Sparks' Kelsey Plum Draws Stunning Prediction Ahead of 2026 Season
The Los Angeles Sparks lurched out of irrelevance in 2025.
After years stuck in the league's basement, having not reached the playoffs since 2020, Los Angeles finished 21–23, a massive jump from the prior season and good for sixth in the West.
While the Sparks still missed out on the postseason, the vibe around the organization changed. This wasn't a lost franchise anymore. It was a team learning how to win again.
Yet, even with the improvement, ESPN analyst Kendra Andrews just dropped a bold prediction that lands just days ahead of the start of the 2026 WNBA season.
Andrews predicts that Kelsey Plum will finish as a top-three MVP finalist in 2026. Not an All-Star nod. Not a "nice comeback story." MVP territory.
“Last season, her first season with the Sparks, she showed she can be an effective lead scorer. This year, her role might look a little different next to (Ariel) Atkins, but (Lynne) Roberts has said she wants Plum to be a traditional point guard while maintaining her aggressive scoring. If Plum can strike that balance, she might be in the running for MVP,” Andrews wrote.
For a team still outside the inner circle of contenders, that's a seismic shift in how both Plum and the Sparks are being viewed.
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The former No. 1 overall pick spent her first seven seasons with the Las Vegas Aces, where she evolved from scorer to champion, winning back-to-back titles and carving out a reputation as one of the league's most dangerous perimeter threats.
By the time she arrived in Los Angeles ahead of 2025, she was one of the most recognizable faces in the WNBA.
Her first season with the Sparks backed up the hype. Plum averaged 19.5 points, 5.7 assists, and a career-high 1.2 steals per game.
It was her highest scoring output since 2022, and she did it all while shooting 42.2% from the field and 35.5% from three, earning her fourth straight All-Star nod.
She also set franchise marks in points, assists, and three-pointers while tying a WNBA record for games with at least 20 points and five assists.
Andrews’ point is that if Plum can maintain that scoring edge, while taking on more of a facilitator role (4.3 APG career average), she could easily enter MVP territory.
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However, the issue here isn’t so much logic as it is competition.
A’ja Wilson just dominated the 2025 season en route to another MVP, the fourth of her career. Caitlin Clark is healthy and arguably the new face of the WNBA. Sabrina Ionescu nearly matched Plum’s scoring average and is three years younger. And Paige Bueckers represents the league's next marketing supernova.
More importantly, these players sit on teams more widely viewed as title favorites or near it, where MVP narratives tend to thrive.
Plum, by contrast, will turn 32 in August, an age where guards are often managing decline rather than chasing new peaks. And her team, while improved, isn't universally penciled into the championship tier.
That doesn't eliminate her path to MVP, but it makes it a steep climb rather than a natural progression.
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This story was originally published May 5, 2026 at 9:10 PM.