It has been a season of contrasts for the Los Angeles Sparks so far. They are struggling defensively in an alarming manner, especially against top-tier teams. But the Sparks’ players are yet coming up with some good displays and are hitting noteworthy individual record milestones, the latest of which belongs to reserve guard Rae Burrell.

Burrell is now one of seven players in the league to record back-to-back games with 3+ blocks this season. This puts her in the same category as players like A’ja Wilson, Aliyah Boston, Natasha Mack, etc. And Burrell is the only player in the list who plays on the wing.

Rae Burrell scored 13 points against the Valkyries on Monday, the highest on the team. She finished the game with three blocks, one assist, and one rebound. She converted an impressive 9 out of 10 free throws. None of the Sparks’ starting players scored more than 10 points in the humiliating 20-point loss. This included stars and veterans like Kelsey Plum and Nneka Ogwumike.

Burrell is now averaging an impressive 10.6 PTS, 2.4 REB, and 1.5 AST this season. This is somewhat compensating for the lack of scoring options in the team, other than Plum, obviously.

The Sparks’ fans are looking for needles in a haystack to console themselves. This Burrell stat is one such needle. Their regular team is either playing without any coherence or is missing players due to injuries. It is moments like these that are keeping the fans going.

The Sparks suffered another blow as Cameron Brink got injured in the fourth quarter against Golden State. They are now without their best shot blocker(1.5 per game) and will face the Lynx in the Commissioner’s Cup finale at Crypto.com Arena next. The Sparks have the third-worst defensive rating in the league right now. One analyst has described their defense as ‘putting on the welcome sign’ without Brink’s presence.

Coach Lynne Roberts shares the same sentiment, too.

“Defense is a choice,” Roberts said to the media after Monday’s loss. “We came out casual in the first quarter, we were down 15, and we were playing catch-up the whole time,” he added.

Kelsey Plum has time and again echoed the same sentiments- that her team needs to own up and do their jobs more responsibly.

The Sparks Have Been Very Inconsistent This Season

Kelsey Plum remains the shining beacon of this underwhelming Sparks team. She is now 2nd in the league in scoring, at 25 points per game. She is also 6th in three pointers per game(2.7 per game). Nneka Ogwumike is also 5th in the league in rebounds per game. But this is where the positives stop.

The Sparks are very fragile internally. Brink has missed a lot of game time this season. And they have relied on Kate Martin more than they would have liked. Remember, Martin is on a developmental contract and can play a maximum of 12 games. They have a very high foul rate as well, having 21.1 personal fouls per game, as per TeamRankings.

So while a 7-7 record does not spell out a complete disaster. But the underlying issues in this Sparks team are too big to ignore. Especially if they are looking to make the playoffs this year.

Rae Burrell is increasingly looking to lock down the position at the wing. But Sparks will need to sort their defense and roster issues to see a positive run of results.