She had more than a few in the crowd at Chase Center, longtime family friends Steph and Ayesha Curry and their kids, and her former Stanford women’s basketball teammates.
By the time she walked to the Sparks locker room, she was welling up.
“It’s been a really hard year,” Brink told The Next, wiping her eyes.
The familiarity of a place she considers home and the reality of 13 months spent working her way back — both physically and mentally — from an ACL injury had Brink feeling especially emotional. She said the moment she saw Stanford coach Tempie Brown, who worked closely with Brink with the Cardinal, it was “instant waterworks”, the kind of emotional release you can experience when you see people you love and trust in a vulnerable moment.
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The former No. 2 draft pick has played in five games since her return to the floor, averaging 5.6 points and 3.8 rebounds.
She scored five points and pulled down two rebounds in 16 minutes against Golden State, her minutes still restricted as she reacclimates to the game that’s always come so easily for her.
She returned to the floor on July 29 against Las Vegas. She has yet to play more than 17 minutes in any game. On Thursday night against Connecticut, she put up 11 points with five rebounds. On Tuesday against Indiana, she racked up five blocked shots.
Brink returns to a team on a roll, the Sparks having won eight of 10 before Saturday’s loss to Golden State.
Sparks coach Lynne Roberts said she doesn’t see any challenge in integrating Brink into an established lineup that is finally clicking.
“We are all just glad to have her, and you can see the impact she has,” Roberts said. “I’d call it a luxury, having someone like that you can put into a game. It may take some minutes from Dearica (Hamby) and Azura (Stevens), but they want to win … having Cam share some of that load only helps everyone.”
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Brink said she doesn’t know yet what she has learned from this experience, of recovering from the first major injury of her career, one that happened just games into her rookie season. Her ability to put on a brave, smiling face or a runway-worthy outfit on social media has masked how difficult this process has been.
“I’m still figuring it out. I think I’ve gotten through the hard part,” Brink said. “But it’s really hard, the acclimating. Everything is so fast. And you are just always a little scared in your mind.
“I don’t feel as athletic, but I know I’ll get there. I have moments when I feel great, and sometimes I feel like I’m floating on offense, a little unsure about what I’m doing, but my coaching staff has been amazing.”
Roberts acknowledged that she knows coming back from such a devastating injury isn’t easy, and she wants to give Brink time to “get her feet under her.”
“ACLs are tough,” Roberts said. “It’s long and slow and kind of a mind — there’s a word I’m thinking of that I’m not going to say — a mind twist to come back from that, and she’s done a tremendous job.”
