It is safe to say the Los Angeles Sparks (16-28) had a rough year.
With Kelsey Plum’s departure, Nneka Ogwumike’s announced retirement, and Cameron Brink’s ongoing injuries, it became clear about two-thirds of the way through the season that the LA Sparks would miss the playoffs.
However, amid this tumultuous year, Rae Burrell emerged as a foundational piece for the team's ongoing rebuild.
The fifth-year wing has raised her scoring average every single season, while playing 43 of the Sparks’ 44 games in 2026. Averaging 1.7 points her rookie season, to 3.6, to 5.9, to 7.5, and now this year 14.6, Burrell has displayed five seasons of steady improvement, not terrible for a 6’2” gaurd/forward out of the University of Tennessee. In 2026, she doubled her scoring output, taking a gigantic leap in efficiency and usage. In 43 games played this year, she totaled 626 points, while having just 541 points in her entire career previously.
| # | Season | PPG |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2022 | 1.7 |
| 2 | 2023 | 3.6 |
| 3 | 2024 | 5.9 |
| 4 | 2025 | 7.5 |
| 5 | 2026 | 14.6 |
Nearly doubling her scoring in 2026, Burrell is shooting 45.5% from the field, 38.3 % from downtown, and 81.4% from the line on 473 attempts. She has now positioned herself alongside the league’s exclusive high-volume scorers in 2026. Of every player to record over 400 field goal attempts this year, just eight players managed to meet this triple threshold (45.5%/38.3%/81.4%), putting Burrell alongside elite players such as Kelsey Mitchell, A'ja Wilson, Paige Bueckers, Olivia Miles, Kayla McBride, Nneka Ogwumike, and Carla Leite. With a 57.8% true shooting percentage, Burrell carried the weight amid a struggling season.
Not only has she improved year by year, but the progress has mirrored Burrell’s progress month by month this season. In May, she was averaging nine points, in June 14.2, in July 16.4, and then in August 17.2 points. Her peak shooting came in July with 50% from the field and 47.4% from long distance. Her assists have also shown noticeable improvement, moving from 1.5 per game in May to 3.3 in August. Her scoring has improved, but so have her playmaking and ability to read the court.
As Kelsey Plum dealt with injury throughout the season and was eventually traded to the Phoenix Mercury, she only played 12 games for the Sparks. In those 12 games, Burrell averaged 10.4 points. However, while in the 31 games without Plum, she was scoring 16.2 points on average. Rather than being the fourth or fifth option, Burrell became the second or third. With Plum, she was averaging 25.3 minutes, yet without Plum, her role increased to 30.3 minutes played. Her field goal percentage also went up from 43.0% to 46.1%. That is not to say Plum’s departure was needed in order for Burrell to succeed. Rather, the opportunity opened, and Burrell ran with it.
Burrell also reached a career high of 28 points in August. With five threes, she crossed 1,000 career points. She had 11 twenty-point games this year, while in her first four years in the league she had only one. Through her 43 games played this season, in 34 of them she put up double figures, while in her first 97 career appearances she only had 18. Burrell, despite not reaching the playoffs, went out with a bang, closing all her last 12 games in double figures and averaging 17.8 points a night.
The wing has successfully evolved into a reliable volume three-point shooter. Among all players listed with at least 150 three-point attempts, Burrell ranks fourth out of 11 with a 38.3% average, landing her ahead of elite shooters like Bridget Carleton, Rhyne Howard, and DeWanna Bonner. Her three-point attempts per 36 minutes have climbed steadily alongside a rise in efficiency, defying the usual trade-off of maintaining accuracy on increased volume.
While her remarkable growth flew under the radar amid a rebuilding Sparks team, LA now has either a bright centerpiece they can build on or an asset they can use later on.