When Derek Fisher was introduced as Los Angeles’ new head coach last week, he sat behind a podium and talked about a fresh start, a proud tradition and a city accustomed to hoisting championship banners. His players, clad in purple and gold, flitted about the gymnasium and chatted with reporters about title expectations and what it’s like to play alongside one of the greatest basketball players of a generation.
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In an alternate universe, D-Fish would have been sitting next to Jeanie Buss against a Lakers backdrop while LeBron James and the rest of the team held court. But on this day, Fisher was introducing himself to the world as the new head coach of the Los Angeles Sparks. The other purple and gold squad was mercifully someone else’s mess.
When Magic Johnson went on ESPN’s “First Take” earlier this week and torched the Lakers organization for its dysfunction and backstabbing, I watched as despondent Lakers fans lit up Twitter like Dany Targaryen’s orphaned dragon. The once-proud organization turned train wreck has been covered at length on this website, so piling on here isn’t necessary. But as I witnessed the Sparks greet the media full of promise, hope and joy for this upcoming season, I wondered, “Why are we even paying attention to the Lakers at all right now?”
Of course, the Lakers remain perhaps the second-most iconic American sports team in the United States, perhaps only trailing the New York Yankees in name recognition worldwide. And they do own the fourth pick of next month’s NBA Draft, so that’s something to look forward to. But following the daily ins and outs of a toxic team right now feels designed to create ulcers, headaches, crying jags and super-emo Instagram posts from fans.
Here’s some advice: Take a deep breath. Turn off talk radio. And, beginning next week, treat yourself to an L.A. Sparks game.
I’m not asking you to do this out of some call to feminism or equal rights or other vegetable eating disguised as social activism. I’m telling you to go because A) you like basketball and B) the Sparks are going to be good. Like, really good!
Remember the pleasure you got from watching the Lakers when they were good? It’s like that! You know how you watch Serena Williams or the U.S. women’s national soccer team because they win a lot? It’s like that! You know that feeling you get when you spend a few hours in a joy bubble where your personal troubles don’t exist and the stress of whatever crappy thing is happening in the world right now can wait a minute before you absorb it? Like that!
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Have you seen Candace Parker play in person? The two-time WNBA Most Valuable Player and collegiate legend has a bum hamstring right now, but she should be back in a few weeks. And when she returns, she only needs six points to move into 16th place on the WNBA’s all-time career scoring list. By the end of the season, she should be close to the top 10.
And how about the Ogwumike sisters? It’s been seven years since they shined together as teammates at Stanford. But in the offseason, the younger Chiney (the 2014 WNBA Rookie of the Year) was traded to the Sparks to join her older sister, Nneka, (the 2016 WNBA MVP) because the basketball gods want us to be happy.
The star-studded Sparks are currently 3/1 favorites to win the WNBA title this year, but they might only get as far as Fisher takes them. After winning the championship in 2016 and losing in the Finals in 2017 under coach Brian Agler, a disappointing 2018 season saw the Sparks bow out of the playoffs early and Agler surprisingly resign as head coach. For Fisher, this is a shot at head coaching redemption after finishing with an abysmal .294 winning percentage in two seasons as head coach of the New York Knicks from 2014 to 2016.
At media day, Sparks player after Sparks player referred to Fisher as a “player’s coach” who they respected because he lets them police each other. It was also clear that his pedigree as the point guard of championship Lakers teams had left an impression on them. Sparks general manager Penny Toler said one of the reasons she hired Fisher was because he had no WNBA experience whatsoever. She also liked that he brought a pair of fresh eyes to the league.
A city of frustrated basketball fans might consider bringing fresh eyes to these women, too. For instance, did you know Chiney Ogwumike shot 60 percent from the field last year while also working another full-time job as a hoops analyst for ESPN? Did you know the starting salary for a WNBA player is $50,000, which causes many of the players to take on outside jobs during the offseason or play in Europe where the pay is better?
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These are real people. They do not earn $1 million every time they step on the court. They all seem to know that there are only 144 players in the WNBA because I heard more than one mention it unprompted during Sparks media day. They know the business because they each carry a responsibility to promote it as best they can in order for the league to survive.
These women are smart. They have other jobs and hobbies. They travel the world. They scrap to get by. We, the people, have so much more in common with the L.A. Sparks than the L.A. Lakers. You can buy floor tickets to the Sparks’ home opener next Friday against the Connecticut Sun for $25! You can show up to Staples Center for an evening of joy and you won’t have to hear a word about Rob Pelinka or the Buss family or Magic Johnson or the Rambii or whatever the name of the new, underwhelming head coach is or anything else related to the purple-and-gold catastrophe we will not speak of.
I’ll be there.
Who’s coming with me?
Top photo of Chiney Ogwumike, Derek Fisher and Nneka Ogwumike: Leon Bennett / Getty Images