TORRANCE — When building for sustained success, Sparks new general manager Ariana Andonian said there are no shortcuts to building a championship-level organization.
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“We have to take a long-term vision and say not only what is best for the 2027 L.A. Sparks but what’s best for the 2032 L.A. Sparks and what are we setting up now that gets us most prepared for that, so we’re going to be evaluating all those things as we start this process,” Andonian said during her introductory news conference at the team’s practice facility on Tuesday morning, just four days after firing second-year head coach Lynne Roberts.
The 31-year-old replaces third-year GM Raegan Pebley, who was fired in July.
The team announced Andonian’s hiring on Sept. 4 with four games left in the regular season. Since then, she has spent weeks scouting at the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup in Germany and meeting players individually in Los Angeles.
During the offseason, Andonian will be tasked with hiring a new head coach, which she said she’s going to take her time doing, and then deciding whom to draft with the team’s two lottery picks, currently with the sixth- and seventh-best odds, for a combined 7.5% chance of becoming the No. 1 overall selection in the 2027 WNBA Draft.
“Everyone wants to move up, of course,” Andonian said. “If we’re able to move up, that would be the opportunity of a lifetime to be able to jump in the draft, whether that’s the one or two, but we can’t control that. We can only control what we can control, and right now that means making sure we have the best talent identification group that we can. Whether it’s six or seven or one and two, we’re going to do our best to make sure it’s a phenomenal player who’s excited to be an L.A. Spark and who L.A. is proud of as well.”
The Southern California native, who graduated from USC and Duke, has worked in the NBA since 2015. She was a scouting coordinator with the Houston Rockets, a player personnel consultant for Duke basketball, a director of player personnel with the Memphis Grizzlies, and most recently the Vice President of Player Personnel for the Philadelphia 76ers and GM of the Delaware Blue Coats, the 76ers’ NBA G League team.
“With the long-term vision, obviously, like I mentioned before, I can’t control what happened before me,” Andonian said. “I can only control what we’re looking at into the future. I think, as I mentioned before, sustained success doesn’t happen overnight, and really the goal here is to build this franchise up so that success is just the standard over time. Like I mentioned, that’s going to take some time.”
Andonian said that, by her assessment, what separates players above a certain baseline of talent is work ethic. She also wants to make sure that her vision aligns with whoever the franchise hires as the next coach.
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“The players with the best work ethic, who also have the best quality of character, are the type of players that I tend to identify with,” Andonian said. “That being said, we have a process ahead of us to hire a new head coach. Some of that will be working on a vision together, and aligning and making sure that we’re bringing the right type of person that aligns with both of our visions, but the character and who these players are as a human is a big part of this.
“There’s a level of talent that’s incredibly important, and obviously you have to have a certain level of talent to be a professional basketball player, but on top of that, having the right kind of standards and being willing to go the extra mile. These players are coming in at a certain age, but they have a lot of growth to go and a lot of improvement, and if you don’t work hard and care about the right things and care about being the right teammate, having team first over yourself, it’s probably more difficult for you to hit the upside that you can.”
The Sparks finished 16-28, 12th in the league standings, and missed the playoffs for a franchise-record sixth consecutive season. What’s more, the Sparks have not won a playoff game since 2019.
“Culture isn’t built overnight,” Andonian said. “Culture is a series of processes, a series of people feeling like they can communicate clearly, know what their role is, know what can be expected here, bringing in the highest caliber of humans, the hardest workers, all of that, and so I think culture takes a lot of time and the great part about having a longer offseason is being able to have that time to get us to there.”
New Los Angeles Sparks general manager Ariana Andonian shares her long-term vision for sustained success.
The 31-year-old was hired on Sept. 4 after working in the NBA since 2015.
Her most recent position was Vice President of Player Personnel for the Philadelphia 76ers and… pic.twitter.com/4xb0PcE03L
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— John W. Davis (@johnwdavis) September 29, 2026