Kelsey Plum and Rickea Jackson Bark Back at Heckling Bettor’s Demands During Game

Kelsey Plum and her Los Angeles Sparks have been struggling to consistently win games despite having a playoff ready roster.

Kelsey Plum and Rickea Jackson Bark Back at Heckling Bettor’s Demands During Game

Rickea Jackson and Kelsey Plum silence a bettor (Image via FirstSportz)

After spending the first eight years of her WNBA career in Las Vegas, Kelsey Plum was traded to the Los Angeles Sparks this past offseason. There, she would team up with Cameron Brink, Rickea Jackson, Dearica Hamby, and others to try and get to the playoffs.

The Sparks need to put together a string of victories to reach the playoffs. Despite winning a few games, Kelsey Plum and her teammates have struggled to stay consistent. They currently stand 10th in the league after losing nine of their opening 13 games.

Their last game was against the powerhouse Minnesota Lynx. Even though they were playing without leading MVP candidate Napheesa Collier, the Lynx were comfortably in the lead for much of the game. However, with a little more than 5 minutes left in the 4th quarter, the Sparks were just 4 points behind.

On the next play, rookie Sarah Ashlee Barker fouled Kayla McBride as she drove to the rim. McBride’s shot went in, and then she stood at the free-throw line to give her team a 7-point lead. At this time, Rickea Jackson was preparing to gather a rebound when a fan yelled at her, asking her to help his parlay.

First, Jackson shouted back at him, asking him to shut up. Kelsey Plum was not so reserved as she blurted out curse words while telling the fan not to interrupt their game. Dearica Hamby tried to make it sane by asking the fans to avoid chirping at them.

This goes to show that fans try to get players’ attention for their bets. There have been many such instances in the NBA, but now it seems such requests have found their way to the women’s basketball league. After Kelsey Plum’s reply, the fan never came back with a similar request.

Kelsey Plum and Sparks end up losing to Lynx embarrassingly

Even after Kayla McBride’s free throw gave the Minnesota Lynx a 7-point lead, the Los Angeles Sparks had enough time to stage a rally and win in Minneapolis. However, it was not to be as the home team took advantage of the Sparks’ poor shooting to build a lead.

McBride’s barrage of threes and Courtney Williams‘ midrange shots soon built that 7-point lead to a 17-point lead. Despite having 2 minutes left on the clock, that rally seemed to break the Sparks, and they could not score more than a point in the rest of the game.

This marks the 3rd straight loss for the Sparks, as Kelsey Plum and her teammates start their 3-game road trip. They can win the two games they have against the Chicago Sky up next or even steal one against the Indiana Fever, but if the team wants to reach the playoffs, they have to dig deep.

Sparks’ home game promotional tweet draws the ire of fans

The Los Angeles Sparks hope they can fix their chemistry issues and build a run of wins to help them move up the standings. To do that, they send out promotional messages on all social media platforms asking fans to watch their home games at Crypto.com Arena.

Sparks rookie Sarah Ashlee Barker
Sparks rookie Sarah Ashlee Barker (Image via Open Source/X)

Usually, such posts garner a few thousand views on X along with a few comments. The post promoting their previous home game against the Seattle Storm on June 17th drew more than 10 million views and more than 500 comments.

The reason, it featured a scantily-clad Sarah Ashlee Barker with a spinning basketball on her fingers. Fans asked what the Sparks’ motives were by presenting their rookie 1st round pick in this manner. They believed it was a cheap shot to garner clicks.

Every sports team that pictures its players as part of their promotional material has them wearing the team jersey. This was odd for the Sparks to feature their rookie in such a manner. Fans were upset as they felt the organization should not have done this to a player still finding her way in the league.

Also Read: