Kelsey Plum is ready to take center stage with Sparks

With Kelsey Plum joining the Sparks, she is now one of the franchise’s faces and she’s ready to bring it back to relevance.

Being the face of a professional basketball team in Los Angeles carries a lot of pressure.

For Kelsey Plum, it’s a new challenge. After being a vital piece of title-winning teams in Las Vegas, she takes on a different role with the Sparks.

While every year is different, the Sparks have gone through quite the transformation this offseason. They parted ways with their head coach Curt Miller, hired Lynne Roberts to take his place and made a blockbuster three-team trade to acquire Plum.

The moment the Sparks brought Plum in, she became the face of the team off the court and one of the co-stars, along with Dearica Hamby, on it. To get the franchise back into contention, she’ll have to find ways to contribute to winning as a leader as much as she will statistically.

“I learned from my time in the league that your ability to impact winning is going to affect your individual success directly,” Plum said at Media Day. “So obviously, for me, my focus is trying to affect winning. There’s a lot of people that can have empty statistics, but I’m really focused on how can I help this team win. I understand where we were last year. And my goal is to significantly change that.

“So I think the individual numbers will come. I think people might be surprised by them, but at the end of the day, that’s the reason that I was put in this position to be able to carry a heavier load. And I have broad shoulders.”

Plum is a proven star who can produce in any situation. She’s won two WNBA titles, has three All-Star appearances, won the 2021 Sixth Woman of the Year award and was All-WNBA in 2022.

During her sole preseason game as a Spark, Plum scored 11 points and five assists in 24 minutes. Based on that performance, she will be running a lot of the offense in Los Angeles, and as she has hinted, her numbers might surprise people.

In Vegas, she was part of a super team, but in L.A., she is a superstar in her own right. Both Plum and Hamby will set the example and standard for the Sparks in 2025 and beyond.

This team has many young faces, from second-year players Cameron Brink and Rickea Jackson to the latest Sparks rookie, Sarah Ashlee Barker. As is the case with any young players, there’s much to learn to be winning players at the highest level, but Plum has the blueprint to show them.

During Media Day, Roberts shared how Plum and Hamby are doing just that.

“Their work ethic, it’s impossible as a young player not to be affected by that just by being around it,” Roberts said. “That’s just going to make everybody better when they see that this is what it looks like to be an elite All-Star at this level. They’re doing it in a way that is not threatening or intimidating. They’re doing it in a way of empowering.”

Last season, it often felt like Hamby was alone on the court, with many young players struggling to help her out. With Plum also in the spotlight and leading the charge this year, Los Angeles has a formidable one-two punch that can lead the team and end a four-year postseason drought.

This level of leadership didn’t just happen overnight for Plum. It’s something she had to build and cultivate within herself. Now that she’s a seven-year vet and has climbed to the top of the sport, she’s ready to take what she’s learned and use it to empower others.

“I’ve grown a lot over the years,” Plum said at Media Day. “I used to be a little bit more rah rah, and now I’m definitely more in the empowerment state, encouraging and just try to make sure I lead as an example. Just my energy and attention to detail. And just trying to empower people, make them feel like the best version of themselves.

“I know for me, that’s what I love to thrive on is when people really believe in me. People remember how you make them feel. So I just want everyone around me to feel empowered.”

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.