Shaky Sparks attempting to rebuild future with the past

Amid a glittering sports celebration, a team from Los Angeles dominated the WNBA draft.

But it wasn’t Los Angeles’ WNBA team.

The Sparks couldn’t hold a candle to UCLA.

At a Monday event during which six Bruins were drafted among the first 18 picks — a WNBA record — the Sparks didn’t have their first pick until No. 20 in the second round.

Two years earlier, they had traded away their first-round pick for the rights to draft the exciting Rickea Jackson.

Whom they recently traded to Chicago for somebody named Ariel Atkins.

You can see where we’re going with this…

One of the WNBA’s founding franchises, the failure-ridden Sparks enter the league’s 30th season attempting to break a five-year playoff drought with an understandable yet unremarkable game plan.

They’re going old. They don’t have a choice. Five years of lottery missteps have produced exactly one current Sparks player, Cameron Brink, a social media star who’s been an injured basketball bust.

While the national champion Bruins spent Monday dancing across the league from Toronto to Chicago, the Sparks didn’t get a chance to acquire any of them, and wound up with three late picks who will raise no eyebrows and play few minutes.

So, yeah, old.

When the Sparks open the season by hosting defending champion Las Vegas May 10, their fans are going to say, “Oh yeah!” followed by a resounding chorus of, “Oh no!”

Oh yeah, they’re bringing back longtime Sparks star Nneka Ogwumike, a bruising inside force for 14 seasons. She played well for Seattle last year, but, oh no, she’ll be 36 during the season, and one wonders when the physicality will take its toll.

Oh yeah, they’re bringing back Erica Wheeler, who played strong minutes here several years ago. But, oh no, she played for three teams in the last four years and will be 35 during the season.

Oh yeah, they’re bringing in Atkins, who once won a WNBA championship with the Washington Mystics. But, oh no, that was seven years ago, and she’s bounced around with six international teams and two WNBA teams since.

Those three veterans will be joining a team with two returning starters — Kelsey Plum and Dearica Hamby — but little else.

The league’s celebrated new CBA made all these players rich, but did little for the Sparks, who were unable to make a dent in the league-wide free agent market and were out of decent draft picks and so must survive for one more season before getting a shot at JuJu Watkins.

So they should tank? No! Not yet! I’ve got season tickets! But you’ve got to wonder. And if this aging band gets off to a slow start, you’ve got to wonder if they’re wondering.

“I’m super excited about the roster we have,” said coach Lynne Roberts on a Zoom call Monday night. “We brought in some tremendous leadership.”

But they also lost some tremendous youth by giving up on Jackson, who averaged nearly 15 points last season and provided much-needed energy to another deadly dull squad. While the Sparks made nice with her publicly, one can read between the lines on the following Zoom quote from general manager Raegan Pebley.

”Loved having her here … she’ll be successful wherever she goes,” said Pebley of Jackson. “But we’re focused on winning a championship and finding that fit and balance and getting all those pieces locked in with each other.”

Here’s guessing Jackson, an independent spirit, was never quite locked in. And now she’s locked out of a new culture that will be solid and steady… but will they be any good?

“You have to have that balance of youth and experience and I think our roster has nailed that,” said Pebley.

Who knows? Will Brink stop trying to be an influencer long enough to be an inside presence? Will Rae Burrell take another step in her fifth season? Can the new veterans stay healthy enough to inspire the kids, who could include draft picks Ta’Niya Latson, Chance Gray and Amelia Hassett? Can Roberts, a relative WNBA newcomer who lost more than half of her games in her debut last season, actually coach?

They’ve already had one win with the ongoing construction of an $150-million El Segundo practice facility, which should open next year and serve to attract the type of stars that a Los Angeles team deserves.

They have another steady win with a Crypto.com Arena fan-friendly game experience that ranks among the best in this city’s sports landscape.

Now they just need wins on the scoreboard, lots of them, enough to restore faith in what was once one of this city’s shining basketball operations.

The odds aren’t good — going old usually means going home early — but what else can they do? No Bruins are walking through that door. For at least one more year, the Sparks have to marinate in their past mistakes and hope that their veterans can somehow lay a foundation for their future..

“This isn’t a slow roll,” said Roberts. “We want to do it.”

The rest of the league, which has greatly benefited from five years of Sparks’ bad basketball decisions, will be waiting.

Their passionate fans, who have loyally kept showing up for the last five years to watch the lousy basketball those decisions have wrought, will be wanting.

And JuJu will be watching.