Why Cameron Brink should tap into Batman villain persona amid facial injury

Prior to the Los Angeles Sparks’ game against the Connecticut Sun on Saturday, head coach Lynne Roberts was asked about Cameron Brink’s mask she donned following an elbow to the face last weekend against the Las Vegas Aces.

It was suggested that Brink, who evoked images of Bane, the super villain from Batman, should adopt the nickname, ‘Bane Brink.’

“I like it,” Roberts laughed. “I like it”

During the final game of the last season, Brink was also hit the face, coincidently against the Aces as well. She exited the game and did not return. The lasting image of Brink from 2025 last year was her grabbing her face as a stream of blood poured through her fingers out of her nose. It was later revealed that she had suffered a broken nose.

In the aftermath of the Sparks’ final game of 2025, Cameron Brink had a custom mask fitted that she’d be able to wear to protect against inadvertent, or intentional elbows. And on Friday during the team’s win against the Washington Mystics, Brink checked in wearing a mask that evoked images of the aforementioned Batman villain.

Lynne Roberts initially wasn’t aware that Brink had planned on wearing the mask and didn’t find out until she checked into the game for the first time. And she is 100 percent in favor of coming up with a nickname for the former No. 2 overall pick.

“Whatever she needs to do to be fearless out there, to be aggressive. She has been hit in the face a remarkable amount of times and I think at this point she’s frustrated,” Roberts said. “What she doesn’t want to do is hold back or be tentative because of that. So I think that’s what the mask is. But yeah we should come up with some superhero villain name for the mask-wearing Cameron Brink.”

And the mask had no hinderance on Brink’s game. Against the Mystics, she scored in double figures for the third consecutive game. She finished with 16 points while shooting 5-of-7 from the field and 2-of-3 from the 3-point line. She also went a perfect 4-of-4 from the free-throw line.

This past offseason was the first since being drafted where Brink could focus exclusively on basketball and not injury rehab. One aspect of her game where she’s continuing to make strides in is playing defense without fouling. She credits the Sparks’ coaching staff for helping her improve in that regard.

“I think we’re still working through that. Me specifically just learning how to work through foul trouble,” Brink said following the win against the Mystics. “I’m always going to give credit to our staff. We do a really good job with scout, they lay out everything we need to do. It’s just us following it.”

Through the first seven games of the season, Brink is averaging a career-high 10.3 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.6 blocked shots with splits of 62.5 percent shooting from the field, 35.7 percent shooting from the 3-point line and 73.9 percent shooting from the free-throw line.

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