Kelsey Plum leads the WNBA with 26.8 PPG for the Los Angeles Sparks, carrying the team throughout this season. But her inspiring start hit a severe roadblock last week when she sprained her right ankle. Now, despite missing games since then, the Sparks’ head coach still doesn’t have a return timeline for her franchise player.

Plum had already missed the Washington Mystics game on May 29 and the Connecticut Sun game on May 30. Plum’s name was also listed in the injury report for their Las Vegas Aces game on June 2. Speaking before the game, Sparks head coach Lynne Roberts shared positive news regarding Plum’s injury but didn’t specify a return timeline.

“Just like anything KP does, whether it’s having breakfast or after a sprained ankle or playing a game, she attacks it with the utmost of her ability,” Roberts said, according to Justin Russo. “And she’s done the same with this injury. We were on the road, and rumor has it she practically lived at the facility, and she’s doing well … she’s day-to-day.”

“We don’t know when she’ll be back, but if I know anything, she’ll be back as soon as she’s been given any sort of, I don’t know if it even has to be green in her mind, but just some sort of greenish light, and she’ll be back.”

Kelsey Plum sustained an ankle sprain during a practice session last week. According to reports, the Sparks guard also had to be carried out by her teammates. However, after the incident, updates indicated that Plum’s injury was non-serious and that the latter would be re-evaluated within a week.

Speaking of Plum’s injury just after the incident, Roberts highlighted that Plum is trying everything possible to return to the team’s rotation as soon as possible.

“KP is a competitor. I’ve seen her attack this,” Roberts had said a few days back. “I think she was more pissed off that she got injured. The frustration was that, and there’s nothing that she’s fearful of. So, she’s attacking this thing like crazy.”

According to The Basketball Doctors website, grade 1 (mild) ankle sprains take 1-2 weeks to fully recover. Considering Plum’s injury was deemed non-serious last week, chances are that her ankle sprain also falls in this same bracket. According to this estimated timeline, Plum should be back in the team’s rotation by next week.

Missing three back-to-back games is a very unfamiliar situation for Plum in recent years. The Sparks guard hasn’t been much of an injury-prone player, and, according to ESPN, she has missed just 4 games over the last 4 seasons. Of course, she did miss the entire 2020 season after rupturing her Achilles tendon. ‘

Since then, availability has been Kelsey Plum’s currency, making her an important value addition to any system she is part of. But this untimely injury for Plum has flipped this narrative to an extent, and the LA Sparks are the ones suffering the most from this situation.

LA Sparks Head Coach Hints at Her Team’s Game Plan Against the Aces Without Kelsey Plum

In the 2026 season so far, Kelsey Plum has been averaging 26.8 points per game. She’s leading the league in this metric while also leading the LA Sparks in assists (6.3). On top of that, her shooting percentages are impressive, as she has been scoring 58.9% from the field and hitting 48.8% from beyond the arc.

So the question is: how do you replace a player like that? The general and, to a certain extent, the believable answer to it would be that you just can’t. But for LA Sparks head coach Lynne Roberts, the answer is collective effort. She shed light on it during her pre-game presser, when asked about her game plan against the Aces, who will also be missing players like Chennedy Carter and Jewell Lloyd.

“Well, [Carter]’s not playing today. So, we’ll adjust that. She’s out, Jewell’s out, and KP’s out. So, those are three big scorers that are out for both teams. And that’s part of the W season. You’re going to have key players out, and we’ve got our leading scorer out. So, it’s about not making a big deal out of it. We still got to do what we do.”

Without Kelsey Plum, the LA Sparks have recorded a win and a defeat so far. Erica Wheeler, Nneka Ogwumike, and Dearica Hamby carried the team through a 92-87 win against Washington. But in the next game, they suffered an 84-81 defeat to Connecticut in a back-and-forth contest.

Quite naturally, against the Las Vegas Aces, Lynne Roberts would rest her faith on players like Ogwumike and Hamby. Both are averaging 15+ points this season and are able companions to Plum in the Sparks’ offensive engine. Irrespective of that, facing the Aces without Kelsey Plum would be a difficult ask for the Sparks.

Roberts’ team did win the last outing against the Aces. But it was Plum who led with 38 points and 9 assists. And to beat a team with A’ja Wilson, Chelsea Gray, and Jackie Young, the Sparks will need a similar performance from one of their senior players as well.