Sparks set 15-player training camp roster, waive Tierra Ruffin-Pratt
No spot in the WNBA is guaranteed, even for an eight-year pro.
Sparks guard Tierra Ruffin-Pratt, who started 43 of her 51 games in two years with the team, was waived Sunday as the Sparks announced their 15-player training camp roster Monday.
Ruffin-Pratt, who averaged a career-low 2.9 points with 2.1 rebounds last season, will make way for three of the Sparks’ five draft picks.
The Sparks open training camp on April 25 in a new practice facility in Glendale and must cut their roster to 12 by the season opener on May 14.
First-round picks Jasmine Walker (seventh overall) and Stephanie Watts (10th) and second-rounder Arella Guirantes (22nd) were included on the initial roster.
After former UCLA star Onyenwere was picked sixth in the WNBA draft by the New York Liberty, her grandmother broke out a celebratory dance on ESPN.
Wake Forest forward Ivana Raca and Spanish guard Aina Ayuso, who were selected 28th and 34th overall, respectively, will not join the team in 2021, but the Sparks will retain rights to the late draft picks.
The Sparks return Nneka Ogwumike, Seimone Augustus, Kristine Anigwe, Sydney Wiese, Brittney Sykes and Te’a Cooper from the team that went 15-7 in the WNBA’s bubble season.
The free-agency additions of Amanada Zahui B., Nia Coffey, Erica Wheeler and Bria Holmes made the training camp cut, and Chiney Ogwumike and Kristi Toliver return after opting out last year.
Russian center Maria Vadeeva is expected to join the team after the Olympic break.
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