Sparks legend offers hilarious solution to team’s current struggles

LOS ANGELES – It was a festive mood inside Crypto.com Arena prior to the Los Angeles Sparks’ game against the New York Liberty on Tuesday. Sparks legend DeLisha Milton-Jones was set to be the recipient of a great honor, to celebrate her jersey retirement, only the fourth player in franchise history to now have that distinction bestowed upon them.

The moment DeLisha Milton-Jones’ jersey was unveiled in the rafters. pic.twitter.com/IKBEd7jTp3

— David Mendez-Yapkowitz (@Dave_Yapkowitz) July 29, 2026

But things haven’t been so festive for the Sparks this season, or for the last couple of seasons for that matter. The team is facing the prospect of missing the playoffs for the sixth consecutive year, with general manager Raegan Pebley already having been fired before the All-Star break and star guard Kelsey Plum reportedly eyeing greener pastures in the offseason.

It’s at the point where DeLisha Milton-Jones offered to suit up for the team when talking to the Sparks’ longtime team manager and scout Thomas Archie ahead of her jersey retirement ceremony.

“I was joking with Thomas Archie while I was walking to the press conference and he said, “D, I’m so happy for you,’” Milton-Jones recalled. “And I said, ‘Thomas, you need me to throw on a jersey tonight?’ And he said, ‘Yeah, one more time D. That would be great.’”

The Sparks are a far cry from when Milton-Jones roamed the court. She initially joined the team via the dispersal draft when the American Basketball League, or ABL, folded in 1998. The 1999 season was her first in the purple and gold, and she played a starring role on the Sparks’ back-to-back championship teams in 2001 and 2002.

She would play for the Sparks for six straight years before being traded to the Washington Mystics ahead of the 2005 season. The Sparks never had a losing record during that time and were always perennial contenders. Milton-Jones would return to the franchise in 2008 and would stay through the 2012 season.

At that time, the Sparks were buoyed by the arrival of Candace Parker and later Nneka Ogwumike, once again vaulting themselves into contender status. During that stretch from 2008-2012, the Sparks would make three Western Conference Finals appearances.

But amid multiple front office and coaching staff changes in recent years, the Sparks have not been able to establish any sense of continuity nor semblance of a winning plan. While Milton-Jones wishes things looked better for the franchise she poured her heart into, she understands that things are cyclic and that the influx of talent in the WNBA has only grown since last stepped foot on the hardwood.

“I think that yes, we want to win every game. You want to be in the top 3-5 when it comes to the standings. But we know that as this league has grown, teams have gotten better even with the expansion of it all. So everyone’s not going to have the year that they wish they could have,” Milton-Jones continued. “These things come with sport. It’s just a down moment. When you look at the overall work of everything that the Sparks have done, this has been one of your premier franchises perennially. So this is just a moment.”

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