Right now, Plum is reading \u201cThe Talent Code<\/a>,\u201d a book that digs into the tension between nature and nurture. It\u2019s not exactly light reading for a day off, but then again, she isn\u2019t really wired for off days. <\/p>\n \u201cTalent,\u201d she says, \u201ctakes countless hours of practice. Sure, you have some natural ability, but you have to train it. You look at like a Russian tennis player, why are they good? Is it random? The similarity with greatness is practice.\u201d<\/p>\n That idea, practice as the great equalizer, shapes how Plum sees her career now, in a moment that demands more from her than ever before.<\/p>\n (Jason Armond\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n In the week before the WNBA season, she\u2019s no longer in the calm of the park but inside the controlled chaos of media day at El Camino College\u2019s gym. Between photo shoots, she sits on a green room couch in a makeshift makeup area, the morning already filled with obligations: a news conference, cameras, questions about what comes next. Beside her earlier was Ariel Atkins<\/a>, one of the veterans she helped bring to Los Angeles, a signal that this next chapter is meant to be different.<\/p>\n \u201cHave you ever driven a really expensive car, but didn\u2019t have good insurance?\u201d Plum asked. \u201cWhen you have great coverage, you can relax a little bit. That\u2019s what it feels like now, there\u2019s so many people paddling in the boat with me.\u201d<\/p>\n That sense of shared momentum didn\u2019t come immediately. Not long ago, there was doubt.<\/p>\n Until a few weeks ago, Plum wasn\u2019t entirely sure she had made the right decision to join the Sparks<\/a>. After being traded from the Aces in 2025, she knew she wanted more responsibility, more ownership and the chance to be the face of a team. But belief in a vision is one thing; living through the roughest stretches of the transformation is another.<\/p>\n The Sparks went 21-23 last season, finishing two wins short of reaching the postseason. There were flashes, particularly late in the year when Cameron Brink<\/a>, the No. 2 overall pick in 2024, returned from injury. Still, the result was familiar in L.A.: another year without a playoff berth.<\/p>\n For a player like Plum, that kind of outcome lingers.<\/p>\n Sparks guard Kelsey Plum feared she might have made a mistakes during some difficult moments early in her tenure in L.A., but free agents\u2019 decision to join her boosted her confidence.<\/p>\n (Jason Armond\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think that last year I realized how big of a decision I made,\u201d she said. \u201cObviously there\u2019s a you don\u2019t understand the gravity of it till you\u2019re in it. I think when Nneka [Ogwumike] signed this year<\/a>, I was like, \u2018OK, I\u2019m not crazy. They\u2019re seeing the vision I am seeing.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n That validation mattered. It reframed the risk as something shared.<\/p>\n The Sparks leaned into the direction Plum believed in during the offseason. Some of that came directly from her influence and some of it came from the example she set.<\/p>\n \u201cKP came here because she wanted to test herself on how she impacts winning,\u201d said Sparks general manager Raegan Pebley. \u201cAnd there\u2019s a lot of things that go into impacting winning. It\u2019s on the [score]board, but it\u2019s also, are you a leader? Can you influence other people to come along with you? And she\u2019s been able to do that. She\u2019s been a great, great person to partner with.\u201d<\/p>\n Plum understands that distinction well. She\u2019s been on championship teams before with back-to-back titles in Las Vegas in 2022 and 2023, but this is different. In Los Angeles, she\u2019s helping define what the organization will become.<\/p>\n The franchise hasn\u2019t reached the postseason since 2020, the longest active drought in the WNBA. For a team in a major market, the absence has been noticeable<\/a>, even as individual pieces hinted at potential.<\/p>\n Plum, in her first season away from the franchise that drafted her No. 1 overall in 2017 after her record-setting run at Washington, produced immediately: 19.5 points and 5.7 assists per game. But numbers alone weren\u2019t the point.<\/p>\n \u201cI felt like I can be the connector,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen you\u2019re part of a championship culture, you get to see what goes into it. And it\u2019s way more than just basketball. It\u2019s like the business, the operations of it all. They all work together. Obviously, what Mark Davis has done is tremendous in Las Vegas, and really investing in that team. So, yeah, coming here definitely, I learned a lot more than basketball, right? About what goes into building a championship team, a roster, what goes into investing in players and making it feel like a destination where players are like, \u2018Ooh, I want to go play there.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Sparks guard Kelsey Plum accepted a lower salary so that the team could pursue key free agents capable of helping win a championship.<\/p>\n (Jason Armond\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n That perspective shaped her decisions this offseason in tangible ways. Despite being eligible for a $1.4 million supermax contract after her core designation, Plum chose to sign at a lower number, giving the Sparks flexibility to build around her.<\/p>\n They used that space to add Ogwumike and Erica Wheeler<\/a>, while still leaving $1,468,650 in cap space for a potential in-season move. They also traded for Atkins from Chicago, parting with 2024 first-round pick Rickea Jackson<\/a> to ease the pressure in the backcourt.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to really help transform an organization,\u201d Plum said. \u201cAs a player, you don\u2019t really know how good you are, or how much you can handle, capacity wise, until put in a situation that\u2019s maybe a little over your head.\u201d<\/p>\n Belief, in this case, became contagious. Plum helped recruit Wheeler. Ogwumike, already familiar with the franchise, pointed to broader changes as part of her decision to return.<\/p>\n With key pieces in play, Sparks guard Kelsey Plum said the team must embrace high expectations. \u201cWe\u2019re no longer the cute, young tadpole team,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have to win.\u201d<\/p>\n (Jason Armond\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n \u201cThe last couple years have strategically been very, very focused with our ownership and improving the player experience,\u201d Pebley said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a practice facility that is being built<\/a>. \u2026 Players are experiencing a much more consistent and high level, just player experience. And I think they can now look at their peers eye to eye and say, \u2018This is where you need to be. you\u2019re going to be treated really well here.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n All of it builds toward a simple, unavoidable truth: this version of the Sparks can\u2019t afford to linger in potential.<\/p>\n Plum\u2019s legacy in Los Angeles will hinge on whether this reset becomes a turning point or just another chapter in a long rebuild. The expectations have shifted, internally and externally.<\/p>\n \u201cLast year was tough,\u201d Plum said. \u201cWe were right there at the end. But I think this year is different. Obviously, with all the free agency acquisitions, this is very exciting. We\u2019re no longer the cute, young tadpole team. We have to win.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n On a rare off day in Los Angeles, Sparks guard Kelsey Plum settles into a quieter rhythm. She brings a book to a dog park near her home, finds a spot, and reads. But even here, the stillness is partial at best. Her mind keeps working, circling the same question that has followed her through … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30411,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Why-Kelsey-Plum-believes-this-is-the-Sparks-year-to.com2F592Fe72F72966a1b4362840e674e06e0.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30410"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30410\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30412,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30410\/revisions\/30412"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} <\/p>\n
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