Kelsey Plum joins LA Sparks in a reunion with former Aces teammate Dearica Hamby

By Canadian Press on February 12, 2025.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kelsey Plum used to attend Los Angeles Sparks games as a kid, with her mother driving them from the San Diego area. Now she’s joined the franchise in a reunion with her former Las Vegas Aces teammate Dearica Hamby.

“I would say I’m still that kid. It’s a full-circle moment. I feel so grateful,” Plum said at Cypto.com Arena.

The 30-year-old point guard was introduced Wednesday, shortly after the Sparks announced the signing of center Mercedes Russell, who like Plum is a two-time WNBA champion.

Plum was part of a three-team trade last month that sent Jewell Loyd to the Aces, while the Sparks gave the Seattle Storm the No. 2 pick in the draft and Li Yueru. Los Angeles also received the No. 9 pick while the Aces got the 13th pick in the draft.

“We needed to improve our backcourt. That was a clear offseason goal of ours,” Sparks general manager Raegan Pebley said. “We kept feeling all roads led to Kelsey.”

Plum felt a similar pull.

“My boyfriend gave me for Christmas a bunch of candles from different cities. I kind of put them in different rooms of the house,” she said. “I looked over one day and LA was sitting right next to my bed, like Los Angeles candle. I was like, ‘That’s not a coincidence.’ It’s just funny to me because it was on my spirit for a while. I look back now and it makes perfect sense.”

The Sparks won league titles in 2001, 2002 and 2016 but have missed the playoffs four straight years. Another of their offseason moves was hiring coach Lynne Roberts from the college ranks at Utah.

Roberts has her own painful memory of coaching against Plum, who starred at Washington.

“We’re driving in the bus over for the game and someone on our staff said, ‘Oh man, Plum needs 53 to break the all-time scoring record in college basketball,’” Roberts said. “I was like, ‘She’s not getting 53 on us.’ And she didn’t. She got 57.”

That was on Feb. 25, 2017, when Plum set the Pac-12 single-game scoring record and became the NCAA Division I women’s career scoring leader. She was passed by Iowa’s Caitlin Clark last year.

“We knew we needed a lead guard that can absolutely play and score. She’s a competitor at heart and that’s what we need,” Roberts said. “I want our team to get back to where it belongs.”

Hamby was on hand to welcome Plum. They helped the Aces win back-to-back WNBA championships in 2022 and 2023.

“We’ve always had a great connection,” Plum said. “Me and her playing together, it’s just a different level of pace so I’m super excited to get back to that.”

In 2022, Plum earned All-WNBA first team honors for the first time and was MVP of the All-Star Game. She also won gold medals in 3×3 basketball at the Tokyo Olympics and in 5×5 at last year’s Paris Olympics.

“She is not about the glitz and the glam,” Pebley said. ”She is about the work and holding herself to an accountability standard that really influences and inspires everyone else to do the same. We knew we needed somebody like that, not just in our backcourt but in our locker room, in our city.”

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

Beth Harris, The Associated Press

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