A Resilient Performance in Minneapolis
The Los Angeles Sparks (12-18) breathed new life into their 2026 WNBA playoff campaign on Thursday, delivering a stunning 89-82 upset victory against the league-leading Minnesota Lynx. The win ended Minnesota’s 10-game winning streak and marked a significant shift in momentum for a Sparks squad that had recently struggled with a 3-11 stretch and a high-profile roster transition.
Rae Burrell led the offensive effort with 17 points, while Erica Wheeler anchored the game-ending 8-0 run that ultimately sealed the outcome. The final five minutes of the contest proved decisive; after Kayla McBride hit a three-pointer to give the Lynx (25-7) an 82-81 lead, the Sparks’ defense tightened, forcing Minnesota to miss their final seven shots. The Lynx went scoreless for the final 4:53 of the game, a defensive collapse that Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve described postgame as a failure across every position.
Navigating Post-Trade Realities
The victory arrives in the wake of the Sparks trading five-time All-Star Kelsey Plum to the Phoenix Mercury earlier this week. The move, which brought a 2027 first-round pick and second-year guard Monique Akoa Makani to Los Angeles, was framed by management as a strategic pivot toward the future. While the trade was viewed by many as a signal that the Sparks were conceding the 2026 season, veteran leader Nneka Ogwumike has maintained that the locker room remains focused on the postseason.
“We have to be consistent in what we know makes us good,” coach Lynne Roberts stated. “When you don’t have a one-on-one player like KP that can just go get a bucket, you’ve got to rely on movement—player movement, ball movement—and just be playing unselfish.”
The Path to the No. 8 Seed
Despite the recent win, the Sparks face a daunting road to the playoffs. With an 11-18 record entering the week, Los Angeles sits in 10th place, trailing the eighth-seeded Washington Mystics by six games. Every team in the race has between 11 and 16 games remaining, and the Sparks must navigate a schedule where ten of their final 16 games are against teams currently holding playoff berths.
The mathematical reality is slim: to reach the 25-win threshold likely required for the final spot, the Sparks would need to finish the season on a 14-2 run. Their path includes two critical matchups against the Washington Mystics, who currently control their own destiny. For the Sparks, the focus is now on maintaining the chemistry shown in Minneapolis, where Dearica Hamby, Ogwumike, Wheeler, and Cameron Brink all contributed double-digit scoring efforts.