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After spending the last calendar year on the sidelines, Cameron Brink is making her return to the action.
The Sparks star plans to make her season debut Tuesday night against the Aces, she told the Long Beach Press-Telegram’s John W. Davis on Monday.
“It means the world,” Brink said. “I’m just very excited, very humbled by this experience. It’s no easy thing to come back from.”
Brink, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft, played just 15 games before suffering an ACL tear on June 18, 2024, which cut her rookie season short.
The 6-foot-4 forward has been rehabbing and working toward a return throughout the first half of this year’s season as the Sparks have played to an 11-14 record.
Before Los Angeles played the Liberty in Brooklyn Saturday, Brink told reporters that she had been medically cleared but was still “getting reps” and “getting back up to speed with everybody.”
Her injury status was upgraded from “out” to “doubtful” ahead of the Liberty game, but she did not play in the contest, which LA won 101-99 in thrilling buzzer-beating fashion.
A few days later, she appears to be ready to go.
Brink said she’ll need some time to get her game re-acclimated to live action, but that she’s hoping her defense, in particular, will make an instant impact.
Cameron Brink with the Sparks on May 30, 2024. AP“I feel like my defense has always been something I’ve leaned on…but probably just giving myself patience on offense knowing that it’ll come eventually,” Brink said. “But both will need some work, for sure.”
In the 15 games she did play last season, Brink averaged 7.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game.
Before that, she was a dominant force at Stanford, averaging 14.0 points, 11.9 rebounds and 3.1 blocks across her four seasons.
She won a national championship her freshman year with the Cardinal in 2020-21 and was an AP first-team All-American her senior season, in which she averaged 17.4 points and led the nation in blocks per game (3.7).
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