2002 Los Angeles Sparks season

The 2002 WNBA season was the sixth season for the Los Angeles Sparks. The Sparks ended the season winning the WNBA Finals for the second straight year.

Transactions

WNBA draft

Round Pick Player Nationality School/Team/Country116Rosalind RossOklahoma230Gergana SlavchevaFIU232Jackie HigginsNorth Carolina348Rashana BarnesPenn State464Tiffany ThompsonOld Dominion

Transactions DateTransactionApril 19, 2002Traded Ukari Figgs and Gergana Slavcheva to the Portland Fire in exchange for Nikki Teasley and Sophia Witherspoon Drafted Rosalind Ross, Gergana Slavcheva, Jackie Higgins, Rashana Barnes and Tiffany Thompson in the 2002 WNBA draftApril 30, 2002Signed Erika de Souza, Rhonda Smith and Kim WilliamsMay 3, 2002Waived Rashana BarnesMay 8, 2002Waived Tiffany ThompsonMay 13, 2002Waived Jackie Higgins, Kelley Simon, Kim Williams and Nicole LevanduskySigned Vicki Hall, Shala Crawford and Naomi MulitauaopeleMay 16, 2002Waived Rhonda Smith and Wendi WillitsMay 23, 2002Waived Naomi MulitauaopeleJune 7, 2002Signed Katryna GaitherJune 11, 2002Signed Sophia WitherspoonJune 18, 2002Traded a 2003 1st Round Pick to the Miami Sol in exchange for Marlies AskampJune 21, 2002Waived Katryna Gaither

Roster

Schedule

Regular season

| 1 | May 25 | New York | W 72–64 | Leslie Mabika Witherspoon (14) | Lisa Leslie (14) | Tamecka Dixon (7) | Staples Center | 1–0 |- | 2 | May 27 | @ Houston | W 68–55 | Lisa Leslie (22) | Lisa Leslie (17) | Sophia Witherspoon (4) | Compaq Center | 2–0 |- | 3 | May 30 | @ Miami | W 69–65 | Mwadi Mabika (17) | DeLisha Milton-Jones (8) | Nikki Teasley (5) | American Airlines Arena | 3–0

| 4 | June 1 | @ Charlotte | L 87–94 (OT) | Lisa Leslie (26) | Lisa Leslie (12) | Nikki Teasley (6) | Charlotte Coliseum | 3–1 |- | 5 | June 3 | Portland | W 89–72 | Lisa Leslie (25) | Lisa Leslie (18) | Nikki Teasley (7) | Staples Center | 4–1 |- | 6 | June 8 | @ Minnesota | W 76–72 | Mwadi Mabika (21) | Byears Leslie Mabika (7) | Lisa Leslie (5) | Target Center | 5–1 |- | 7 | June 11 | Detroit | W 90–80 | Leslie Milton-Jones (18) | Lisa Leslie (9) | Nikki Teasley (8) | Staples Center | 6–1 |- | 8 | June 15 | @ Sacramento | W 72–66 (OT) | Mwadi Mabika (19) | Lisa Leslie (11) | Tamecka Dixon (5) | ARCO Arena | 7–1 |- | 9 | June 18 | @ Seattle | W 80–68 | Mwadi Mabika (23) | Mabika Milton-Jones (9) | Dixon Mabika (4) | KeyArena | 8–1 |- | 10 | June 21 | Minnesota | W 73–64 | Lisa Leslie (23) | Lisa Leslie (9) | Nikki Teasley (5) | Staples Center | 9–1 |- | 11 | June 25 | Phoenix | W 89–66 | Mwadi Mabika (20) | Lisa Leslie (12) | Nikki Teasley (9) | Staples Center | 10–1 |- | 12 | June 27 | Washington | W 73–66 | Mwadi Mabika (20) | Lisa Leslie (14) | Nikki Teasley (7) | Staples Center | 11–1 |- | 13 | June 28 | @ Phoenix | W 84–72 | Lisa Leslie (18) | Leslie Milton-Jones (14) | Nikki Teasley (6) | America West Arena | 12–1 |- | 14 | June 30 | Houston | L 58–60 | Mwadi Mabika (18) | Latasha Byears (11) | Tamecka Dixon (7) | Staples Center | 12–2

| 15 | July 5 | Sacramento | W 87–65 | Lisa Leslie (16) | Leslie Milton-Jones (9) | Nikki Teasley (5) | Staples Center | 13–2 |- | 16 | July 7 | Utah | W 102–75 | Tamecka Dixon (20) | Lisa Leslie (8) | Tamecka Dixon (8) | Staples Center | 14–2 |- | 17 | July 11 | @ Seattle | L 60–79 | Lisa Leslie (21) | DeLisha Milton-Jones (10) | Mabika Teasley (3) | KeyArena | 14–3 |- | 18 | July 12 | @ Portland | W 82–76 (OT) | Mwadi Mabika (32) | DeLisha Milton-Jones (13) | Mwadi Mabika (6) | Rose Garden | 15–3 |- | 19 | July 17 | @ Indiana | W 73–58 | Mwadi Mabika (27) | Lisa Leslie (14) | Nikki Teasley (4) | Conseco Fieldhouse | 16–3 |- | 20 | July 18 | @ New York | L 59–72 | Lisa Leslie (16) | Lisa Leslie (11) | Tamecka Dixon (4) | Madison Square Garden | 16–4 |- | 21 | July 20 | @ Cleveland | W 63–50 | Mwadi Mabika (15) | DeLisha Milton-Jones (10) | Nikki Teasley (8) | Gund Arena | 17–4 |- | 22 | July 22 | Orlando | W 92–84 | Lisa Leslie (24) | Lisa Leslie (21) | Lisa Leslie (8) | Staples Center | 18–4 |- | 23 | July 24 | Portland | W 73–69 | Lisa Leslie (21) | DeLisha Milton-Jones (13) | Dixon Mabika McCrimmon Milton-Jones (3) | Staples Center | 19–4 |- | 24 | July 28 | Indiana | W 80–62 | Mwadi Mabika (22) | Lisa Leslie (9) | Nikki Teasley (7) | Staples Center | 20–4 |- | 25 | July 30 | Miami | L 73–82 | Mwadi Mabika (17) | Lisa Leslie (8) | Nicky McCrimmon (6) | Staples Center | 20–5

| 26 | August 1 | Seattle | L 76–81 | Lisa Leslie (30) | Lisa Leslie (16) | Nikki Teasley (7) | Staples Center | 20–6 |- | 27 | August 3 | @ Sacramento | W 81–71 | Mwadi Mabika (20) | Lisa Leslie (9) | Mwadi Mabika (9) | ARCO Arena | 21–6 |- | 28 | August 4 | Utah | W 90–86 | Lisa Leslie (26) | Mwadi Mabika (7) | Mwadi Mabika (6) | Staples Center | 22–6 |- | 29 | August 8 | Houston | L 64–67 | Mwadi Mabika (27) | Leslie Milton-Jones (12) | Tamecka Dixon (5) | Staples Center | 22–7 |- | 30 | August 9 | @ Utah | W 85–77 | Lisa Leslie (19) | Mwadi Mabika (9) | Nikki Teasley (6) | Delta Center | 23–7 |- | 31 | August 11 | @ Minnesota | W 69–58 | Mwadi Mabika (16) | Nikki Teasley (6) | Tamecka Dixon (7) | Target Center | 24–7 |- | 32 | August 13 | @ Phoenix | W 63–56 | Lisa Leslie (23) | Lisa Leslie (11) | Mabika Milton-Jones (3) | America West Arena | 25–7

Playoffs

| 1 | August 15 | @ Seattle | W 78–61 | Lisa Leslie (24) | Lisa Leslie (9) | Nikki Teasley (8) | KeyArena | 1–0 |- | 2 | August 17 | Seattle | W 69–59 | Lisa Leslie (23) | DeLisha Milton-Jones (10) | Mabika Teasley (4) | Staples Center | 2–0

| 1 | August 22 | @ Utah | W 75–67 | DeLisha Milton-Jones (17) | Lisa Leslie (8) | DeLisha Milton-Jones (5) | Delta Center | 1–0 |- | 2 | August 24 | Utah | W 103–77 | Lisa Leslie (25) | Mwadi Mabika (9) | Nikki Teasley (9) | Staples Center | 2–0

| 1 | August 29 | @ New York | W 71–63 | Mwadi Mabika (20) | Latasha Byears (11) | Nikki Teasley (11) | Madison Square Garden | 1–0 |- | 2 | August 31 | New York | W 69–66 | Lisa Leslie (17) | Latasha Byears (11) | Nikki Teasley (11) | Staples Center | 2–0

Season standings

Statistics

Regular season Player GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG Lisa Leslie 31 31 34.2 .466 .324 .727 10.4 2.7 1.5 2.9 16.9 Mwadi Mabika 32 32 32.8 .423 .366 .839 5.2 2.9 1.2 0.3 16.8 Tamecka Dixon 30 30 31.9 .391 .351 .831 3.1 4.0 0.9 0.2 10.6 DeLisha Milton-Jones 32 25 30.2 .487 .420 .740 6.6 1.4 1.6 1.1 11.3 Nikki Teasley 32 32 27.6 .404 .400 .750 2.6 4.4 0.8 0.3 6.4 Latasha Byears 26 5 18.7 .618 N/A .566 5.4 0.5 0.7 0.2 7.0 Sophia Witherspoon 31 1 11.5 .415 .418 .761 0.9 0.9 0.4 0.1 5.2 Nicky McCrimmon 32 0 11.1 .408 .267 .636 0.7 1.7 0.7 0.1 1.6 Marlies Askamp 20 4 10.8 .473 .000 .643 2.5 0.2 0.6 0.2 3.1 Vedrana Grgin-Fonseca 12 0 6.6 .387 .417 .667 0.7 0.1 0.1 0.0 2.6 Vicki Hall 3 0 6.3 .500 .000 .750 0.7 0.3 0.3 0.0 2.3Katryna Gaither105.0.000N/AN/A1.01.00.00.00.0Erika de Souza1103.7.357N/A.2001.30.20.30.01.1 ‡Waived/Released during the season †Traded during the season ≠Acquired during the season

Awards and honors Lisa Leslie, Best WNBA Player ESPY Award

References

Sparks on Basketball Reference