Sparks vs. Fever Preview and Game thread: The Caitlin Clark experience

The Sparks welcome in the Fever and Caitlin Clark on Friday, looking for back-to-back wins.

After an exciting win over the Mystics on Tuesday, the Sparks return to the court on Friday with an even more exciting prospect awaiting them. Caitlin Clark and the Fever will continue their early onslaught of games this season while searching for their first win of the year against a Sparks team looking to continue building momentum.

Start time and TV schedule

Who: Los Angeles Sparks vs. Indiana Fever

When: 7 p.m. PT, May 24

Where: Crypto.com Arena

Watch: Ion

While the Sparks picked are set for their fourth game of the season with three of those coming in Southern California and one in Las Vegas, the Sparks are set for their sixth game and fourth on the road with stops in Connecticut, Brooklyn and Seattle.

Indiana’s road trip will include one more stop in Las Vegas as they will cap off 7-games-in-11-days stretch to open the season.

On top of the travel, the Fever have also struggled on the court as well, though they’ve made strides. On Wednesday, they, too, were involved in a close game, falling to the Storm 85-83, their second consecutive loss by four points or loss.

The Sparks will likely offer no easier a challenge for Indiana. Friday’s contest will pit the top two picks of the 2024 WNBA Draft against one another in Clark and Cameron Brink. While Clark has found her footing statistically, averaging 17.8 points and 5.8 assists, Brink’s production has come in ways outside of her shooting, particularly in her defense.

The No. 2 overall pick is averaging 6.0 points and 6.0 rebounds, but also 3.7 blocks through the opening three games. Foul trouble has plagued her so far and she’ll be matched up against the reigning Rookie of the Year in Aliyah Boston. It’ll be an intriguing match-up in many ways between the two sides.

Injury Report

• The Fever have been injury free to start the season.
• The Sparks will be without only Azurá Stevens on Friday.

• Be sure to join us on Playback for our first WNBA stream of the season, and one of hopefully many!

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.