The Los Angeles Sparks are a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1997, the Sparks are one of the eight original WNBA teams. Also one of the teams that participated in the league's inaugural game, the Sparks are the sister team of the Los Angeles Lakers. Since their inception, the Sparks have been a focal point of the league. The team's major star has always been former USC standout Lisa Leslie, who has led the Sparks since the team's inception.

Uniform: Gold with purple lines on the side at home, with the name Sparks written across in purple. Purple with golden yellow lines on the side on the road, with the name Los Angeles in Yellow. The uniform looks similar to the Los Angeles Lakers' uniform.

Franchise history

The 1997 WNBA season, the league's first, opened with a game between Los Angeles and the New York Liberty that the Sparks lost. Sparks player Penny Toler scored the league's first two points with a lay-up in that game. The Sparks had what many considered to be a disappointing season in 1997, finishing with a record of 14–14. The team did compete for a playoff spot, but because of a loss to the Phoenix Mercury in the final game of the season, it missed the playoffs. In 1998, the Sparks finished 12–18, missing the playoffs once more.

The 1999 season featured the development of Lisa Leslie and the Sparks' first playoff berth, as the Sparks posted a 20–12 record. The Sparks won their first playoff game and series, too, with a win over the Sacramento Monarchs. They played a competitive Western Conference Finals but fell to the defending champion Houston Comets, 2 games to 1, in the three-game series.

The 2000 season was a record one, as the Sparks tore up the WNBA with a record 28–4 record. In the playoffs, the Sparks swept the Phoenix Mercury in the first round but lost in the West Finals again, when they were swept by the Comets.

The 2000-01 offseason saw an important coaching change, when the Sparks hired former Los Angeles Lakers player Michael Cooper as head coach. During the ensuing regular season, the Sparks again posted a 28–4 record. In that season's playoffs, the Sparks finally eliminated the Comets, sweeping them in the first round. The Sparks needed three games to eliminate the Monarchs to earn their first berth in the WNBA Finals, in which they swept the Charlotte Sting, 2–0, for their first league championship.

In 2002, Leslie became the first woman in the league to dunk the ball during a game, and once again the Sparks dominated the regular season, posting a 25–7 record. The Sparks then flew through the playoffs, sweeping both the Seattle Storm and the Utah Starzz to reach the finals. In the finals, the Sparks were matched against the Liberty, who were still looking for their first championship. After splitting the first two games, the Sparks pulled away in game three to win their second championship.

In 2003, the Sparks posted a 24–10 record and went into the playoffs looking for a "three-peat". They had to play the maximum number of games in each series to reach the finals, as they beat the Minnesota Lynx and Sacramento Monarchs. The Sparks then faced the upstart Detroit Shock in the finals. The rough road to the finals and the tough play of the Shock in the finals wore down the team, which lost the series, two games to one.

During the 2003-04 offseason, the Sparks signed two standout players, Tamika Whitmore and Teresa Weatherspoon, both of whom had played for the rival New York Liberty. When the season began, the Sparks got off to a great start, but coach Cooper left at midseason to seek a coaching job in the NBA. The loss of their coach was a factor in the team's so-so finish to the season, which ended with a record of 25–9. During the playoffs, the team stumbled, losing in three games to the Sacramento Monarchs.

The Sparks struggle through the 2005 season and finished with a 17–17 record. That season they barely made the playoffs, in which they got the number-four seed. In the first round, the Sparks were badly outplayed and were swept by the eventual champion Sacramento Monarchs.

In 2006, the Sparks played much better, posting a 25–9 record. In the playoffs, they defeated the Seattle Storm in three games. However, in the Western Conference finals, the Sparks' season was ended by the Monarchs for the second year in a row, as the Sparks were swept.

After the 2006 season ended, team owner Jerry Buss, who also owned the Lakers, announced he was selling the Sparks. On December 7, 2006, the Los Angeles Times reported the sale to an investor group led by Kathy Goodman and Carla Christofferson. Goodman is currently a high school teacher at HighTech-LA in Lake Balboa and was a former executive for Intermedia Films. Christofferson is a litigation attorney for the O’Melveny & Myers law firm and was Miss North Dakota USA in 1989. The day after the sale was announced, team star Lisa Leslie announced that she was pregnant and would not play in the WNBA in the 2007 season despite Michael Cooper's return to the team as head coach.

The loss of Leslie for the year proved devastating, as the Sparks posted a league-worst 10–24 record. The record was also the worst in Sparks history, as the Sparks missed the playoffs for the first time since 1998. Before the start of the 2008 season, the team's prospects improved dramatically. Lisa Leslie returned to the team, and on April 9, 2008, the team used its number-one draft pick to select Candace Parker, the college player of the year, the morning after Parker had led the University of Tennessee Lady Vols to their second-straight NCAA championship. Within hours of drafting Parker, the team posted pictures of Leslie and Parker on the welcome page of its official Web site.

In 2008, the Sparks posted a so-so 20-14 record and finished 3rd in the West. In the playoffs, the Sparks beat the Seattle Storm 2-1 to reach the Western Finals and compete against the San Antonio Silver Stars.

Season-by-season records

|- |colspan="6" align=center bgcolor="#410079" | Los Angeles Sparks |- |1997 || 14 || 14 || .500 || || |- |1998 || 12 || 18 || .400 || || |- |1999 || 20 || 12 || .625 || Won First Round
Lost Conference Finals || Los Angeles 71, Sacramento 58
Houston 2, Los Angeles 1 |- |2000 || 28 || 4 || .875 || Won First Round
Lost Conference Finals
|| Los Angeles 2, Phoenix 0
Houston 2, Los Angeles 0 |- |2001 || 28 || 4 || .875 || Won First Round
Won Conference Finals
Won WNBA Finals || Los Angeles 2, Houston 0
Los Angeles 2, Sacramento 1
Los Angeles 2, Charlotte 0 |- |2002 || 25 || 7 || .781 || Won First Round
Won Conference Finals
Won WNBA Finals
|| Los Angeles 2, Seattle 0
Los Angeles 2, Utah 0
Los Angeles 2, New York 0 |- |2003 || 24 || 10 || .706 || Won First Round
Won Conference Finals
Lost WNBA Finals || Los Angeles 2, Minnesota 1
Los Angeles 2, Sacramento 1
Detroit 2, Los Angeles 1 |- |2004 || 25 || 9 || .735 || Lost First Round || Sacramento 2, Los Angeles 1 |- |2005 || 17 || 17 || .500 || Lost First Round || Sacramento 2, Los Angeles 0 |- |2006 || 25 || 9 || .735 || Won First Round
Lost Conference Finals || Los Angeles 2, Seattle 1
Sacramento 2, Los Angeles 0 |- |2007 || 10 || 24 || .294 || || |- |2008 || 20 || 14 || .588 || Won First Round
Lost Coference Finals || Los Angeles 2, Seattle 1
San Antonio 2, Los Angeles 1 |- |Totals || 248 || 142 || .636 || |- |Playoffs || 27 || 20 || .574 || 2 WNBA Championships || |} Stats updated September 28 2008

Media coverage

The Sparks games not on national television are shown on Fox Sports Net West/Prime Ticket with Larry Burnett and Ann Meyers as the announcers, along with the recent addition of Los Angeles Lakers guard Derek Fisher. Burnett also calls the games on radio, on KTLK AM1150.

Players of note

Retired numbers

11 Penny Toler

Former players

• Latasha Byears
• Tamecka Dixon
• Allison Feaster
• Ukari Figgs
• La'Keshia Frett
• Jennifer Gillom
• Mwadi Mabika
• Chamique Holdsclaw
• Laura Macchi
• Taj McWilliams-Franklin
• Nikki Teasley
• Penny Toler, now the Sparks' General Manager
• Tamika Whitmore
• Sophia Witherspoon
• Haixia Zheng
• Heidi Burge
• Teresa Weatherspoon

Current roster

Coaches

• Linda Sharp (1997)
• Julie Rosseau (1997–98)
• Orlando Woolridge (1998–99)
• Karleen Thompson (2004)
• Ryan Weisenberg (2004)
• Henry Bibby (2005)
• Joe Bryant (2005–07)
• Michael Cooper (1999–2004, 2007–present)

External links

• December 6, 2006 press release on the change of ownership
• Los Angeles Team Building - Spark's Mentoring