How the Los Angeles Sparks became one of the most progressive teams in the WNBA
LOS ANGELES — When Los Angeles Sparks in-arena host Frenchy asked members of Thursday’s LGBTQ panel to use one word to define authenticity, Rusty Rust paused.
Frenchy had already given his word: Fearless.
Sparks president and chief operating officer Danita Johnson gave her word: Real.
But Rust had to look at the ground and think for a few moments before deciding.
“Power,” Rust finally said. “It’s great to be authentic, but it takes circumstances to be authentic. There’s a lot of people who don’t have the safety or security to be who they want to be. It takes knowing yourself and being able to be that person.”
The LGBTQ panel included Rust, who is a University of California, Riverside graduate student, and Glenn Agoncillo, the vice president of HMBD Insurance Services. It was one of three events that highlighted the LGBTQ community on the Sparks’ 2019 Pride Night.
Authenticity was the theme. And it was present in the Authenticity Games, which was a charity basketball event for local high school basketball players, the Authenticity Panel, and the Do-over Authenticity Prom in partnership with LA Pride, which was held after the Sparks’ 86-74 win over the Las Vegas Aces.
The WNBA has celebrated June’s Pride month with league-wide initiatives that promote diversity and inclusion, and Thursday was the Sparks’ chance.
Participants in the Authenticity Games were presented with a $6,000 check midway through the third quarter. And members of the LGBTQ community were given the opportunity to experience prom all over again at Staples Center.
Sparks head coach Derek Fisher expressed his admiration at how the league embraces the people who make up its 12 teams and the fact that some members of society are starting to mimic that attitude. But it wasn’t always like that.
“I think the W[NBA] has always had the support of the community, but I think it was something that everybody wasn’t comfortable acknowledging, embracing and celebrating,” Fisher told Yahoo Sports. “But I think everyone has become more accepting of the fact that we’re all really just one group of people.
“I think we’re more free and willing to talk about it. And … for all the negatives that social media sometimes represents, it does create conversations we weren’t having a decade ago or 20 years ago when this league started.”
The league has evolved from WNBA players rarely opening up about their sexual orientation to some of the most prominent faces in the sport announcing their engagements and sharing their personal stories with the public.
Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner, a two-time WNBA Defensive Player of the Year and 2017 scoring leader, came out publicly in 2013.
Since then, she’s co-written a memoir titled “In My Skin: My Life On and Off the Basketball Court.” She’s discussed her experiences with being bullied as a teenager and struggling with the decision to openly discuss her sexuality.
And her teammate and WNBA all-time leading scorer Diana Taurasi married former teammate and three-time WNBA All-Star Penny Taylor in 2017.
For the Sparks, Johnson said that openness and inclusivity is something that plays into the organization’s identity as one of the most progressive teams in the league.
“It is Day 1,” she said. “From the diversity of our front offices … our GM, myself, my SVP [senior vice president], all African-American female organization. But at the same time, we have all different walks of life in our office. Because our fans are all different, we have to be different.”
Forward Chiney Ogwumike said the Sparks’ progressiveness is both a product of the people that make up the team and of being in a cultural hub like Los Angeles.
Ogwumike is the vice president of the WNBA Players Association. Her sister, Nneka, who is also a forward on the Sparks, is the president. And Sparks guard Chelsea Gray is a player representative.
“We are woke,” Chiney Ogwumike said. “And you can come to our practices and on the sidelines, we’re not talking about hoop … we’re locked in but we’re probably talking about ‘Did you see this happening? What’s going on in this community or what project are you working on.’
“And we’re just talking and supporting and figuring out how we can collaborate to be the best women we can be.”
Former Washington Mystics guard Tierra Ruffin-Pratt said she immediately noticed that aspect of the organization when she signed with the team ahead of the 2019 season.
“We try to incorporate … everybody in what we do here,” Ruffin-Pratt said. “So I think this is one of the top notch organizations. They try to include everybody.”
That is one of the reasons the organization named its 2019 season theme “Lead the Charge” -- to celebrate its goal to be a guide for other teams to follow.
“We’re here to do the work,” Johnson said, “and actually do things that engage and resonate with people.”
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