2002 Los Angeles Sparks season

WNBA team season

2002 Los Angeles Sparks season
Coach	Michael Cooper
Arena	Staples Center
Attendance	11,651 per game
Results
Record	25–7 (.781)
Place	1st (Western)
Playoff finish	Won WNBA Finals
← 2001 season 2003 season →

The 2002 WNBA season was the sixth season for the Los Angeles Sparks. The Sparks ended the season winning the WNBA Finals for the second straight year. As of 2012, this is the last WNBA team to win back to back championships.

Transactions

WNBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	Nationality	School/Team/Country
1	16	Rosalind Ross	United States	Oklahoma
2	30	Gergana Slavcheva	Bulgaria	FIU
2	32	Jackie Higgins	United States	North Carolina
3	48	Rashana Barnes	United States	Penn State
4	64	Tiffany Thompson	United States	Old Dominion

Transactions

Date	Transaction
April 19, 2002	Traded Ukari Figgs and Gergana Slavcheva to the Portland Fire in exchange for Nikki Teasley and Sophia Witherspoon
April 19, 2002	Drafted Rosalind Ross, Gergana Slavcheva, Jackie Higgins, Rashana Barnes and Tiffany Thompson in the 2002 WNBA Draft
April 30, 2002	Signed Erika de Souza, Rhonda Smith and Kim Williams
May 3, 2002	Waived Rashana Barnes
May 8, 2002	Waived Tiffany Thompson
May 13, 2002	Waived Jackie Higgins, Kelley Simon, Kim Williams and Nicole Levandusky
May 13, 2002	Signed Vicki Hall, Shala Crawford and Naomi Mulitauaopele
May 16, 2002	Waived Rhonda Smith and Wendi Willits
May 23, 2002	Waived Naomi Mulitauaopele
June 7, 2002	Signed Katryna Gaither
June 11, 2002	Signed Sophia Witherspoon
June 18, 2002	Traded a 2003 1st Round Pick to the Miami Sol in exchange for Marlies Askamp
June 21, 2002	Waived Katryna Gaither

Roster

2002 Los Angeles Sparks roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	DOB	From	Yrs
C	41	Askamp, Marlies	6' 5" (1.96m)	198 lb (90kg)	1970-07-08		5
G/F	0	Byears, Latasha	5' 11" (1.8m)	206 lb (93kg)	1973-08-12	DePaul	5
F/C	14	de Souza, Erika	6' 5" (1.96m)	190 lb (86kg)	1982-03-09		R
G	21	Dixon, Tamecka	5' 9" (1.75m)	148 lb (67kg)	1975-12-14	Kansas	5
C	12	Gaither, Katryna	6' 3" (1.91m)	170 lb (77kg)	1975-08-13	Notre Dame	1
G	17	Grgin-Fonseca, Vedrana	6' 1" (1.85m)	160 lb (73kg)	1975-01-13		2
F	7	Hall, Vicki	6' 1" (1.85m)	180 lb (82kg)	1969-10-03	Texas	2
C	9	Leslie, Lisa	6' 5" (1.96m)	170 lb (77kg)	1972-07-07	USC	5
G	4	Mabika, Mwadi	5' 11" (1.8m)	165 lb (75kg)	1976-07-27		5
G	10	McCrimmon, Nicky	5' 8" (1.73m)	125 lb (57kg)	1972-03-22	USC	2
F	8	Milton-Jones, DeLisha	6' 1" (1.85m)	175 lb (79kg)	1974-09-11	Florida	3
G	42	Teasley, Nikki	6' 0" (1.83m)	169 lb (77kg)	1979-03-22	North Carolina	R
G	13	Witherspoon, Sophia	5' 10" (1.78m)	145 lb (66kg)	1968-07-06	Florida	5

Head coach: Michael Cooper (New Mexico)
Assistant coaches: Glenn McDonald
Karleen Thompson

Legend

(C) Team captain
(FA) Free agent
(IN) Inactive
(S) Suspended
Injured

Schedule

Regular season

2002 game log
Total: 25–7 (Home: 12–4; Road: 13–3)

May: 3–0 (Home: 1–0; Road: 2–0)

Game	Date	Team	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location Attendance	Record
1	May 25	New York	W 72–64	Leslie Mabika Witherspoon (14)	Lisa Leslie (14)	Tamecka Dixon (7)	Staples Center	1–0
2	May 27	@ Houston	W 68–55	Lisa Leslie (22)	Lisa Leslie (17)	Sophia Witherspoon (4)	Compaq Center	2–0
3	May 30	@ Miami	W 69–65	Mwadi Mabika (17)	DeLisha Milton-Jones (8)	Nikki Teasley (5)	American Airlines Arena	3–0

June : 9–2 (Home: 5–1; Road: 4–1)

Game	Date	Team	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location Attendance	Record
4	June 1	@ Charlotte	L 87–94 (OT)	Lisa Leslie (26)	Lisa Leslie (12)	Nikki Teasley (6)	Charlotte Coliseum	3–1
5	June 3	Portland	W 89–72	Lisa Leslie (25)	Lisa Leslie (18)	Nikki Teasley (7)	Staples Center	4–1
6	June 8	@ Minnesota	W 76–72	Mwadi Mabika (21)	Byears Leslie Mabika (7)	Lisa Leslie (5)	Target Center	5–1
7	June 11	Detroit	W 90–80	Leslie Milton-Jones (18)	Lisa Leslie (9)	Nikki Teasley (8)	Staples Center	6–1
8	June 15	@ Sacramento	W 72–66 (OT)	Mwadi Mabika (19)	Lisa Leslie (11)	Tamecka Dixon (5)	ARCO Arena	7–1
9	June 18	@ Seattle	W 80–68	Mwadi Mabika (23)	Mabika Milton-Jones (9)	Dixon Mabika (4)	KeyArena	8–1
10	June 21	Minnesota	W 73–64	Lisa Leslie (23)	Lisa Leslie (9)	Nikki Teasley (5)	Staples Center	9–1
11	June 25	Phoenix	W 89–66	Mwadi Mabika (20)	Lisa Leslie (12)	Nikki Teasley (9)	Staples Center	10–1
12	June 27	Washington	W 73–66	Mwadi Mabika (20)	Lisa Leslie (14)	Nikki Teasley (7)	Staples Center	11–1
13	June 28	@ Phoenix	W 84–72	Lisa Leslie (18)	Leslie Milton-Jones (14)	Nikki Teasley (6)	America West Arena	12–1
14	June 30	Houston	L 58–60	Mwadi Mabika (18)	Latasha Byears (11)	Tamecka Dixon (7)	Staples Center	12–2

July : 8–3 (Home: 5–1; Road: 3–2)

Game	Date	Team	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location Attendance	Record
15	July 5	Sacramento	W 87–65	Lisa Leslie (16)	Leslie Milton-Jones (9)	Nikki Teasley (5)	Staples Center	13–2
16	July 7	Utah	W 102–75	Tamecka Dixon (20)	Lisa Leslie (8)	Tamecka Dixon (8)	Staples Center	14–2
17	July 11	@ Seattle	L 60–79	Lisa Leslie (21)	DeLisha Milton-Jones (10)	Mabika Teasley (3)	KeyArena	14–3
18	July 12	@ Portland	W 82–76 (OT)	Mwadi Mabika (32)	DeLisha Milton-Jones (13)	Mwadi Mabika (6)	Rose Garden	15–3
19	July 17	@ Indiana	W 73–58	Mwadi Mabika (27)	Lisa Leslie (14)	Nikki Teasley (4)	Conseco Fieldhouse	16–3
20	July 18	@ New York	L 59–72	Lisa Leslie (16)	Lisa Leslie (11)	Tamecka Dixon (4)	Madison Square Garden	16–4
21	July 20	@ Cleveland	W 63–50	Mwadi Mabika (15)	DeLisha Milton-Jones (10)	Nikki Teasley (8)	Gund Arena	17–4
22	July 22	Orlando	W 92–84	Lisa Leslie (24)	Lisa Leslie (21)	Lisa Leslie (8)	Staples Center	18–4
23	July 24	Portland	W 73–69	Lisa Leslie (21)	DeLisha Milton-Jones (13)	Dixon Mabika McCrimmon Milton-Jones (3)	Staples Center	19–4
24	July 28	Indiana	W 80–62	Mwadi Mabika (22)	Lisa Leslie (9)	Nikki Teasley (7)	Staples Center	20–4
25	July 30	Miami	L 73–82	Mwadi Mabika (17)	Lisa Leslie (8)	Nicky McCrimmon (6)	Staples Center	20–5

August : 5–2 (Home: 1–2; Road: 4–0)

Game	Date	Team	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location Attendance	Record
26	August 1	Seattle	L 76–81	Lisa Leslie (30)	Lisa Leslie (16)	Nikki Teasley (7)	Staples Center	20–6
27	August 3	@ Sacramento	W 81–71	Mwadi Mabika (20)	Lisa Leslie (9)	Mwadi Mabika (9)	ARCO Arena	21–6
28	August 4	Utah	W 90–86	Lisa Leslie (26)	Mwadi Mabika (7)	Mwadi Mabika (6)	Staples Center	22–6
29	August 8	Houston	L 64–67	Mwadi Mabika (27)	Leslie Milton-Jones (12)	Tamecka Dixon (5)	Staples Center	22–7
30	August 9	@ Utah	W 85–77	Lisa Leslie (19)	Mwadi Mabika (9)	Nikki Teasley (6)	Delta Center	23–7
31	August 11	@ Minnesota	W 69–58	Mwadi Mabika (16)	Nikki Teasley (6)	Tamecka Dixon (7)	Target Center	24–7
32	August 13	@ Phoenix	W 63–56	Lisa Leslie (23)	Lisa Leslie (11)	Mabika Milton-Jones (3)	America West Arena	25–7

2002 season schedule

Playoffs

2002 playoff game log

First round vs. Seattle Storm
Won Series: 2–0

Game	Date	Team	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location Attendance	Series
1	August 15	@ Seattle	W 78–61	Lisa Leslie (24)	Lisa Leslie (9)	Nikki Teasley (8)	KeyArena	1–0
2	August 17	Seattle	W 69–59	Lisa Leslie (23)	DeLisha Milton-Jones (10)	Mabika Teasley (4)	Staples Center	2–0

Conference Finals vs. Utah Starzz
Won Series: 2–0

Game	Date	Team	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location Attendance	Series
1	August 22	@ Utah	W 75–67	DeLisha Milton-Jones (17)	Lisa Leslie (8)	DeLisha Milton-Jones (5)	Delta Center	1–0
2	August 24	Utah	W 103–77	Lisa Leslie (25)	Mwadi Mabika (9)	Nikki Teasley (9)	Staples Center	2–0

WNBA Finals vs. New York Liberty
Won Series: 2–0

Game	Date	Team	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location Attendance	Series
1	August 29	@ New York	W 71–63	Mwadi Mabika (20)	Latasha Byears (11)	Nikki Teasley (11)	Madison Square Garden	1–0
2	August 31	New York	W 69–66	Lisa Leslie (17)	Latasha Byears (11)	Nikki Teasley (11)	Staples Center	2–0

2002 playoff schedule

Season standings

Western Conference	W	L	PCT	Conf.	GB
Los Angeles Sparks	25	7	.781	17–4	–
Houston Comets	24	8	.750	16–5	1.0
Utah Starzz	20	12	.625	12–9	5.0
Seattle Storm	17	15	.531	10–11	8.0
Portland Fire	16	16	.500	8–13	9.0
Sacramento Monarchs	14	18	.438	8–13	11.0
Phoenix Mercury	11	21	.344	7–14	14.0
Minnesota Lynx	10	22	.313	6–15	15.0

Statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game	RPG	Rebounds per game
APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game	BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage	TO	Turnovers per game
PF	Fouls per game		Team leader		League leader

Regular Season

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Lisa Leslie	31	31	34.2	.466	.324	.727	10.4	2.7	1.5	2.9	16.9
Mwadi Mabika	32	32	32.8	.423	.366	.839	5.2	2.9	1.2	0.3	16.8
Tamecka Dixon	30	30	31.9	.391	.351	.831	3.1	4.0	0.9	0.2	10.6
DeLisha Milton-Jones	32	25	30.2	.487	.420	.740	6.6	1.4	1.6	1.1	11.3
Nikki Teasley	32	32	27.6	.404	.400	.750	2.6	4.4	0.8	0.3	6.4
Latasha Byears	26	5	18.7	.618	N/A	.566	5.4	0.5	0.7	0.2	7.0
Sophia Witherspoon	31	1	11.5	.415	.418	.761	0.9	0.9	0.4	0.1	5.2
Nicky McCrimmon	32	0	11.1	.408	.267	.636	0.7	1.7	0.7	0.1	1.6
Marlies Askamp	20	4	10.8	.473	.000	.643	2.5	0.2	0.6	0.2	3.1
Vedrana Grgin-Fonseca	12	0	6.6	.387	.417	.667	0.7	0.1	0.1	0.0	2.6
Vicki Hall	3	0	6.3	.500	.000	.750	0.7	0.3	0.3	0.0	2.3
Katryna Gaither	1	0	5.0	.000	N/A	N/A	1.0	1.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Erika de Souza	11	0	3.7	.357	N/A	.200	1.3	0.2	0.3	0.0	1.1

Waived/Released during the season
Traded during the season
Acquired during the season

Awards and honors

Lisa Leslie, Best WNBA Player ESPY Award

References

^ "2002 Los Angeles Sparks Transactions". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 1, 2024.

Sparks on Basketball Reference

v t e Los Angeles Sparks 2002 WNBA champions
Latasha Byears Tamecka Dixon Vedrana Grgin-Fonseca Lisa Leslie (Finals MVP) Marlies Askamp Mwadi Mabika Sophia Witherspoon Nicky McCrimmon DeLisha Milton-Jones Nikki Teasley Érika de Souza Head coach Michael Cooper

Los Angeles Sparks 2002 WNBA champions

Head coach Michael Cooper

v t e 2002 WNBA season by team
Draft All-Star Game Playoffs Finals
Eastern	Charlotte Sting Cleveland Rockers Detroit Shock Indiana Fever Miami Sol New York Liberty Orlando Miracle Washington Mystics
Western	Houston Comets Los Angeles Sparks Minnesota Lynx Phoenix Mercury Portland Fire Sacramento Monarchs Seattle Storm Utah Starzz
← 2001 WNBA season 2003 →

v t e Los Angeles Sparks
Founded in 1997 Based in Los Angeles, California
Franchise	Franchise Current season
Arenas	Kia Forum Crypto.com Arena
Head coaches	Linda Sharp Julie Rousseau Orlando Woolridge Michael Cooper Karleen Thompson Ryan Weisenberg Henry Bibby Joe Bryant Michael Cooper Jennifer Gillom Joe Bryant Carol Ross Penny Toler Brian Agler Derek Fisher Fred Williams Curt Miller Lynne Roberts
Administration	Owners Jerry Buss Gemini Basketball Williams Group Holdings Guggenheim Partners General Managers Rhonda Windham Penny Toler Derek Fisher Karen Bryant Raegan Pebley
All-Stars	Alana Beard Tamecka Dixon Chelsea Gray Dearica Hamby Chamique Holdsclaw Jantel Lavender Lisa Leslie Mwadi Mabika Taj McWilliams-Franklin DeLisha Milton-Jones Nneka Ogwumike Candace Parker Nikki Teasley Tina Thompson Kristi Toliver
Seasons	1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Playoff appearances	1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2008 2009 2010 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Conference Championships	2001 2002 2003 2016 2017
WNBA Championships	2001 2002 2016
Rivals	Detroit Shock Houston Comets New York Liberty Minnesota Lynx Phoenix Mercury Sacramento Monarchs Las Vegas Aces Seattle Storm
Media	TV: Spectrum SportsNet (Los Angeles) Announcers: Jim Watson, Mary Murphy

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