Rae Burrell’s Breakout Is a Rare Bright Spot for the Los Angeles Sparks
It’s been a rough season for the Los Angeles Sparks. They aren’t in playoff contention with a 12-21 record, their Kelsey Plum experiment—which cost them Dominique Malonga—failed spectacularly, and neither one of their two first-round picks in the 2027 WNBA Draft comes with great lottery odds compared to other teams’ chances at a top pick.
Amid all of that adversity, Rae Burrell’s breakout has been a much-needed bright spot. Burrell is finally starting to live up to her potential and looks like a player the Sparks will be lucky to have if they finally embrace a true rebuild.
Rae Burrell is putting together a much improved season
Burrell was drafted ninth overall in 2022, but her rookie season was cut short after just three games due to an injury. After that, she didn’t make the Sparks’ final roster for the 2023 season and had to play her way onto the team via two hardship contracts.
Throughout the 2024 and 2025 seasons, she saw steadier playing time and emerged as a solid reserve. This year, has marked a massive leap for Burrell. Not only is she healthy, but she’s also playing her best basketball yet.
Burrell has broken into the starting lineup and is averaging ten more minutes per game than last season. Due to that increased role and notable improvements as a scorer, Burrell is averaging career highs in points, rebounds, and assists per game, along with career-best shooting percentages despite significantly more shot attempts.
She has almost doubled her points per game, going from 7.5 to 13.9, while shooting 45.5% from the field and 39% from three. She has also scored 20 or more points in seven games, including a career-high 28 points in a four-point loss to the New York Liberty last night. This kind of scoring is something Burrell had already shown in her first two Unrivaled seasons, but now it is finally translating to a five-on-five setting in the WNBA.
Burrell may not be the young franchise star the Sparks need to finally pull off a real rebuild, but her size, athleticism, and scoring ability make her a great player to have around once they do find that star.
The Sparks have given up on so much young talent lately that it’s refreshing to finally see a young player thrive in LA, even if the team is struggling. The Sparks traded the pick that became Awa Fam to move up in the 2024 WNBA Draft and pick Rickea Jackson, whom they then traded for Ariel Atkins this offseason. They also traded the pick that became Dominique Malonga for Kelsey Plum. More recently, they waived Ta’Niya Latson, who just put together her first 20-point game in the W as the short-handed Los Angeles Aces got blown out by the Liberty.
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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.