Head coach Lynne Roberts admitted a lineup and rotation change could be coming if the Los Angeles Sparks’ defense doesn’t improve, with the team sitting dead last in defensive metrics after 10 games of the 2026 season.
The frustration in Los Angeles is no longer theoretical.
With 10 games in the 2026 regular season, the Sparks’ defense still hasn’t caught up with the changes the team made in the offseason. Before Sunday’s game against the Portland Fire, head coach Lynne Roberts didn’t dress it up when she was asked whether adjustments could be next.
“That’s the stage we’re at,” Roberts said during her pregame press conference. “That’s where we’re at, so stay tuned.”
The Sparks are currently dead last in the WNBA in defensive metrics. They’re 15th in opponents points, allowing 93.0 per game. They’re also 15th in defensive rating at 115.6.
Roberts acknowledged the possibility of lineup and rotation changes if those numbers don’t start moving in the right direction. What makes that admission sting is that the offseason was supposed to bring defensive help. The Sparks added defensive coach Ebony Hoffman to the staff, traded for Ariel Atkins, and signed Nneka Ogwumike.
Between Atkins and Ogwumike, the veteran duo has a combined 12 All-Defensive team selections. Yet the Sparks have continued to struggle on the defensive end.
After the Sparks’ loss to the Dallas Wings on Friday, Dearica Hamby pointed to basic fundamentals breaking down as a key reason behind the defensive struggles.
From Roberts’ perspective, the team can show defensive execution at times—but it doesn’t last for long stretches. The effort and discipline don’t arrive every possession, which is exactly where her message sharpened.
“We’re not running complex schemes right now. You’ve got to walk before you can run. We have to have discipline to just execute the scheme, what we’re trying to do. We do it sometimes, we don’t do it the next time,” Roberts said. “If we want to reach our potential it has to be all the time. That doesn’t mean you’re gonna hold a team to zero. But make them make hoard shots and make them make contested long twos. guarded threes … we’re so inconsistent with our discipline. it’s why I’m frustrated.”.
Last season, the defense at the bottom of the league wasn’t new either. The Sparks finished last in opponents points after giving up 88.2 per game. They were slightly better on defensive rating, placing 10 out of 13 with 110.7.
Now, the conversation includes what changes could look like on the court.
One idea that has been floated around is a larger lineup featuring three of the team’s bigs: Ogwumike, Hamby, and Cameron Brink. Roberts said she doesn’t have immediate plans to roll out that lineup, but she acknowledged she wasn’t opposed to it at some point in the season.
Brink has been the team’s best interior defender and the best shot-blocker, averaging 1.5 per game. That production is also good enough for sixth overall in the WNBA. The concern, Roberts acknowledged through Brink’s profile, is foul trouble. Brink is averaging four fouls a game, a number on par with her rookie season in 2024.
Even with those issues on the table, Roberts insisted the locker room still has the resolve to fix what’s been breaking.
“Very frustrating, but we’ll fix it,” Roberts said. “You can do two things with frustration. You can stay in it or you can continue to grind and fix it and that’s what we’re doing. We’ll fix it, but it’s frustrating for sure.”
That’s the tightrope the Sparks are walking right now: a team that spent the offseason trying to fix its defense, still searching for consistency—while Roberts keeps the door open for changes if the performances don’t follow.
Los Angeles Sparks Lynne Roberts WNBA defense defensive rating Ariel Atkins Nneka Ogwumike Dearica Hamby Cameron Brink Ebony Hoffman Portland Fire Dallas Wings
Dead last already? Wow. Maybe defense is just cursed this year.
They added all those defensive players and it’s still bad… so what, the coaching just forgot how to play defense? I don’t get it. Rotation change sounds like a cop out but I guess they have to try.
Wait so she’s saying they’ll tweak the rotation if the defense doesn’t improve, but they’re already 10 games in… isn’t that like after the season is basically over? Also 93 points a game sounds not even that high like maybe the offense is the real problem.
I saw that and immediately thought it’s because they’re not ‘running complex schemes’?? Like yeah that’s the point? Defense should still be effort and discipline every possession even without schemes. Makes me mad because they traded for Atkins and signed Ogwumike and you’d expect at least some improvement by now.