A sensational SoCal silencer from Nneka Ogwumike allowed the Los Angeles Sparks to steal a thrilling victory on a landmark day for the WNBA.
The Los Angeles Sparks generated a Hollywood ending for the opening act of the WNBA’s next 30 years.
Exactly three decades after they each tipped off WNBA history in 1997, the Sparks prevailed in a rematch with the New York Liberty by taking a narrow 98-97 decision at Crypto.com Arena on Sunday night. A buzzer-beating three-pointer from Nneka Ogwumike served as the finishing touch of a comeback from as much as 17 points down and a fantastic finale on the league’s 30th birthday.
“It’s emotional seeing all these legends in the building,” a visibly emotional Ogwumike said in her postgame interview with Angel Gray of ESPN. “[They’re] people that didn’t get paid their value and they’re still here supporting us. I’m so grateful.”
NNEKA WINS THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY GAME AT THE BUZZER FOR THE SPARKS
pic.twitter.com/3NMxj79RKO
— ESPN (@espn) June 22, 2026
This is 30
Even if LA lacked the theatrics, Sunday was always destined to be one of the most anticipated and remembered dates on the 2026 WNBA calendar.
The cross-coast clash featured two of the WNBA’s three original franchises still stationed in their original locales (Phoenix is the other). Each team wore throwback uniforms reminiscent of the threads they wore in the pilot episode. New York won that original game by a 67-57 final at The Great Western Forum.
The ghosts of Los Angeles/New York past engaged in a happy haunting of the festivities: the Sparks honored the original 1997 team in a halftime ceremony overseen by franchise icon Lisa Leslie while Rebecca Lobo called the game for ESPN. Leslie also joined the ESPN broadcast for a heartfelt reunion with Lobo, who also granted a headset to her former teammate Teresa Weatherspoon.
Thirty years later
Lisa Leslie and Kym Hampton run it back with a recreation of the ceremonial tip from the WNBA’s inaugural game.
NYL-LAS | ESPN | Court Origins pic.twitter.com/TGfECCVsHd
— WNBA (@WNBA) June 22, 2026
New York’s pregame prep featured special guests, as Liberty legends who took the floor in that original game addressed the team during their West Coast stay. Forward Jonquel Jones, one of the Liberty’s leading scorers with 18 points, appreciated the “fiery conversations” that the past and present New Yorkers engaged in. The Sparks had a similar set-up, with Erica Wheeler recalling the advice to “enjoy the moment,” an endeavor no doubt made a little easier by SoCal vengeance.
“I think that really carried over into us playing into that first half. But we just want to go out there, win as many games as possible, and ultimately bring another championship back to New York,” Jones said of the meeting. “It’s about playing with grit, having that resiliency, and just playing in the New York way. So every time we step on the court, we really try to just make them proud and understand that we represent something that’s not just us, but bigger than us as well.”
“This franchise has a lot of legacy. It comes with a level of pressure, but they said no pressure,” Wheeler, she of 15 points and the game-winning assist of the Ogwumike winner, said of the Pacific pleasantries. “[They said] at the end of the day, enjoy it and be blessed to be in Hollywood and the Sparks. There’s a lot of history here that we need to continue to build. So, you know what, when they said that, I was like ‘that’s all right.’
The broadcast carried an equally appropriate retro tone: Hannah Storm, who served as the play-by-play woman for NBC in the original game, served as the studio host next to Ogwumike’s overjoyed sister Chiney Ogwumike.
Revenge of the Swish
Pacific revenge was a common theme of Sunday’s showdown: Leslie, for example, defended her historic mark in the tip-off circle, prevailing in a ceremonial recreation of the opening toss-up against Kym Hampton.
The game was also keen to offer signs of the league’s solid footing for the present and future: the two sides united for 22 three-pointers (the original game featured but three successful sinks), and international talents like Jones, Pauline Astier, and Satou Sabally helped New York (11-6) build its early lead. Laura Ziegler became the latest name added to the WNBA scoring ledgers, hitting both of her field goals in her league debut with the Sparks.
But the most brilliant bit of dramatic irony came from the arms of Ogwumike, the de facto co-author of the league’s new collective bargaining agreement as the Players’ Association’s President.
Ogwumike proved to be just as deadly in the clutch as she was in the boardroom, scoring half of her 24 points in the final period. Even before the fateful fling, Ogwumike’s fastbreak double off a feed from a struggling Kelsey Plum gave Los Angeles its first lead with 3:50 remaining. It was the start of a perfect 4-of-4 stretch to close things out, and the bookended shots in between allowed LA to maintain a tied score that eventually yielded the game-clinching triple brought about by split free throws from Breanna Stewart.
“We were super grateful for the fact that we were thought of, because it’s easy to be forgotten, and you can really think about yourself in the moment that you’re in, but they went beyond that,” original Spark DeLisha Milton-Jones said of the Ogwumike-led WNBPA, per Joaquin Ruiz of The LA Times. “That just shows who [Ogwumike] is as a person. She is an ambassador. She is someone that thinks beyond herself. … And I think that she’s done a great job of representing all players, from all walks of life, in every generation.“
“I think everyone in our locker room wouldn’t have picked another person to hit that shot,” Sparks head coach Lynne Roberts said. “What she’s done for this league, she’s one of one. So on a night like tonight, where we’re honoring the legacy of not only the Sparks but the league and Nneka has done for this league, especially recently … it’s powerful when you think about it. It’s really cool, and that’s what sports can do, is bring out those moments. You couldn’t have scripted it any better.”
New York will be back in Los Angeles on July 28. In the meantime, an anticipated showdown with the Las Vegas Aces looms on Tuesday (10 p.m. ET, USA) while the Sparks face another sign of league growth, the expansion club from Toronto, on Thursday (4 p.m. PT, Prime Video).
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
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