Sparks start four-game road trip against Mercury in Phoenix

PHOENIX — The Los Angeles Sparks are going on the road for the first time this season. 

It might be a good change of scenery for the Sparks as they went 1-3 on their home stand to begin 2026. The bad news is that the next two games are going to be against the finalists of last season's championship series.

They go to Phoenix to begin their road trip on Thursday night. While the Mercury are off to a 2-3 start, the team is always a contender as long as they have Alyssa Thomas, Kahleah Copper, and DeWanna Bonner around. They also have Jovana Nogic, who has surprised the league as she is averaging 15.4 points and shooting .517 from three early in the season.

But the Sparks are worried more about themselves.

"We have to be better at team defense and just be locked in as a group," Sparks forward Cameron Brink said at practice on Tuesday.

"We're not naive to know what we're doing going on the road being the worst team in the league on defense. That's the reality," Sparks head coach Lynne Roberts stated. "And so if we want the reality to change, then we've got to change how we show up to compete."

Roberts went on to talk about their opponents.

"Phoenix is good. And they're big. They've got a big lineup," Roberts said. "But we've got no reason to lack confidence. It's so early in the season. We have the firepower. We have the ability. It's a matter of us doing it when the ball gets turned up."

"They have such a solid team," Brink added. "They're really well-coached. They move the ball. They're going to be hard to beat but we're going to bring our best effort and really bring it that night."

They talked about that defense and Roberts mentioned it's the worst in the league by a mile. The good news is that Ariel Atkins is available for Thursday's game after being sidelined for a couple of games due to concussion protocol.

"We certainly missed Ariel the last two games," Roberts said. "We shot 30% from three (for the season). She's going to help there. And we also missed her defensively. She's one of the best on ball. She could have guarded Slim (Brittney Sykes). She's an unbelievable point-of-attack defender. So yeah, we're missing her. But she'll be back."

Still, Roberts knows it takes more than getting Atkins back to get better at defense.

"Right now, we suck at it all," Roberts admitted. "And the players would tell you that. We had a little bit of a come-to-Jesus this morning in our film. And the good news is the players have taken total ownership of that. So we've just kind of set some standards that are non-negotiable in terms of defensive intensity and the things that we are trying to do. You can't be great at everything defensively. You're going to always be at a disadvantage defensively. It's the pros. But what are we going to be committed to taking away? And so right now, we suck at it all. We really simplified it and created some standards, and the players are bought into the accountability there."

It's not all horrible for the Sparks. They signed Kate Martin to a developmental player spot and has played the last two games. She scored 11 points against the Tempo last Sunday.

"(Martin has brought) energy, communication… (she has) super high IQ so she's a great addition to the team," Brink said.

"She brings a level of swagger that I love," Roberts said. "She's not afraid of the moment. She's not afraid of the match-up. She's not afraid of the shot. She talks out there. She's a coach-in-training. She's going to be a hell of a coach someday when she hangs up the high tops. So she's built already some trust."

Kelsey Plum leads the league in scoring with 26.8 points per game. They scored 99 and 96 in the two games against Toronto at home. Offense is not going to be a problem for this team, that much is true. 

But as emphasized throughout this article, it's going to be about the defensive end. Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts likes having his teams put up a lot of threes; they were third in attempts last season. Not only that but the Sparks are also the worst at defending inside; opponents thus far are shooting over 75 percent against them at the rim.

"We've got scoring ability at every position," Roberts said. "We've got a team that's bought into each other. There's an absence of ego. We just have to put it together."

The Sparks are going to have to if they don't want to fall into a 1-4 hole.