Cameron Brink gave the Los Angeles Sparks the kind of night they have been waiting for. She scored 16 points in 17 minutes Friday and helped lift the Sparks past the Washington Mystics 92-87.
It was the clearest sign yet that Brink is turning the corner after a rough start to the season. She opened the year with eight minutes, no points, three rebounds and three turnovers, then followed it by helping Los Angeles win four of its next six games. Against Washington, she added two rebounds, one assist, one steal and a block, and the efficiency was hard to miss.
That production matters because the Sparks were asking for it before the season had settled in. After the opener, Lynne Roberts said the team needed Brink to produce and bring defensive energy, and Friday showed why. Nneka Ogwumike scored 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for Los Angeles, but Brink’s burst off the bench changed the game’s pace and gave the Sparks another weapon in a tight finish.
Brink’s value is becoming even clearer in the numbers. Through seven games, she is averaging 9.3 points and 4.3 rebounds while ranking fourth in the WNBA with 1.7 blocks per game. She is doing it in just 17.5 minutes a night, or about one block every 10.2 minutes, a rate that trails only Emily Engstler among the league’s top shot-blockers. For a player coming back further removed from the ACL injury she suffered in her rookie season in 2024, that is the kind of immediate impact the Sparks hoped would return.
The catch is that the minutes have not caught up to the production. Brink has improved significantly since the opener, but she is still routinely playing fewer than 20 minutes, which keeps the question alive even after a game like this: how long will Los Angeles keep her on such a short leash if she keeps producing like one of the league’s most efficient frontcourt defenders?
