Why former Sparks player credits LA for breakout season

After a solid rookie season with the Los Angeles Sparks, Sarah Ashlee Barker was selected in the expansion draft by the Portland Fire. She was one of the players the Sparks left unprotected, and their loss was the Fire’s gain as the second-year guard is in the midst of a breakout season.

The No. 9 overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft, Sarah Ashlee Barker has been a key reserve for the Fire, especially when it comes to her 3-point shooting. Barker didn’t shoot the ball all that efficiently as a rookie, but she gives a lot of credit to the Sparks for essentially laying out her offseason plan that the Fire have taken full advantage of.

“It definitely helps with this system. I’m able to get more shots off and all that. But at the same time, people forget my offseason work was what LA wanted me to work on,” Barker told a small group of reporters prior to the Fire’s game against the Sparks on June 7. “And so that was one of the things, ‘how can we get your 3-point shot to be more consistent.’

Last season, Barker shot 29.5 percent from the 3-point line while taking just under two attempts per game. This season, she’s up to 44.9 percent on a little over three attempts. That’s good enough for third on the team behind only Teja Oblak’s 58.3 percent and Serah Williams’ 50 percent. However, both Oblak and Williams do not shoot the same volume of 3-point shots that Barker does.

Oblak has only taken 12 shots from beyond the arc this season while Williams has only taken one. Barker is second on the Fire roster in 3-point attempts this season with 49. Only Bridget Carleton has taken more shots from distance with 93.

Barker initially had no idea that she was going to be available in the expansion draft, so her offseason work was tailor-made to fit the Sparks’ roster needs.

“I give a lot of credit to LA because just the work that we put in the offseason and what I was trying to attack every single day was to come back and play for LA and be better for myself,” Barker continued. “I have a lot of gratitude for that.”

In addition to her 3-point shooting, Barker is putting up career numbers in points (10.3), rebounds (4.3), assists (2.5), overall field goal percentage (50.8 percent) and minutes (23.7). She’s played in all 15 games for the Fire, including four starts, and is a big reason why the team has a winning record (8-7) a little over a quarter of the way through the regular season.

Barker has been entrusted by the Fire staff with the ball in her hands a lot more than she was last year with the Sparks. And as a result, she’s been able to create for herself and for her teammates. For that, she credits the Fire and head coach Alex Sarama with installing an unselfish system that stresses ball movement and team play.

Sarah Ashlee Barker is different

She connects on this strong take

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“I know how much trust they have in me as a coaching staff, and even my teammates, all of us have so much trust. And just the unity within each other, we’re so connected that it could be anybody’s night, it’s not just one person,” Barker said. “You can see that across the line. When we win games and when we’re being successful, it’s when you’ve got 15, 10, 12, 15, 14, all that, it’s not just one player that’s contributing, it’s all of us.

“That’s been really cool to just be a part of. Yeah the ball is in my hands a lot more, but at the end of the day, I’m just trying to take every opportunity and just do the best of my ability.”

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