WNBA star ‘icked out’ by thought of practice against male players: ‘Preferably they’re gay’

Article content

The Los Angeles Sparks put out a curious call earlier this month and at least one player is worried about who will answer it.

Star forward Cameron Brink said that she is “icked out” about the thought of going up against potential male practice players that the team is bringing in for tryouts next month.

Brink brought up the topic during the Straight to Cam podcast, which she hosts with Sydel Curry-Lee, touching on some of the responses to the Sparks’ post by some over-enthusiastic men.

“I guess my confession is I’m really icked out by the potential new practice players,” Brink told Curry-Lee in a clip posted to social media. “It’s basically just a flyer, it’s like me, Dearica (Hamby), Rickea (Jackson), and Kelsey (Plum), and it’s like, ‘Male practice players wanted.’ And usually we use USC college guys that also do it for the women’s team at USC.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.

Play Video

“And all the comments are like, ‘Let Cameron Brink back me down,’ or something about Rickea or something about Kelsey.

“Now I’m like, we need to heavily vet these men, preferably they’re gay … Who are we trusting to come into this gym?”

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.

Play Video

Curry-Lee also commented that whoever is brought in will “need to go through heavy HR training.”

Brink also said that although she may have been joking, having unknown male players could have an impact on her participation.

“I’m not boxing anyone out,” Brink said. “Lynne (Roberts), our new coach, is gonna be screaming at me for not rebounding. But I’m not boxing out anyone.”

It is not uncommon for women’s teams to practice against men. The defending WNBA champion New York Liberty has done so for years and women’s college basketball teams do the same.

The Sparks put out the call on social media for a tryout scheduled to take place on April 12 at El Camino College.

Potential players must fill out a registration and waiver before taking part.

Brink is entering her second WNBA season after being taken No. 2 overall in last year’s draft.

While she showed promise early on, averaging 7.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game, she suffered a torn ACL in June after just 15 games.