Sparks Lose Starting Guard in Expansion Draft

The Sparks lost their Yugoslav duo in the WNBA expansion draft Wednesday, giving up guard Gordana Grubin as the first player chosen, by Indiana, then center Nina Bjedov as the 15th pick, to Seattle.

The WNBA’s four expansion teams--Indiana, Seattle, Miami and Portland--selected their first six players from the league’s existing 12 franchises.

After Indiana made Grubin the first pick, Seattle took Phoenix guard Edna Campbell. Then Miami took Sacramento’s Kate Starbird and traded her and the club’s first pick in the 2000 college draft to Utah for center Elena Baranova and Utah’s second pick in the college draft. Portland finished the first round by taking Cleveland forward Alisa Burras.

The six rounds ended with many wondering why the Sparks chose to expose Grubin, the 5-foot-11 starting guard who averaged 8.9 points and nearly three assists in 22 minutes a game.

Also surprising is that after losing Grubin, the club didn’t pull the 6-6 Bjedov’s name off the table. Teams could initially protect five players, then, after losing the first exposed player, protect three more. That means the Sparks retain La’Keshia Frett, Allison Feaster and Clarisse Machanguana.

Protected were the team’s two Olympians, center Lisa Leslie and forward DeLisha Milton; wing Mwadi Mabika, and guards Tamecka Dixon and Ukari Figgs.

So the 6-5 Machanguana, who averaged less than nine minutes a game last summer, becomes the backup for Leslie--unless a trade is in the works.

Coach Michael Cooper hinted at that possibility, when asked about filling the inside void left by Bjedov’s departure.

“We need toughness [inside], and who’s to say we won’t beat the bushes and get someone before the draft?” he said.

Asked to explain exposing Grubin instead of Dixon, who was a sub for the club’s last 20 games while Grubin started, Cooper called the protected five the “core” of the Sparks’ 20-12 run to the Western Conference finals last summer. He called the protected list of five a “panel” decision by himself, General Manager Penny Toler and President Johnny Buss.

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EXPANSION DRAFT LIST, PAGE 9