The 2020 Los Angeles Sparks season was the 24th season for the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association. The season tipped off on July 25, 2020, versus the Phoenix Mercury.

This WNBA season was set to feature an all-time high 36 regular-season games. However, the plan for expanded games was put on hold on April 3, when the WNBA postponed its season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Under a plan approved on June 15, the league is scheduled to hold a shortened 22-game regular season at IMG Academy, without fans present, starting on July 24.

The Sparks' season started slowly, with the team going 3–3 in their first six games. Every win was followed by a loss during that streak. Then the team warmed up and won nine games in a row, before losing the last game in August to go into the final month of the season 12–4, and already having secured a playoff berth. September was not kind to the Sparks, as they went 3–3 to finish out the season. Their final record of 15–7 was good enough for the third seed in the playoffs.

As the third seed, the Sparks were awarded a First Round bye and awaited the lowest remaining seed in the second round. They played the seventh seeded Connecticut Sun and suffered a disappointing 59–73 loss to end their season.

Transactions

WNBA draft

Round Pick Player Nationality School/team/country 2 20 Beatrice Mompremier Miami (FL) 2 22 Leonie Fiebich Wasserburg (Germany) 3 34 Tynice Martin West Virginia

Trades/roster changes DateDetails February 10, 2020 Signed G Kristi Toliver Traded C Kalani Brown to the Atlanta Dream in exchange for G Brittney Sykes and C Marie Gülich February 11, 2020 Re-signed G/F Tierra Ruffin-Pratt February 20, 2020 Signed G/F Seimone Augustus February 21, 2020 Traded G Marina Mabrey to Dallas in exchange for Dallas' Second round pick in the 2021 WNBA draft February 28, 2020 Re-signed G Chelsea Gray May 15, 2020 Signed G Sydney Wiese to a contract extension. May 26, 2020 Traded the second round pick acquired in the February 21st trade to Dallas in exchange for C Kristine Anigwe and a third round pick in the 2021 Draft. June 26, 2020 G Kristi Toliver opts out of the 2020 season. F/C Chiney Ogwumike opts out of the 2020 season. June 27, 2020 Signed F Reshanda Gray. June 28, 2020 Signed G Te'a Cooper.

Roster

Game log

Regular season

| 1 | July 25 | Phoenix Mercury | W 99–76 | N. Ogwumike (21) | Tied (7) | Gray (7) | IMG Academy0 | 1–0 |- | 2 | July 28 | Chicago Sky | 78–96 | Sykes (16) | Parker (9) | Gray (7) | IMG Academy0 | 1–1 |- | 3 | July 30 | Connecticut Sun | W 81–76 | Gray (15) | Parker (11) | Gray (6) | IMG Academy0 | 2–1

| 4 | August 1 | Seattle Storm | L 75–81 | Parker (19) | Parker (12) | Gray (5) | IMG Academy0 | 2–2 |- | 5 | August 5 | Indiana Fever | W 86–75 | Parker (18) | Parker (11) | Gray (5) | IMG Academy0 | 3–2 |- | 6 | August 7 | Las Vegas Aces | L 82–86 | Parker (20) | Parker (12) | Tied (4) | IMG Academy0 | 3–3 |- | 7 | August 9 | Minnesota Lynx | W 97–81 | Williams (21) | Parker (10) | Parker (9) | IMG Academy0 | 4–3 |- | 8 | August 11 | New York Liberty | W 93–78 | Tied (17) | Parker (6) | Tied (4) | IMG Academy0 | 5-3 |- | 9 | August 13 | Washington Mystics | W 81-64 | Williams (13) | Parker (9) | Tied (3) | IMG Academy0 | 6-3 |- | 10 | August 15 | Indiana Fever | W 90-76 | Williams (21) | Tied (5) | Tied (5) | IMG Academy0 | 7-3 |- | 11 | August 19 | Phoenix Mercury | W 83–74 | 3 tied (16) | Parker (12) | Gray (6) | IMG Academy0 | 8–3 |- | 12 | August 21 | Atlanta Dream | 92-85 (OT) | Gray (20) | Parker (9) | Parker (5) | IMG Academy0 | 9-3 |- | 13 | August 23 | Dallas Wings | W 84-81 | Sykes (23) | Parker (14) | Parker (6) | IMG Academy0 | 10-3 |- | 14 | August 28 | Connecticut Sun | W 80-76 | Gray (27) | Cooper (6) | Parker (7) | IMG Academy0 | 11-3 |- | 15 | August 30 | Atlanta Dream | W 84–79 | Sykes (15) | Parker (10) | Parker (7) | IMG Academy0 | 12–3 |- | 16 | August 31 | Minnesota Lynx | L 78–96 | Gray (18) | Parker (9) | Gray (5) | IMG Academy0 | 12–4

| 17 | September 2 | Dallas Wings | W 91–83 | Parker (22) | Parker (10) | Parker (6) | IMG Academy0 | 13-4 |- | 18 | September 4 | Seattle Storm | L 90–89 | Parker (25) | Parker (7) | ParkerGray (6) | IMG Academy0 | 13-5 |- | 19 | September 6 | Chicago Sky | W 86–80 | Parker (24) | Parker (15) | Gray (7) | IMG Academy0 | 14-5 |- | 20 | September 8 | New York Liberty | W 96–70 | Tied (20) | N.Ogwumike (8) | Parker (7) | IMG Academy0 | 15-5 |- | 21 | September 10 | Washington Mystics | L 72–80 | Gray (21) | Parker (17) | Parker (6) | IMG Academy0 | 15–6 |- | 22 | September 12 | Las Vegas Aces | L 70–84 | N.Ogwumike (24) | Parker (10) | Gray (11) | IMG Academy0 | 15–7

Playoffs

|1 |September 17 | Connecticut Sun | L 73–59 | Parker (22) | Parker (14) | Parker (5) | IMG Academy0 | 0–1

Standings

Playoffs

Statistics

Regular season Player GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG Candace Parker 22 22 30.0 51.0 39.6 73.1 9.7 4.6 1.2 1.2 14.7 Chelsea Gray 22 22 30.6 44.2 30.5 93.9 3.7 5.3 1.5 0.1 14.0 Nneka Ogwumike 18 18 26.2 56.9 50.0 83.7 4.8 1.7 1.1 0.2 13.3 Riquna Williams 21 4 21.1 43.5 42.2 88.9 1.8 1.5 1.1 0.3 10.5 Brittney Sykes 21 14 24.4 48.7 32.7 80.6 2.6 2.1 1.5 0.3 10.1 Te'a Cooper 20 3 17.3 45.1 34.4 76.5 1.0 2.0 0.7 0 7.0 Sydney Wiese 19 15 19.1 50.5 47.2 91.7 1.7 1.2 0.6 0.1 6.8 Seimone Augustus 21 0 15.8 49.1 54.5 66.7 1.8 1.2 0.6 0.1 5.9 Kristine Anigwe 17 1 11.6 60.4 0 53.8 2.6 0.2 0.6 0.4 4.6 Tierra Ruffin-Pratt 17 10 14.5 26.7 46.2 73.1 2.1 0.9 0.6 0.2 2.9 Marie Gülich 12 1 9.9 50.0 0 100.0 1.5 0.6 0.3 0.3 2.4 Reshanda Gray 10 0 6.3 36.4 0 85.7 2.8 0.3 0.1 0.4 1.4

Awards and honors Recipient Award Date awarded Ref. Candace Parker WNBA Western Conference Player of the Week August 24, 2020 Peak Performer: Rebounds September 14, 2020 Defensive Player of the Year September 24, 2020 Nneka Ogwumike Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award September 29, 2020 Brittney Sykes 2nd Team All-Defense September 29, 2020 Candace Parker All-WNBA First Team October 4, 2020

References

External links

Los Angeles Sparks at ESPN.com