LOS ANGELES — As Kelsey Plum entered her new basketball house, the cameras have been already ready to observe her each transfer. The Jumbotron in Crypto.com Area confirmed her donning the Sparks Jersey, her identify littered everywhere in the constructing and as she approached the rostrum, and a hype video performed within the background. The group of media members in attendance truly applauded as she was launched (sometimes a fake pas within the journalism business).
However that’s how large of a star Plum is already poised to be in Los Angeles, the place her first day was a full showcase of the bubbly persona she brings alongside together with her star energy. She made jokes in regards to the visitors, thanked the media for being in attendance and appeared shocked that her introductory press convention was worthy of being televised stay.
“I’m so grateful to be right here,” Plum mentioned. “I’m simply in awe.”
However regardless of her humility, Plum is worthy of the scrutiny. On day one, she enters this group as by far essentially the most achieved participant on the roster. She has made the WNBA All-Star group the final three seasons, gained two titles, was the Sixth Lady of the 12 months again in 2021, and helped Group USA win Olympic Gold this previous summer time in Paris.
The Sparks buying and selling their No. 2 decide to amass Plum is a transparent indicator that they’re in win-now mode regardless of having missed the playoffs the final 4 seasons.
“We would have liked to enhance our backcourt,” Sparks normal supervisor Raegan Pebley mentioned.
This was a transparent want for this group, as they haven’t had constant play from that place since Chelsea Grey’s departure in 2020. It’s no coincidence that was additionally the final time the Sparks have been to the playoffs. The group felt Plum may influence them in the same technique to her now-former Aces teammate, instantly vaulting them to competitiveness in a method no rookie guard can at the beginning of the upcoming WNBA season.
“The fashion of basketball that we wish to play, and the usual of excellence that the L.A. Sparks is and can proceed to be, we simply saved feeling like all roads pointed to Kelsey,” Pebley mentioned. “And we had zero hesitation in doing what it took to ensure Kelsey was sitting proper right here right this moment.”
Now Plum will maintain the keys to this Sparks offense, and he or she didn’t maintain again concerning what having the ball in her arms may imply for this group.
“I’ve all the time been sort of shifted to the two guard due to my means to shoot and play off the ball,” Plum mentioned. “Which is nice, however I additionally assume in coach’s system, it’s a bit of bit extra positionless and we’ll have the ability to see much more my means to get folks concerned. I plan to be undoubtedly top-five in assists this yr and it’s as a result of I get the chance to do it.”
Plum averaged 4.2 assists final season. To be within the high 5 in that class within the WNBA, she must bounce as much as 6.2 dimes per sport. That isn’t a gargantuan process, however it’s nonetheless a big enchancment.
How will she get there? Easy: feeding the ball to a frontcourt that she feels is on the rise.
“I believe Cam [Cameron Brink] is a Defensive Participant of the 12 months simply ready to brew,” Plum mentioned. “Rickea [Jackson] is an All-Star. Rae Burrell’s large expertise and I believe that she might be among the finest two-way guards within the league. So whenever you take a look at the flexibility, everybody can shoot, they’ll play a number of positions, they’ll guard a number of positions they usually’re all rivals.
“They wish to win, they wish to be higher, they wish to be nice. That, to me, actually stood out. On this league, your bigs will take you locations. I imply in case you take a look at championship groups down the road, normally your 3 [and] 4 are instrumental in making a run to a championship. Simply that, it’s the most effective frontcourt within the league and it’s not even shut.”
The thought is for Plum to take this younger core to that subsequent stage. She might be the connector to that turns potential into manufacturing and will get the Sparks out of the underside of the WNBA standings and again into competition.
Plum is likely to be in her early days as a Spark, however she’s already feeling a reference to this group.
“I simply felt like an awesome sense of affection, I really feel like open arms. I used to be truly within the airport this morning and I used to be simply getting some water and the man was like, ‘Go Sparks!’ I really feel that, so I’m enthusiastic about that as a result of I actually do really feel like folks have sort of already wrapped their arms round me. I haven’t even performed a sport but. Simply the welcoming of my teammates and coach and Raegan and possession. I really feel I really feel very cherished already.”
And that reference to L.A. extends past LAX workers and members of the Sparks. She even has connections with the late Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, who was identified for being a big advocate for the ladies’s sport.
Kobe gave his flowers to the gamers making an influence each probability he had. This included Plum, whom he congratulated through Twitter after she broke the NCAA all-time scoring file as a Washington Huskie.
She reciprocated that love, calling him a “true goat.”
After the presser, Plum spoke completely with Breakaway a few second she had with Kobe one-on-one years later.
“I acquired to satisfy Kobe,” Plum instructed Breakaway. “He truly took his daughter and their AAU group to Vegas to look at us play. This was years in the past and I simply bear in mind assembly him and it was cool. He mentioned that one among his gamers on his group is a lefty, and so he mentioned, ‘I’ve been exhibiting her your movie.’ and that to me was like, dude, day made, life made.
“However I grew up watching Kobe with my dad at a pizza parlor and simply actually excited to have the ability to play right here on this historic constructing. I nonetheless name it Staples. It’s similar to the way it’s sunken in my mind, however he’s one among my favourite gamers of all time and it simply means quite a bit to have the ability to be right here in LA.”
The Sparks have a participant on their roster now that we all know is Kobe-approved.
For somebody who grew up in Poway, California — simply two hours south of Los Angeles in San Diego County — it doesn’t get a lot cooler than figuring out that your sport was at a stage that Kobe deemed adequate to indicate his gamers for instance of the right way to play basketball.
All of it makes this a full-circle second for Plum. Now she’s taking part in within the space she lived in and can have the ability to create her personal recollections contained in the constructing that Kobe constructed.
There will probably be children in pizza parlors throughout California carrying Plum jerseys, watching her usher in a brand new period of Sparks basketball. The remaining job for Plum to complete? Do what the greats like Kobe have carried out and lift a banner inside Crypto. The constructing’s identify might have modified, however the usual stays the identical: win titles, increase banners and go away a legacy.
