What’s next for Los Angeles?
Following the firing of Penny Toler, the longtime executive for the Los Angeles Sparks, conversation around the league has run wild trying to imagine who will fill the position.
When an organization has the same voice in place for two decades, knowing what pattern the hiring process will follow is complicated. When even the head coach, Derek Fisher, was hired from a one-person of Toler’s, that makes for an even more opaque understanding of what Los Angeles’ approach might be.
Accordingly, here are a number of ways the Sparks can approach things. These are options I’ve heard around the league, though not from within the Sparks themselves. But this search can take the franchise in a number of different options. And it is a vital moment no matter how the team’s arc is viewed: the final years of Candace Parker, the peak of Nneka Ogwumike, or the emergence of Chelsea Gray as the centerpiece of any 2020 build.
Let’s take a look at some directions the Sparks can travel on this next leg of their journey.