Kelsey Plum determined to go into a brand new chapter for the ninth season of her WNBA profession, becoming a member of forces with former Las Vegas Aces teammate Dearica Hamby and rising stars Rickea Jackson and Cameron Brink on the Los Angeles Sparks, a staff trying to bounce again from a horrid 2024 marketing campaign during which they gained simply eight video games.
Plum, the three-time All-Star, was wanting ahead to the contemporary begin she was going to have with the Sparks. And clearly, a change in surroundings has completed the 30-year-old guard wonders. Throughout her regular-season debut for the Sparks, an 84-67 win over the Golden State Valkyries, Plum scorched the nets, scoring 37 factors on 11-19 taking pictures from the sphere (4-6 from past the arc, 11-11 from the charity stripe) to guide the staff to victory lane.
In so doing, the two-time Olympic gold medalist and three-time WNBA All-Star made historical past. In keeping with the official ClutchPoints account on X, Plum, in scoring 37 factors in her Sparks debut, is now the record-holder for many factors scored in any season-opening recreation, besting the document Napheesa Collier recorded earlier within the night time when she dropped 34 factors within the Minnesota Lynx’s 99-84 win over the Dallas Wings. (Collier tied the document Maya Moore, Candace Parker, and Katie Smith had however Plum bested all of them.)
Plum endured a little bit of an up-and-down season in 2024 as she and the Aces could not win their third consecutive WNBA championship. Specifically, her taking pictures grew to become very inconsistent, together with her first recreation taking pictures above 50 p.c from the sphere final season coming in her twelfth recreation of the season. She did not even cross the 30-point mark greater than as soon as for all of 2024 and had her justifiable share of stinkers within the playoffs.
However it appears like Plum, very similar to the Sparks group, is popping over a brand new leaf.
Kelsey Plum is again to being at her greatest with the Sparks
Associated Los Angeles Sparks InformationArticle continues under
Kelsey Plum has achieved the whole lot there’s to attain in her profession, as she is a embellished Olympian and a WNBA champion. Successful is in her DNA, and she or he was clearly ecstatic to seize a victory in her first recreation with the Sparks as she and staff look to show issues round for the group.
“I envisioned to win. It was an unbelievable ambiance. Lots to work on, however yeah, it was actually enjoyable. I actually love enjoying basketball,” Plum mentioned in a postgame interview, through the official WNBA account on X (previously Twitter). “It was tremendous enjoyable.”