Rickea Jackson declares beef with $78,831 guard after 'weak a**' jibe goes viral

Rickea Jackson and the LA Sparks registered their 7th win of the season against the Connecticut Sun on Monday. The game was closely played out, as the Sparks won by four points. With the game already in the hot zone, a word war broke out between Sparks' Jackson and Sun guard Bria Hartley.

A video of Jackson talking trash to Hartley during the third quarter went viral on social media. The video posted by Overtime on Instagram showed the Sparks forward walking towards the $78,831 guard [per Spotrac].

"bum a**, weak a**," Jackson kept repeating the four words towards Hartley.

A few hours later, Hartley posted a video on her Instagram, taking a shot at Rickea Jackson. She reposted a video by the Connecticut Sun on her Instagram Story that showed her making a jump shot over Dearica Hamby.

"Who weak as hell," Hartley wrote in the caption.

[Credit: IG/@breezyyy14]

Minutes later, Rickea Jackson reposted a post by the Sparks' social media, showing her stats from the game. In the caption, she appears to have written a response to Hartley's jab.

"Whoever lost today," she wrote.

[Credit: IG/@rickea]

Bria Hartley led both teams in scoring. She had 25 points, one rebound, six assists, and one steal in just over 32 minutes. She also made 41.2% of her shots, including 36.4% of her 3-point shots.

Jackson had 19 points, six rebounds, four assists, and two blocks. She made 56.3% of her field goal attempts and 25.0% of her shots from beyond the arc.

Rickea Jackson drops big praise for teammate Cameron Brink amid possible return

A strong argument could be made that if Cameron Brink were on the LA Sparks roster, we could have seen a very different team. Brink has been out since last season due to a torn ACL. However, there is hope that she may return to the lineup very soon.

The Sparks selected Brink and Rickea Jackson at No. 2 and No. 4, respectively, in the 2024 WNBA draft. Two of the biggest names in the 2024 class, Jackson and Brink, were heralding the return of Sparks' dominance in the league.

In conversation with The Score earlier this month, Rickea Jackson spoke about the excitement of getting Brink in the lineup and her defensive impact.

"I cannot wait to have Cam back," Jackson said. "Just being able to play with someone with the defensive ability that she has - teams are afraid of her. Teams can't just make a regular layup on her. You probably have to do a step-through or pray that something else happens." "Cam is very intimidating in that paint. You're not just going to get any shot over her. I feel like that's something that this team really needs. We've been doing a good job at filling those shoes, but I feel like Cam just brings another edge. What she has cannot be taught."

Last season, Brink played only 15 games before exiting the season with the injury. She averaged 7.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1.1 steals, and 2.3 blocks in those 15 games. She is expected to return by the end of July.

Edited by Vaishnavi Iyer