LOS ANGELES — Nneka Ogwumike finished with 17 points, 15 rebounds and five assists and had the green light all night, but she was still thinking about her lasting impact and playing the game the right way.
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“Competitive mentality,” Ogwumike said before capping her 15-year WNBA career with her 19th double-double of the season, a new franchise single-season record. “Understanding the importance of legacy and wanting to leave things better than when you entered.”
The Sparks held the Valkyries to 27.8% shooting from the field in the first half but blew a 16-point lead in the second half of a 76-75 loss in a regular-season finale on Thursday night at Crypto.com Arena.
The Sparks led 55-46 heading into the fourth quarter but desperately clung to a 72-70 lead with 1:03 to go.
Golden State guard Kaitlyn Chen scored 14 of her game-high 18 points in the fourth quarter to lead the furious comeback and secure the No. 2 seed for the WNBA playoffs with a 32-12 overall record. Valkyries guard Veronica Burton scored 17 points.
Golden State forward Gabby Williams, who scored 14 points, drained a 3-pointer to give the road team a 73-72 lead with 21 seconds left. Valkyries forward Kayla Thornton was fouled with 8.5 seconds remaining and calmly drained both free throws for a 76-72 lead.
Rae Burrell, who scored 15 points, and Ogwumike missed potential go-ahead layups late. Ogwumike, the team’s all-time leading scorer, later missed a technical free throw and Burrell drained a 3-pointer before the buzzer to close out the 76-75 defeat.
“I should have made that free throw,” Ogwumike told the crowd during her postgame retirement celebration.
Sparks team president Stacy Johns said the franchise will name the state-of-the-art players’ sanctuary at the team’s new El Segundo practice facility after Ogwumike.
The 2016 WNBA champion and 2016 league MVP finished her career with 8,047 points, which ranks fourth in league history.
“There’s no better way to finish the season than to respect the game,” said Ogwumike, the franchise’s No. 1 pick in the 2012 draft, who will remain the President of the Women’s National Basketball Player’s Association through the end of the calendar year.
Los Angeles Sparks forward Nneka Ogwumike on how she’s approaching her final game before retiring from the WNBA after 15 seasons.
Ogwumike was the No. 1 pick in the 2012 draft.
She is a 2016 WNBA champion and 2016 WNBA MVP. pic.twitter.com/vuOiazCtFf
— John W. Davis (@johnwdavis) September 24, 2026
“There’s a good mindset right now of stay focused but let’s empty the tank,” Sparks second-year coach Lynne Roberts said at Thursday’s morning shootaround at the team’s practice facility in Torrance. “That’s what I just told them. Give your absolute very best for the team, for the season, but most critically for Nneka. It’s not about any of the rest of us, this game is about honoring her and playing and coaching the right way.”
The Sparks trailed 15-13 at the end of the first quarter, but Roberts said the game plan was to feature Ogwumike more than usual so she could be more aggressive offensively.
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Ogwumike’s isolation turnaround jumper put the Sparks ahead 35-26 at halftime. The 11-time All-Star scored 12 points in the first half.
Consecutive 3-pointers by Erica Wheeler and Rae Burrell extended the Sparks’ lead to 41-26 in the opening minutes of the third quarter. The hosts couldn’t maintain that advantage but still held a 55-46 lead going into the fourth quarter.
APPRECIATING THE SUPPORT
Ogwumike said she still had not fully come to terms with the fact that her teammates were playing for her.
“I don’t know if I have accepted it,” Ogwumike shared. “I receive it, but I might need to digest it a little bit more.”
Burrell said Ogwumike, who has known her since her rookie season in 2022, has been very supportive during the best season of her career in scoring, assists, and field-goal percentage.
“She’s been there through my journey of coming into this new role,” said Burrell, who just finished her fifth year in the WNBA. “She’s been in my ear and been helping me through anything that I really needed, honestly. She’s just been a great mentor for me.”
“It would mean everything,” Burrell continued. “We want to send her off on a good note. I feel like that’s the perfect way to do it.”
Second-year Golden State coach Natalie Nakase, who played at UCLA and Marina High in Orange County, knew the Sparks would give it their best shot.
“You know, they’re just going to play all out for her,” Nakase said, “and so we have to match that energy, if not, let’s fight even harder just because at the end of the day we have to be the hardest-playing team.”
COMING BACK?
Roberts, who is 37-51 in two seasons leading the team, believes she’s done enough to remain the head coach next season.
“I think I have,” Roberts said. “I think again, we’ve had two tough years of injuries and I’m not trying to blame anything on that. It’s just the reality … and I think what this org needs is some stability, a vision and direction, like a plan, not that we haven’t had one but I think now that we’ve got people in place, just give us a goal post and we’ll march down the field in that way.”
The Sparks finished the season 16-28 overall and missed the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season, which is a franchise record.
Lynne Roberts on if she thinks she should be the head coach of the Los Angeles Sparks next season. pic.twitter.com/YugL31UdhT
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— John W. Davis (@johnwdavis) September 25, 2026