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LA Sparks Season Recap: Dearica Hamby Wins MIP & Rickea Jackson Named All-Rookie Team!
66 Plays2 months ago
The Sparks finish at the bottom of the WNBA for only the second time in their history. The last time being the 2007 eason. Fans relax, winning basketball will return to the LA Sparks. In the meantime the future looks bright as Dearica Hamby was named Most improved player and Rickea made All Rookie Team.
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Transcript
Introduction by DJ Trixie
00:00:00
Speaker
What's going on Sparks fans? It's DJ Trixie Trixie and I am back with a brand new episode of the Spark.
Sparks' Disappointing Season
00:00:06
Speaker
Yes, the season is over. We didn't make the playoffs, but there is a lot to unpack here and we still got some great things that are happening for the Sparks. As you can see from that the title of the episode,
00:00:19
Speaker
The Sparks finished last in the WNBA. So I did a little bit of research and I looked at how many times that's actually happened. And that's only happened one other time in the 2007 season y'all where the Sparks to finish 10 and 24. So we did just a little bit worse than that season. But the good news is that's only happened twice in Sparks history period. So fans relax.
00:00:48
Speaker
Just because we have a losing season, it doesn't mean we have a losing atmosphere or a losing track record. I know nobody has been saying that, but it it just seems like when LA teams start to lose, the fans just lose all hope. And I just want to remind people of the actual statistics behind it. And we've got a lot more great things that are happening for us than, you know, bad things at this point.
00:01:12
Speaker
So the sparks finished last.
Player Highlights and Achievements
00:01:15
Speaker
We've almost locked in that spot for that lottery, almost guarantee probability wise that we'll get either the first pick or the second pick um because of the outcome of this season and last season and a bunch of other things that go into it. But The good news is the Erika Hamby and Rakia Jackson, even with this season, have gotten two major accomplishments. The Erika Hamby adds most improved player to her resume and Rakia Jackson gets selected for all rookie team. We knew this was going to happen for both of them. The Erika Hamby we were kind of on the fence with because when the team is not doing well, usually the judges will go in a different way or you know not see or wait the players the same.
00:01:59
Speaker
But Diarica had a phenomenal season, y'all. She played in unexpectedly in the 3 on 3 Olympics ah and and got bronze there. Not to mention, this year she's increased her averages to 17 points per game, 9.2 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game. And that's up from 8 points, 5 points, and 1.8 points.
00:02:25
Speaker
like That's astronomical to jump from season to same season and go up by that much. So big shouts out to De'Erika Hamby for increasing year after year, becoming a leader in the locker room here in Los Angeles. And also she became the spark single season points leader, finishing with 691 points. So big shouts out to De'Erika Hamby for doing her thing, getting most improved.
00:02:52
Speaker
And y'all know our rookie, Rakia Jackson, has been showing up and showing out ever since she's been elevated to the starting status. It makes you kind of wonder what the outcome would have been if she had started earlier in the season. But could have, should have, would have. And we weren't in that position at the time. And there were some legacy sparks that were in the building who needed to be in that starting
Team Changes and Rumors
00:03:12
Speaker
lineup. So Rakia Jackson finished the season as one of the top most efficient rookies Averaging 13 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.5 assists while shooting 45% from the field. Great job, Rakia Jackson. She finished with 535 points on the season, past Neko Ogumike. She is now the second all-time rookie in Sparks history behind Candace Parker for all points, y'all.
00:03:42
Speaker
I'm glad that she got that. Her name called for that. She'll also be joining the all rookie team with Kaitlyn Clark, Angel Reese, Camila Cardoso, and Phoebe from um though the Wizards. I mean the Wizards, the Washington Mystics. Man, that was the two words. I see why they got that team name. That's a good name. Both sides.
00:04:01
Speaker
But those are just a couple of good things that are happening. We know that Azaray Stevens is coming back. We know that Stephanie Talbot is coming back. I'm not sure how this protected player thing works with the Valkyrie. I'll try to keep you updated here as more information is made to me because it is very unclear. They don't get a lottery pick, but I think teams get to restrict four players from the team. So I don't know how that changes anything or who's actually eligible to be post from what kind of team, but we have a lot that's happening with the Sparks still that is positively trending. The one thing that maybe some gossip on the internet that is neither confirmed or denied here, so this is all just gossip, this next part.
00:04:45
Speaker
Leeroo, the word on Twitter is that Leeroo is denied coming back to the the offer to come back to the LA Sparks, and we'll be looking for another option.
Looking Forward to Next Season
00:04:58
Speaker
Now, the only way that this makes sense for me, y'all, is that when a healthy Cameron Brink comes back with Azaray's contract being extended, and De'Erika Hamby already being there, and maybe a Ray Burrell doing a little bit of the big work as well,
00:05:15
Speaker
Is there a need for Lee Uru or is there a better spot for her somewhere else in the WNBA where she can be on a starting roster? That's the only thing that I could think of that would make that rumor make any sense to me, y'all. I'm hoping and praying that that's not it because we've seen Lee become trained and get better and better. And it feels like the sky is the limit there, but it does feel like there's a little bit of duplication in positions, but we need a good big off of the bench, which Lee has been really doing and really helping out. So that's just that. I'm not sure how that's going to go, but I wanted to hop on here and let y'all know history shows we will be better next season as a Ray Stevens got on the court and made a speech about being better.
Upcoming Coverage and Social Media
00:06:02
Speaker
Let's continue to believe in our sparks and we've got a lot of good pieces. People are still winning the awards. Things are still happening, even though it felt like a losing season.
00:06:11
Speaker
Thank y'all so much for checking out this episode of the spark and continuing to stay on the podcast. WNBA season is ending, but I'm going to be doing my playoff coverage right here on this podcast. It's easier to be quite honest. And every Friday at 5 PM Pacific, I will be going live and talking about all things sports. So not just WNBA. I'll be talking about the NFL. I'll be talking about the NBA when that comes back and any other sports,
00:06:39
Speaker
sports trending topics. Man, the words are just running together today. It's a crazy Monday, right? But either way it goes, y'all, that show is called The Post-Up. Make sure you go to my YouTube channel, like, share, subscribe. I say that because you will get the notifications of all the new shows. Where I'm talking about the W, where I'm talking about the NFL, follow me on Instagram. I always promote the shows that are there. So if you are feeling like, dang, I'm gonna miss DJ Treezy Treez since the WNBA is out.
00:07:07
Speaker
You don't have to miss me. I'll be talking about NBA. I'll be talking about NFL and any other things that are sports related and viral, anything on the internet, you know, I will keep you covered. Thank you so much again for listening to this episode of The Spark. If you don't already, follow me on Instagram at DJ Treecee Trees. That's at DJ T-R-I-C-E-Y-T-R-I-C-E. I'll see y'all on the next episode.