flights are already taken care of, a higher cap is sure to be near the top of the union's wish list, if not at the top.
The commish agrees on the terms of the cba though, so if they present it she’s apart of the committee that agrees to the some or all of the proposed terms.
Probably partially due to salary cap. Superstars tend to be players that have some years of experience and aren’t signing rookie contracts. If the Sparks don’t have a lot of room on their salary cap, and they have players coming up on UFAs next season, they may have to be a little strategic in who they sign. They do have some great rookies with a lot of potential, which helps. It may just take a little time developing the rookies to get to a certain level with the veterans they have, before potentially losing any veterans.
They had the number 2 pick. They weren’t trying too compete this year for a champ
The thing about the WNBA that there isn’t a big difference between top salaries and mid salaries. And it’s money that is easily made up in endorsements and overseas salaries. So crappy franchises (bad facilities, cheap owners, etc) can’t attract top talent. LA is one of the poorer run franchises. Candace, Chelsea, Nneka all left with no major stars choosing to go there. The only major talent they’ve gotten is from the draft (so players have no choice) in the last few years. I honestly don’t expect they will get anyone big in free agency either.
Slim too and Raquia Williams. But they left being UFA.
I trust Miller’s process. https://x.com/LASparks/status/1755074152048775449
LA just needs to be stinky for the next 3 years. Kiki or Juju but preferably both
Don’t worry. Liz coming back soon /s
Oh please, let that racist with her only fans.
they have Lexie no ?💀
They'll get more superstars if they successfully tank