(That’s a really nice mural.)
As I mentioned in previous entries here, I’m going into my third year as an L.A. Sparks beat writer for the Sporting Tribune. I am cognizant of what position I’m in and I’m always grateful that I get to do this gig.
With that said, I went to the Sparks training camp to watch the team for a bit and, of course, talk to some of the players.
Media can only come in at the last half hour of practices. On Monday, they were doing a few runs (literally, too). There’s a bit of full court action and then some running drills. On Tuesday, there was some shooting going on to go along with the full court stuff. It was cool to see players like Kelsey Plum and Aari McDonald go at it. After the practices were done, more than a few members would stay a bit longer to do some shooting.
(New L.A. Spark Kelsey Plum trying to stay in front.)
Back to Monday. I talked to Rickea Jackson, the Sparks’ star forward who was second in scoring for the team last season. We’ve always had great rapport and I attribute it to my first interview with her during the first week of last season. Rickea was out of gas and had her hands on her knees for some of the interview. She admitted that she was hungry. I asked if she had eaten earlier and she said she did. Of course, she did. Why would I doubt her not eating breakfast?
Of course, the interviews are edited in Sporting Tribune for clarity. Rickea playfully said, “Y’all messy!” when I asked her about her little squabble with Brittney Griner towards the end of last season. And when I asked her about the multiple coaches she has had, she also joked (maybe half-jokingly, really), “Can y’all stop?” But Rickea really is such an angel and I’d like to think that she’s gotten comfortable with me after so many talks with her over the 2024 season. I suppose comfortable enough to tell me what she ate for breakfast.
On Tuesday, I had my first real conversation with Rae Burrell. It’s silly because she’s been on the team since 2022 (I started covering the year after). After our talk was done, we talked about our similar names (Rey and Rae!) and it sounds like we might start a gag with our names. We shall see.
I got in late for Thursday but the great Odyssey Sims waited for me to get there. I thanked her for that and I also thanked her for being patient with me after I froze up talking to her last September. She said it’s all good. She never seems to get rattled.
I guess except for her son, who was interrupting us a bit. He asked how long this was gonna take. I told him, “Five minutes!”
We were done in four. Sometimes, I still think how surreal it is to be a fan of Odyssey’s back when she was with the Sparks in 2017-18 to interviewing her years later. If anything, everything about this is still surreal. Like I said, I’m aware of where I’m at.
I got a lot done, I feel. It actually could’ve been four players interviewed this week but the one that I requested for had left before I got there. Still, it’s not like I can’t talk to them in the near future.
And the season will go to September at the minimum. We’ll have plenty of time to talk to everyone.
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 going into his third season as a Sparks beat writer for the Sporting Tribune.