Players Grades: Sparks first week of action

Grading every Sparks player’s performance from the team’s first week of play.

The first week of the WNBA season is over and the Sparks have a record of 1-2.

There were some bright spots, with the rookies adjusting well to the league's intensity, but there were also more losses than wins as the team establishes its identity and place in the W.

Moving forward, we will be doing player grades every Monday, with this article being published on Wednesday being the exception.

So, let's grade this week's performances. As always, grades are based on expectations for each player. A "B" grade represents the average performance for that player.

Dearica Hamby

35.9 minutes, 22 points, 13.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 2 steals, 26-44 FG, 2-6 3PT, 12-25 FT, -5.7

Hamby has played above and beyond expectations to start this 2024 campaign. If she can continue this kind of production all season long, this would be a career year and possibly another All-Star appearance for the ten-year vet.

In all three games, she brought consistent scoring, rebounding and when the Sparks needed a bucket to get going after a scoring drought, it was Hamby who would answer that call.

Grade: A

Cameron Brink

24.9 minutes, 6 points, 6 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.3 steals, 3.7 blocks 7-15 FG, 2-5 3PT, 2-3 FT, +3

Los Angeles drafted Brink with the No. 2 pick in this year's draft and despite all the hype that comes with that selection, she has somehow exceeded expectations.

Brink was a huge factor in the Sparks beating the Mystics at home, sealing the result with a clutch block. As a rookie, she currently leads the entire league in blocks with 11 and is only looking more and more comfortable as the first week has continued. The Sparks may have found their newest star in Brink.

Grade: A

Kia Nurse

31.9 minutes, 16.3 points, 1.7 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 18-33 FG, 9-20 3PT, 4-6 FT, +4.3

Opportunity can create growth and for Nurse, an increase in minutes has resulted in tremendous production. Her stats are up across the board compared to her career averages and in three games, she's been the best 3-point shooter for the Sparks, a great starter, and has the best plus-minus on the team.

Grade: A

Lexie Brown

35.1 minutes, 14.7 points, 1.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 2.3 steals, 15-38 FG, 6-15 3PT, 8-10 FT, -1.7

Sparks head coach Curt Miller is notorious for running his players to the ground and he is using Brown as much as possible. In their victory against the Mystics, she played all 40 minutes, which seems pretty extreme, given it's the third game of this season.

I understand the temptation to keep her out there; she is shooting at a 40% clip from the 3-point range, 80% from the charity stripe and has even run some point and succeeded in doing so.

Due to injury last season, Brown only played in 12 games, but she's back and taking the league by storm. As long as she remains healthy, this appears to be the level fans can expect her to play at.

Grade: A

Rickea Jackson

23.7 minutes, 9.7 points, 2.3 rebounds, 0.3 assists, 0.7 steals, 12-24 FG, 3-7 3PT, 2-2 FT, -1.7

How well did Jackson do in her first week in the WNBA? Pretty, pretty good.

She has established herself as the Sixth Woman, the first one off the bench, and is flirting with double-digit scoring in every game. Most of the week was good for Jackson, but turnovers are her biggest area for improvement, as she currently has a team-high of 11.

Grade: B+

Layshia Clarendon

23.4 minutes, 6.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 1.3 steals, 7-16 FG, 3-5 3PT, 3-4 FT, -4.3

Clarendon's first three games of the season have been a mixed bag. They have sometimes struggled defensively and turned the ball over too much for a primary ball handler.

It's early, but it might be time to bench them and choose a new starting five.

Grade: B-

Zia Cooke

7.7 minutes, 1.7 points, 1.7 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 2-11 FG, 0-2 3PT, 1-2 FT, -8.7

More than Cooke's play, I'm disappointed with the minutes she's gotten, but we'll get to that later. In her brief shifts, we haven't seen much improvement from her rookie campaign, but it's early. Hopefully, she gets more run and plays better as the season continues.

Grade: B

Stephanie Talbot

5.7 minutes, 0.7 points, 0.3 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 1-2 FG, 0-1 3PT, -3

I didn't see any Talbot minutes this week that I liked. She looked slow, old and ineffective. What was more alarming than her play was Miller showering her with praise after a rough game against Washington.

Until I see a change in performance, I hope we get less and less of Talbot moving forward.

Grade: C

Aari McDonald

6.5 minutes, 0.3 steals, 2 assists, 0-5 FG, 0-4 3PT, -1.7

McDonald is another player I want to see more minuets from. On the other hand, during the time she has been getting, it has left a lot to be desired. During training camp, Miller mentioned that she had a lot to learn in her first year as a Spark and it certainly looks that way.

She's had some rough moments, including one instance on opening night where she had an unforced turnover and an irate Miller yelled at her and immediately subbed her out of the game.

She'll likely be better, but this week, it was bad.

Grade: C-

Li Yueru

4.4 minutes, 1.3 rebounds, 0-4 FG, -4.3

Yueru only played a couple of shifts and is clearly still not fully comfortable. She had a couple of opportunities to take open shots and opted not to.

The Chinese big needs some patience while she gets used to the WNBA, but until then, she is very much a work in progress.

Grade: C-

Rae Burrell

Burrell played only three minutes, so I will not grade her. I'm not sure how many minutes is too few to assess, but I think it's safe to say that if you played that little in three games, there isn't much to take away from that court time.

Curt Miller

Miller works so hard as a coach. When speaking to him, you know he has a brilliant basketball mind, he has the team prepared and usually overachieves in the long run.

He did most things right this week, but that bench has to get sorted out. Three games in, and it feels like the Sparks are ready to play just a six-player rotation.

Only Jackson has gotten a significant run and she has scored 29 of the team's 36 points off the bench. That's impressive for Jackson but problematic for the backups.

Miller needs to find a better balance, whether by adjusting the starters or giving more run to the guards and bigs glued to the bench. Having his core unit play this many minutes will not be sustainable for 40 games.

Grade: B

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88.