2002 Los Angeles Sparks season

2002 Los Angeles Sparks season
WNBA champions
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.

Transactions

WNBA draft

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

Roster

2002 Los Angeles Sparks roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. 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 (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (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 x	25	7	.781	17–4	–
Houston Comets x	24	8	.750	16–5	1.0
Utah Starzz x	20	12	.625	12–9	5.0
Seattle Storm x	17	15	.531	10–11	8.0
Portland Fire o	16	16	.500	8–13	9.0
Sacramento Monarchs o	14	18	.438	8–13	11.0
Phoenix Mercury o	11	21	.344	7–14	14.0
Minnesota Lynx o	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

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

Sparks on Basketball Reference