Peddy was picked up on a hardship contract on June 14, following guard Julie Allemand’s departure for EuroCup and the announcement that Odyssey Sims would be out for personal reasons. Ahead of the same game, the Sparks signed Grace Berger, their second hardship contract in three days. This time, it came with the news that Kelsey Plum would be missing her first game of the year, and only her third in the last four seasons.
When asked about on-boarding Peddy, head coach Lynne Roberts said, “Shey Peddy is a total pro. She landed at 1am on Saturday morning in Minneapolis and we played at noon. So how did we get her acclimated? Probably not … as much as we’d love to. But she was great, and she’s been a sponge ever since.”
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Regarding the unusual absence of Plum, Roberts said that the team’s leading scorer had a lower leg injury, had had imagery done, and that her timeline to return was unknown. “One thing about KP is she does rehab and recovery, she is so tuned in with her body, she’ll know when she’s ready to go and she’s not ready tonight,” Roberts said.
Without Plum, the Sparks were down to four total guards, two of them on hardship contracts, and one, Sarah Ashlee Barker, a rookie still adjusting to the physicality and pace of the league. Unfortunately, it showed — the Sparks opened their most recent match-up against the Storm with 5 turnovers in the first 7 minutes. Following two quick first quarter fouls for Peddy, Berger entered the game at point guard — while guarding six-time WNBA All-Star Skylar Diggins — a mere 24 hours after arriving in Los Angeles.
“Grace got in [Monday night] at about 8pm,” Roberts explained. “So we had a coach take her to dinner and go over things and we met her earlier this morning on the shoot around court, so you do the best job you can and these players — it’s impressive that they show up ready to go.”
There was no question that the Sparks would miss Kelsey Plum on offense — the star guard is averaging 20.9 points per game in a whopping 36 minutes. While Berger, Peddy and Barker did their best to fill the gaps left by Allemand, Sims and Plum, the change in flow of the offense was noticeable. To the tune of 22 turnovers, the offense was stagnant and couldn’t keep up with Seattle’s pace. Gabby Williams, the central point of the Storm’s defense, had eight steals, many of them contributing to the 31 points that Seattle scored off turnovers, the exact final differential of the game, which the they won 98-67.
While the players may have gotten immediately thrown into a new system, the confidence and energy from Berger and Peddy was admirable. When asked how she stays ready for the opportunity to come, Berger told The Next, “I have really good people around. My trainer said, stay ready so you don’t have to get ready. I was confident that my name would be called at some point. I didn’t know what that would be. I was hoping sooner rather than later. But, you know, I love the game, so it’s easy to stay in the gym.”
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After the game, Roberts told reporters, “it is what it is,” referring to playing this game with only three active guards (she was not including Rickea Jackson, who plays both the three and the four for the Sparks). “We just got to do the best job we can and instill as much confidence as we can in them. You know, I’ve liked both those guys for a long time — Grace and Shay — they’re good players, and so we just got to do it, right? There’s no other way but to just attack it head on and get them as acclimated as we can and put them in positions where they can be successful. And there is no magic pill.”
While the Sparks certainly hope to have Plum and Sims back ahead of their match-up against the Lynx on Saturday, Roberts praised her staff’s ability to be creative and her team’s desire to “keep fighting.”
“I can choose to be frustrated, or I can choose to be, you know, present and coach up the group that we have and believe in them, and pour everything I have into them, which is what I’m choosing to do,” said Roberts. “And I’ve done this long enough to know that injuries are part of it, and it’s almost impossible to go through a season without [unexpected injuries]. So I have two choices: to focus on the frustrating part, or focus on what I can control, and that’s to coach my guts out for the group we have.”
Even in her absence on the court, Plum made her voice and leadership known. Throughout the game, it was obvious that she was locked in and coaching from the sideline, particularly paying attention to the play of rookie Barker. After the game, Barker praised Plum’s leadership, noting how valuable her experience, voice and knowledge of the game are. Regarding her relationship with Plum and her presence on the bench on Tuesday, Barker said “she is always just telling me just to have fun too with the game of basketball,” noting that Plum called out that Barker’s defender was going under screens, and that Barker needed to “just shoot the ball.”
“I think in the fourth quarter, she like, smiled at me when I made that three,” Barker added. “Because she literally just told me, like, kind of how to read it, but being able to have that presence and then her being able to teach me in that way, it does mean a lot.”
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In the previous match-up against the Lynx, which was only one week ago, the Sparks allowed triple digit points in a 101-78 loss. Plum led the Sparks with 20 points, despite 5-16 shooting, and played 33 minutes. The combination of Williams and Hiedeman scored 31 points on 57% shooting.
Ahead of this weekend’s match-up against Minnesota, the Sparks can only hope for the return of at least one of their lead guards — while Allemand remains overseas, no timeline was provided for either Sims or Plum. The Lynx rank first in the WNBA in fewest opponent points allowed, third in team assists per game with 18.1 and sit at 11-1 on the season. The likelihood that the Sparks can match up with the Lynx guards — namely Courtney Williams, Kayla McBride and Natisha Hiedeman, all of whom play with pace and can score from all areas of the court — is slim without Plum, let alone without the other lead veterans guards missing.
“I still believe strongly in this group, and we’re not even close to full strength at all … when we’re going into the season, we’re thinking, you know, Kelsey Plum, Odyssey Sims, Julie Allemand, Rae Burrell and Cam Brink would be huge parts,” Roberts said. “So we cannot lose perspective. I think what we’re going to gain is players like [Barker], [rookie Liatu King], two guys that are having to play maybe more than we thought coming in, they’re going to have that experience, and that’s going to make us better. So we have to just maintain the course.”
The Los Angeles Sparks will face the Minnesota Lynx at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday in Minneapolis.
