Lynne Roberts Shares How Cameron Brink Can ‘Unlock a New Level’ With Sparks
Cameron Brink played some good basketball before the World Cup break. She scored in double digits in three consecutive games, grabbed at least five rebounds in all of those matches, and totaled nine blocks. Brink looks like she’s figuring out a lot now that she’s finally healthy after missing most of her first two seasons in the WNBA with an ACL tear.
Los Angeles Sparks head coach Lynne Roberts already has a clear idea of what Brink can do to reach the next level in her development.
“Her 3-point shot has really developed,” Roberts said in a practice media availability, per a YouTube video by Sparks reporter John W. Davis. “If you want to talk about development, that takes a long time, and she’s put a lot of work in. Her ball handling is better. I think Cam’s in this space of figuring out how to be aggressive, how to look to be aggressive offensively, but not having the game speed up. You unlock a new level when you can play fast and be aggressive, but when the game has slowed down in your mind.”
The last four regular-season games after the World Cup break may not have huge implications for the Sparks, who are eliminated from the playoffs and won’t have great lottery odds either way, but they are a chance for Brink to finish the season on a high note.
Cameron Brink has a lot of catching up to do
Brink was the second-overall pick in a 2024 WNBA Draft that has produced two All-Stars so far with Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese and rising stars like Carla Leite, Leila Lacan, and Rickea Jackson. What made Brink such a fascinating prospect in that draft class was her defensive potential—especially paired with the fact that she’s a solid 3-point shooter at 6’4”.
Brink was drafted with the hopes that she could become a two-way star with Defensive Player of the Year potential. So far, she has shown flashes of that, but the vision hasn’t come to fruition because she has barely had any time to get used to the WNBA.
She played 15 games in her rookie season before tearing her ACL. The 19 games she played in 2025 were defined by minutes restrictions and learning how to trust her knee again after a devastating injury. As a result, Brink spent her third WNBA season figuring out how to stay out of foul trouble and how to best use her length in a bench role behind Dearica Hamby and Nneka Ogwumike. Meanwhile, some of her draft classmates chased All-Star selections—Jackson looked ready to become the third All-Star in that group before she also tore her ACL, and Leite had a pretty good case as well—and playoff appearances.
After a mostly healthy season and a full offseason to work on her game, Brink should be set up for a breakout season next year to give the Sparks a much-needed win after their failed Kelsey Plum trade and win-now approach.
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Elaine Blum covers women’s basketball for On SI from Europe. She has been writing about women's hoops since 2023 and holds a Bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism and a master’s degree in American Studies with a focus on women’s and gender studies. She started playing basketball when she was 10 years old and won several league and state championships at the youth and senior level.