The 2017 Los Angeles Sparks season was the 21st season for the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association. The Sparks were the defending WNBA champions. The season tipped off on May 13.

The Sparks started the season winning two games, losing two games and then winning two more games. This stretch was followed by a loss to Dallas before the Sparks won eight straight games. Their winning streak was ended as they lost a Finals re-match with Minnesota. They lost the following game to Seattle before winning five of their next six games. They started August slowly, going 2–2 in their first four games of the month, but finished the month on a five game winning streak. The Sparks only had two regular season games in September, and they won them both. They finished the regular season with a 26–8 record, and secured the second seed in the 2017 WNBA Playoffs, finishing one game out of the first seed.

As the second seed in the playoffs, the Sparks earned a bye into the Semifinals. There, they faced-off against the Phoenix Mercury. Los Angeles had won the regular season series between the two teams 3–0 and won the playoff series by the same result. The closest game was Game 3, which Los Angeles won 89–87 to complete the sweep. The victory setup a finals re-match with Minnesota. The Sparks won the first and third games of the finals, but could not finish off the Lynx and lost the Finals 2 games to 3. The closest game was Game 1, which Los Angeles won by a single point. Minnesota won the final two games of the series by eleven points and nine points.

WNBA draft

Round Pick Player Nationality School/Team/Country 1 11 Sydney Wiese Oregon State 3 35 Saicha Grant-Allen Dayton

Trades and Roster Changes DateTransaction February 8, 2017 Alana Beard resigned with Los Angeles Sparks July 28, 2017 Signed Sandrine Gruda

Roster

Game log

Preseason

|- style="background:#fcc;" | 1 | May 2 | New York | L 65-81 | Samuelson (9) | Wiese (6) | Tied (2) | Mohegan Sun Arena 2,782 | 0-1 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 2 | May 3 | Connecticut | L 62-79 | Sims (12) | Warley-Talbert (11) | Sims (5) | Mohegan Sun Arena 2,809 | 0-2 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 3 | May 6 | San Antonio | W 73-59 | Ruef (18) | Ruef (7) | Gray (5) | Pasadena College 1,000 | 1-2

Regular season

|- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 1 | May 13 | Seattle | W 78-68 | Ogwumike (23) | Jackson (8) | Gray (8) | Staples Center 10,603 | 1-0 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 2 | May 19 | Washington | W 99-89 | Ogwumike (23) | Parker (8) | Parker (5) | Staples Center 12,127 | 2-0 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 3 | May 24 | Indiana | L 90-93 | Ogwumike (24) | Parker (12) | Parker (6) | Bankers Life Fieldhouse 5,875 | 2-1 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 4 | May 27 | Atlanta | L 73-75 | Gray (25) | Ogwumike (7) | Parker (6) | McCamish Pavilion 4,253 | 2-2 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 5 | May 30 | New York | W 90-75 | Ogwumike (22) | Parker (11) | Gray (6) | Madison Square Garden 8,108 | 3-2

|- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 6 | June 6 | Chicago | W 79-70 | Ogwumike (20) | Ogwumike (11) | Gray (5) | Staples Center 8,523 | 4-2 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 7 | June 9 | Dallas | L 90-96 | Ogwumike (28) | Ogwumike (13) | Sims (5) | College Park Center 3,169 | 4-3 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 8 | June 10 | Phoenix | W 89-87 | Gray (24) | Tied (5) | Gray (8) | Talking Stick Resort Arena 10,223 | 5-3 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 9 | June 13 | Dallas | W 97-87 | Gray (24) | Parker (7) | Tied (5) | Staples Center 7,233 | 6-3 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 10 | June 15 | San Antonio | W 80-75 | Parker (20) | Ogwumike (9) | Parker (4) | Staples Center 9,104 | 7-3 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 11 | June 18 | Phoenix | W 90-57 | Ogwumike (18) | Parker (8) | Parker (6) | Staples Center 9,916 | 8-3 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 12 | June 24 | Indiana | W 84-73 | Ogwumike (21) | Parker (13) | Parker (7) | Bankers Life Fieldhouse 9,241 | 9-3 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 13 | June 27 | Connecticut | W 87-79 | Ogwumike (21) | Ogwumike (9) | Gray (5) | Mohegan Sun Arena 6,899 | 10-3 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 14 | June 30 | Atlanta | W 85-76 | Parker (21) | Parker (13) | Parker (5) | McCamish Pavilion 4,119 | 11-3

|- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 15 | July 2 | Washington | W 76-69 | Tied 17 | Parker (11) | Parker (4) | Staples Center 9,185 | 12-3 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 16 | July 6 | Minnesota | L 77-88 | Ogwumike (27) | Ogwumike (14) | Ogwumike (5) | Xcel Energy Center 9,821 | 12-4 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 17 | July 8 | Seattle | L 69-81 | Ogwumike (21) | Ogwumike (9) | Gray (6) | KeyArena 7,104 | 1125 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 18 | July 13 | Connecticut | W 87-77 | Ogwumike (29) | Ogwumike (11) | Parker (6) | Staples Center 9,918 | 13-5 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 19 | July 17 | Indiana | W 80-62 | Gray (16) | Ogwumike (12) | Ogwumike (6) | Staples Center 11,386 | 14-5 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 20 | July 20 | Chicago | L 80-82 | Ogwumike (24) | Ogwumike (10) | Gray (6) | Staples Center 16,166 | 14-6 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 21 | July 25 | Seattle | W 68-60 | Parker (17) | Tied (10) | Gray (5) | Staples Center 10,012 | 15-6 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 22 | July 28 | San Antonio | W 85-73 | Sims (22) | Parker (17) | Parker (11) | AT&T Center 5,777 | 16-6 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 23 | July 30 | Dallas | W 95-74 | Parker (23) | Parker (10) | Tied (8) | Staples Center 11,053 | 17-6

|- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 24 | August 4 | New York | W 87-84 | Parker (24) | Gray (7) | Parker (6) | Staples Center 11,617 | 18-6 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 25 | August 6 | Dallas | L 79-85 | Tied (21) | Parker (9) | Gray (4) | College Park Center 3,903 | 18-7 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 26 | August 11 | Minnesota | W 70-64 | Gray (23) | Parker (10) | Sims (5) | Xcel Energy Center 11,533 | 19-7 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 27 | August 13 | New York | L 69-83 | Sims (18) | Parker (7) | Sims (5) | Madison Square Garden 10,083 | 19-8 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 28 | August 16 | Washington | W 95-62 | Parker (21) | Parker (7) | Sims (7) | Capital One Arena 7,279 | 20-8 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 29 | August 18 | Chicago | W 115-106 | Ogwumike (32) | Parker (12) | Tied (10) | Allstate Arena 6,826 | 21-8 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 30 | August 22 | San Antonio | W 75-55 | Ogwumike (22) | Ogwumike (14) | Parker (6) | Staples Center 12,433 | 22-8 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 31 | August 24 | Phoenix | W 82-67 | Sims (28) | Ogwumike (10) | Sims (8) | Talking Stick Resort Arena 9,890 | 23-8 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 32 | August 27 | Minnesota | W 78-67 | Parker (24) | Parker (10) | Gray (5) | Staples Center 19,282 | 24-8

|- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 33 | September 1 | Atlanta | W 81-56 | Parker (18) | Ogwumike (6) | Sims (7) | Staples Center 12,163 | 25-8 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 34 | September 3 | Connecticut | W 81-70 | Ogwumike (21) | Parker (14) | Gray (7) | Staples Center 12,236 | 26-8

Playoffs

|- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 1 | September 12 | Phoenix | W 79–66 | Ogwumike (19) | Ogwumike (9) | Gray (6) | Staples Center 7,963 | 1–0 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 2 | September 14 | Phoenix | W 86–72 | Parker (24) | Parker (13) | Tied (6) | Walter Pyramid 4,023 | 2–0 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 3 | September 17 | Phoenix | W 89–87 | Sims (22) | Ogwumike (12) | Parker (11) | Talking Stick Resort Arena 12,043 | 3–0

|- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 1 | September 24 | Minnesota | W 85–84 | Gray (27) | Parker (11) | Gray (6) | Williams Arena 11,823 | 1–0 |- style="background:#ffcccc;" | 2 | September 26 | Minnesota | L 68–70 | Parker (17) | Ogwumike (13) | Parker (6) | Williams Arena 11,434 | 1–1 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 3 | September 29 | Minnesota | W 75–64 | Tied (16) | Ogwumike (10) | Gray (7) | Staples Center 13,500 | 2–1 |- style="background:#ffcccc;" | 4 | October 1 | Minnesota | L 69–80 | Ogwumike (17) | Tied (8) | Gray (9) | Staples Center 13,500 | 2–2 |- style="background:#ffcccc;" | 5 | October 4 | Minnesota | L 76-85 | Parker (19) | Parker (15) | Gray (8) | Williams Arena 14,632 | 2-3

Standings

Playoffs

Statistics

Regular season Player GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG Nneka Ogwumike 34 34 30.9 56.1% 34.0% 87.0% 7.7 2.1 1.9 0.5 18.8 Candace Parker 33 33 30.5 47.8% 35.4% 75.6% 8.4 4.3 1.5 1.7 16.9 Chelsea Gray 34 34 33.1 50.7% 48.2% 82.7% 3.3 4.4 1.1 0.2 14.8 Odyssey Sims 31 14 24.3 44.7% 19.0% 88.6% 1.9 3.5 1.5 0.2 9.6 Jantel Lavender 32 0 17.3 48.8% 31.3% 84.6% 3.0 0.9 0.3 0.2 7.3 Alana Beard 34 34 30.8 49.7% 31.6% 80.4% 3.3 2.2 2.1 0.5 6.9 Riquna Williams 23 6 17.7 32.1% 27.0% 86.4% 1.4 0.7 0.8 0.1 6.4 Essence Carson 24 14 19.3 40.4% 25.0% 48.5% 1.7 1.2 0.6 0.3 4.8 Sydney Wiese 28 0 7.9 38.3% 40.0% 50.0% 0.8 0.3 0.2 0.1 2.3 Tiffany Jackson 26 1 5.7 46.2% 0.0% 62.5% 1.2 0.1 0.1 0.1 1.1 Sandrine Gruda 7 0 4.0 36.4% — — 0.6 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.1 Ify Ibekwe 6 0 3.8 11.1% 0.0% 66.7% 0.8 0.0 0.2 0.0 1.0 Maimouna Diarra 10 0 2.0 20.0% — 50.0% 1.1 0.1 0.2 0.0 0.3

Awards and honors Recipient Award Date awarded Ref. Candace Parker Player of the Week June 19, 2017 Brian Agler Coach of the Month - June July 5, 2017 Candace Parker Player of the Week July 31, 2017 Candace Parker Player of the Week August 28, 2017 Candace Parker Player of the Month August 2017 Alana Beard WNBA Defensive Player of the Year Award September 12, 2017

References

External links