(Coach Natalie Nakase is the first Asian-American woman coach ever in the WNBA.)
The Sparks played their second home game on May 23, 2025. They were coming in 1-2 against the new WNBA franchise, the Golden State Valkyries.
You guys know I always come in hot with my shirts.
(I had to get this shirt once I saw it online.)
As for the Dodger blue sombrero? I didn’t wear it. We had agreed that I wouldn’t wear it for this game.
I mentioned the Rickea Jackson collision on the previous entry. She was out due to concussion protocol; she didn’t play in the Sparks’ road game in Phoenix. And they were going to have to play again without their budding sophomore star.
For pre-game, coaches have different times for their pressers. Road team coach goes first and then 15 minutes after, Sparks coach Lynne Roberts does hers. Being that it was the Valkyries here, the coach would be Natalie Nakase. She’s Asian. And I’m Asian. Of course, I had to ask about the impact she’s made.
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“I’m still kind of experiencing it,” Coach Nakase said, “And I’m still kind of soaking it in right now.”
She went on to talk about the video Togethxr made and she thought it was a dream and surreal because it’s not often we see Asian representation in sports like that. Heck, we don’t see that representation in nearly every aspect here. So for her, it was definitely a thrill. And being an Asian-American myself, of course, I was very proud.
Did my pre-game with Azura Stevens before I briefly got together with friends Ceci and Carrie. And we showed off the heat from our feet because we are on TOP TOP TOP.
(You can’t take our SPOT SPOT SPOT.)
After that, I briefly joined the scrum with Kelsey Plum.
(It’s a dawg pile.)
As for the game itself, the Sparks had a bad second quarter, which doomed Los Angeles. They did try to rally back but it ultimately fell short.
Ex-Sparks arena host (and now Valkyries host!) Ari Waller visited for a bit. It was so great to see her. Admittedly, it’s not the same atmosphere without her here. She made me feel welcome when I first started covering the team. Ari is the best.
(HEY, ARI!)
As for the game itself, the Sparks had a bad second quarter that led to their loss. They were down by as many as 20 points. They were able to make the game out of it at the end but it was too little, too late.
At the press conference, Coach Lynne Roberts seemed annoyed. I had never seen her in that state but quite frankly, I didn’t blame her with the way they were smothered in the second quarter. It also proved that the Valkyries weren’t going to be run over just because they’re an expansion team.
Sarah Ashlee Barker also replaced Kelsey Plum in that press conference. She had a gnarly bruise on her eye but it’s probably not that surprising because she’s the type to get real physical on the court. She’ll take all the hits but give them right back. Sarah Ashlee might be a mummy by the time the season is over.
That put the team on 1-3 for the season. It’s another bad start for the Sparks and I was thinking that at this point, maybe they wouldn’t be much better than last year.
They did have the winless Chicago Sky next, though.
Rey-Rey is all over social media. He’s on Threads, Bluesky, and the vomit-inducing Twitter (I refuse to call it with a certain single letter). In the past, he covered the NBA and the Lakers. Now he’s in his third season as a Sparks beat writer for the Sporting Tribune.