The ‘rhythm’ approach new Sparks guard Ariel Atkins brings

ThIt was a busy offseason for the Los Angeles Sparks who reshuffled their roster a bit in an effort to get back to the franchise’s former glory days of being a perennial championship contender. While the biggest move the Sparks made was to bring back Nneka Ogwumike in free agency, one potential under the radar move was the trade to acquire veteran guard Ariel Atkins from the Chicago Sky.

Ariel Atkins joins the Sparks as a two-time All-Star guard who played a key role during the Washington Mystics’ 2019 championship run. The No. 7 overall pick in the 2018 WNBA Draft, she’s heading into her ninth season in the league and with plenty of experience to offer.

The Sparks roster has no shortage of veteran players who have won a championship, some plural, and for Atkins as one of them, she likened finding her leadership role to the way she approaches games.

“You have to find it, you have to be patient. It’s kind of like a game of basketball. You allow the rhythm and the flow to happen for you to find your spots. With it being such a vet-heavy team, I think for me it’s just a matter of being that calm voice that I am and not stepping outside of myself,” Atkins said during her intro press conference. “But there will be moments in the locker room where it is my turn to speak or where I do need to speak up about something, and it’s really just finding that rhythm again.

“We have more older players than not, so it’s really just about finding the rhythm with your other teammates and kind of seeing how the game flows and how the year will flow.”

Atkins is one of four players on the Sparks’ roster that has won a championship including Ogwumike, Kelsey Plum and Dearica Hamby. That quartet makes up the main core of the team coming into the 2026 season and the main leadership team.

But as far as what Atkins brings on the court, her 3-point shooting and defensive acumen make her a strong fit alongside Plum in the backcourt. She was an All-Defensive First Team selection in 2022, and also a four-time All-Defensive Second Team selection from 2018-2021.

She holds a career average of 36.2 percent shooting from 3-point range, and she has only one season where she’s shot under 35 percent in her eight years to this point. Her career high is 41.1 percent which she reached in 2020. She’s using the early days of training camp to see where she best fits alongside the Sparks’ other offensive options.

“We’re trying to figure out the flow of it and figure out what works best within our offense. Obviously defensively I feel like I always had a punch just for the simple fact that I like to talk on defense and just kind of being that anticipating defender,” Atkins said. “But I think offensively, knocking down the open three and getting to the rack, and obviously my pull-up. I don’t think anything from my game will change, I just think it will look a little different within the flow of the offense just because it’s a different offense to what I’ve played in the past.”

Last season with the Sky, Atkins appeared in 34 games at a little over 28 minutes per game. She averaged 13.1 points, 3.4 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.6 steals with splits of 44.4 percent shooting from the field, 36.1 percent shooting from the 3-point line and 86 percent shooting from the free-throw line.

She played a little bit more of an on-ball role after the Sky lost starting point guard and lead ball-handler Courtney Vandersloot to a season-ending ACL injury. But coming to the Sparks, she can settle into both in taking advantage of her catch-and-shoot ability.

The Sparks will open the 2026 season at home against the Las Vegas Aces on May 10.

The post The ‘rhythm’ approach new Sparks guard Ariel Atkins brings appeared first on ClutchPoints.