Kelsey Plum has not formally requested a Las Vegas ace deal last offseason, according to all reports. She doesn’t have to. They were the San Antonio star when she finished No. 1 overall in 2017, and eight years later, their experience was more than just rebranding the brand to the West.
Plum struggled, not reaching average double-digit points in any of her first three seasons. After Achilles tore, she watched the trump card failure in the 2020 WNBA finals at home. But the reward saw her No. 6 player of the year as she began to meet the huge expectations of her career. In 2022, the real leap: Plum is the leading scorer for the championship team, and then A-Father replayed the championship in 2023 and then lost in the 2024 semi-finals.
This is the success, exhaustion and complete journey of the 30-year-old plum blossom. (It’s just her on-field trial.) So it’s not surprising when she didn’t sign a postponement with Las Vegas, which eventually led her to sign the Los Angeles Spark before the 2025 season.
“It’s time for me to grow up,” she told reporters in mid-May. “That’s why I’ve taken a leap of faith. It’s time for a new chapter in my personal and professional life.”
That new chapter (now three quarters of the season) is in full swing. how’s it going?
Top Doug Plum Road in Los Angeles
I may not be the fairest narrator. I like to watch Kelsey plum hoops, and when the sparks play out, plums work hard. According to Synergy Sports, 47.4% of the property this season was performed in picking and quarantine, her highest pace since she was overweight in the rookie season.
Li Zi’s task was to bear such a creative burden and indeed fell into some of her even more incredible habits. She threw the reckless man into the paint, only to be swallowed by the bigger help defender. But her skill application has always been jaw-dropping. Here are two drives for the July 26 game against New York Freedom, just one minute apart in the fourth quarter:
Plum first jumped and pumped ducks under 6-foot-4 Leonie Fiebich, then beat them with a slow-reducing, 5-foot-10 Natasha Cloud. They are opposite, but completely effective, complete the action, fully deployed with two different defenders. This slowdown may be her first choice, but she can pull anything out of the bottomless toolbox.
However, the way Plum builds her drives is more impressive and more important than the way she completes them. In these dramas, her defender initially tries to force her right, but Li Zi returns to her dominant left hand. That’s how each team tries to protect her, and that’s how most fail. Li always knows where the defense raises her and there is no better WNBA player Avoid containment. Just 5 feet 8 inches, it is necessary as the main creator of Sparks.
It’s not just going back to her left hand. More importantly, the Plum is the league’s most prolific screen releaser – two hands. Sometimes, this is unobtrusive. Here she catches Kate Martin leaning on a calm jab step and then away from the middle of the floor to attract strong help, which for a corner three, it’s a simple pass, which is a broken two-thirds…
With Plum’s helm, Rejection of Opportunity got caught in Los Angeles’ offense and refuted to punish defenders who were afraid of being rejected. (Who is among us?) It’s a demonic sequence early this season, first of all, Sparks use “pitch” moves to allow the plum to build an advantage, such as a wide receiver, fake the chance of cutting into a downhill opportunity. Then, she actually did refuse a ball screen to do it again. brutal:
Interesting KP Sequences Early this season pic.twitter.com/ogzla46lwe
— Lucaskaplan (@lucaskaplan_) August 15, 2025
When Mei Zi refused to defend the game plan when she refused the ball screen, all hell was loose. The help points were disrupted and her passing reading became easier. These scenes above lead to layups, but more often, a panic collapse of unorganized defense capabilities, allowing the three-point shooter to easily kick out. Plum is ranked third in the WNBA (76), but she also finished third (73). Total (149) leads the league one or two laps.
Plum is no stranger to taking on a significant offensive burden in the WNBA, and praising these skills in 2025 is not very novel.
But her football game skills are exciting and we’ll see them more often in her first season in Los Angeles. According to Synergy Sports, only 21.2% of her shooting scores this season are a variety of capture and shots, with nearly 40.1% last season’s shooting score.
She saw pitfalls and help earlier than her career. For the first time in years, she was the number one priority in every scout report. That’s what she asked for, she’s delivering it. Her 59% real shots are three percentage points higher Compared with 2024, it matches her later career.
Sparks are rolling, not just plums
Los Angeles did start Plum’s tenure with a tough schedule. On July 4, it was only 5-13, beating the league’s eighth-largest offense and 11th-largest defense. Talk about the story of two seasons. Sparks are 11-4 in the last 15 games The best offense In that era. This is not a job that Kelsey Plum brings with him.
Some of their improvements are a unit of natural growth. Not only did they play more lottery teams, but Gale takes time under the new head coach and leading Baldors. There are two very different properties here: In May, plums drive around the hedge, but none of the teammates find out outside the arc, and the spacing is completely destroyed. In August, two passes lead to baseline drive, and then Rickea Jackson’s sacrifice cuts resulted in an open corner three:
You may notice that the plum is not the one who drives and kicks the second clip. In addition to finding their own process, they also integrate a key piece. Julie Allemand was closely linked to the spark at the start of the season, but for most of June, he led Belgium to a gold medal in European shoes.
Since returning, pass-first defenders have started next to the backfield with Jackson, Dearica Hamby and Azurá Stevens starting five shots. The group caught fire and posted an offensive rating of 114.3 in nearly 300 minutes, which was easy to lead all WNBA teams. Allemand satisfies the Sparks offensive couple. She is the only starter who really wants to drop every time, with an average assist more than a shot attempt per game.
More importantly, Allemand provides Plum with a reliable ball handle on the other end of the court and can bring her opportunities. Plum usage fell by 3.5%, and Belgium shared the backcourt, the biggest drop among Alleman teammates. In addition, 14% More Her three-point appearance was helped.
Plum is excellent at Los Angeles’ offense, but even in the bench unit, the appearance of the real two-goal player is a godsend. Sparks also signed Belgian defender Julie Vanloo in early July, in which she did not create an advantage in the initial action. Despite this, the ball was still in the Plum on the second side, and Indiana’s defense was a little uncomfortable. A wonderful re-screen and slipping from Hamby, giving her a driveway, helping to be late, sentenced to Hamby’s death:
Los Angeles has found its offensive strides, so it has found the balance of plum blossoms. She is still launching a lot of property, but there are more advantages to the situation and tilting the floor for her to attack. Plum’s chemistry with her former Las Vegas teammate Hamby has been back, rebuilding one of the league’s most dangerous pick and roll combinations, while Hamby puts his original 61% hit rate. If all of this doesn’t solve it, Stevens and her career are on the periphery, just waiting:
Sparks offense is currently on fire: pic.twitter.com/egtuuyqjuz
— Lucaskaplan (@lucaskaplan_) August 15, 2025
You can see why Sparks are with Atlanta’s dream neck and neck for the most satisfying offense in the league. They shot 72.5% of their shooting percentage on the edge or in three games, second only to Atlanta’s 72.6%. First-year head coach Lynne Roberts deserves credibility too. Plum blossom has a new home, but she has not done it all by herself.
Big Questions to be answered
Although they climbed to playoff competition at 11-4, Sparks still have major problems to solve. Their defense is still ranked 12th, meaning a team that is worse than them is shocking. Plum often matches players with the least threat to the opponent, but the team’s leaders are responsible for (lack of) efforts. I found this property very inspiring:
Plum doesn’t have too much fighting on the screen, but Hamby doesn’t help at all, and while this is Jackson’s most timely whole season rotation, it’s still a little late. Stevens is just a bystander, but she is really just a big wing, disguised as a center-opter hits 7% of the two on the floor.
What is the best way forward? Not only is he competing with Los Angeles for the playoffs, but he has also entered the playoffs for a long time, hoping to keep Plum in free agents. Jackson is young enough to improve on defense, and sophomore Cameron Brink feels like the defensive player of the year. Yeoman’s job is her job returning from the ACL surgery, returning from the ACL surgery and pulling up the entire group. Are we sure she is a ground interval close to Stevens’ quality, or a dynamic roller like Hamby?
If not, how must Li Zi’s offense be optimized? Is her real shot percentage the same, whether or not Allemand shared the backcourt? Despite the early season mobility issues, Li Zi stayed away from the feathers of 2:1 assists to transition ratios, and she has been wandering throughout her career. On the full-time edge (whenever we get there), can a larger, defensive backfield partner delay this defense to respect? The spark is very interesting, but it is not sustainable.
However, perhaps the offensive burden of plum blossoms is. Perhaps, she has proven herself able to lead almost any form of elite offense.
Freedom put pressure on most of the game on July 26, even capturing the guard screen for her. In the third quarter, she turned right to Fiebich, who was sitting from the driveway, with a bad turn. Fast forward to crunch time, and with Do-or-Die owned, Plum threw one of the best passes of the season:
With Allemand on the wings, she strings the doubles together, waiting for something better. Stevens cut it, and it comes.
Plum is one of the most skilled guards W has seen, but it still exists-and still exists-and questions about her ability to really lead the offense. She is small and may try to cross multiple bodies. She goes into Chuck mode, even when playing with three All-Stars on Aces.
Still, in the past offseason, Sparks bet on her, sacrificing the second pick to get Mess Mess to the franchise. This playback can help you understand why.
A year after posting the league’s worst record and offensive ratings, the sparks have become interesting again, spreading towards good shape. Can Kelsey Plum bring them there? I won’t bet on her.
All statistics are provided by PBP statistics and are accurate before the game played on August 15 unless otherwise stated.
