Kelsey Plum Out as Sparks Host Mercury Before All-Star Break

Kelsey Plum will not play when the Phoenix Mercury visit Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Wednesday, July 22, 2026 , the final regular-season game for both teams before the WNBA goes dark for the All-Star break. The Sparks guard has been sidelined since late June with a lower left leg injury, and the re-evaluation window the team set at the time of diagnosis lands precisely around this fixture without clearing her to return.

Sparks Guard and Scoring Leader Ruled Out

The official WNBA injury report system requires teams to flag any player whose availability may be affected before each game. Heading into Wednesday's 3:00 p.m. ET tipoff, the Sparks' pre-game report listed two players.

Plum was listed out. The designation follows directly from the timeline the Sparks established on June 24, when the organisation announced she had sustained a lower left leg injury and would be re-evaluated after four weeks , a window that closes around July 22. Head coach Lynne Roberts told reporters ahead of the Mercury game that no return date had been set. "I'm not trying to be evasive, we really don't know," Roberts said. "It's one of those injuries , the muscle, soft tissue, injuries like that, you can't just jump back out there. You have to build up the tolerance and build up the load so that she can sustain the intensity of it. So we're in that build-up stage. But I have not been given a date as to when I can count on doing that."

Kiana Williams, the Sparks' other guard option, was listed questionable with a right hand issue in pre-game reporting. Her status as of the official WNBA injury report had not been archived in a confirmed snapshot at the time of publication. Check the WNBA injury report page for any update before the game tips.

Mercury Arrive Without Injury Designations

Phoenix entered Wednesday's game with no players listed on the injury report, according to injury-tracker data and reporter updates. Sami Whitcomb, whose absence had been noted in earlier games, was reported available and off the Mercury's injury designation. An official timestamped snapshot was not independently accessible at time of publication, the status is supported by tracker and reporter updates rather than an archived official filing.

Phoenix carried genuine momentum into Los Angeles. DeWanna Bonner scored a season-high 21 points and Kahleah Copper added 18 , including 12 in the second half , in a 72-63 win over the Connecticut Sun on July 19 that snapped a five-game losing streak. That result lifted the Mercury to 9-18 heading into Los Angeles.

What Plum's Absence Costs the Sparks in Scoring and Creation

Before the injury took hold, Plum had been the Sparks' primary scorer and lead playmaker, ranked second in the WNBA in points per game. Her official WNBA player page shows her averaging 23.9 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 6.4 assists per game in 2026.

Head coaches named her a 2026 All-Star reserve on July 7, confirming her fifth All-Star selection (2022–26) and noting she ranked second in the WNBA in scoring. The All-Star Game itself takes place July 25 in Chicago. Her participation there is subject to a separate and still-unresolved availability decision, it does not track with her game status for Wednesday.

The clearest recent evidence of her dominance against this specific opponent came on June 13, when Plum scored a career-high 43 points , including the layup with 1.6 seconds left that sent the game to overtime , in a 111-102 overtime win over Phoenix. Kahleah Copper scored 41 in the same game, the first time in WNBA history that opposing players each scored 40 or more points in the same game. "That was an offensive display by both Kah and KP," Roberts said after the game. "When they both have it going like that, it's impressive and fun to watch." That victory gave the Sparks a 2-0 series lead at the time, following a 97-88 win over Phoenix on May 21.

Without her, the Sparks entered the Mercury game at 10-15. They had lost their previous fixture to the Dallas Wings 90-82 on July 19 , their fourth straight defeat , on a day when Bonner and Copper were simultaneously closing out the Sun in Phoenix.

Series Standings and What Each Team Needs

Wednesday was the Sparks' third meeting with the Mercury in 2026 and the first since Plum went down. The Sparks entered at 10-15 holding a 2-0 series lead, the Mercury came in at 9-18 needing to avoid a 0-3 deficit in the season series before the break.

For context beyond the July 22 fixture: Caitlin Clark entered Wednesday's game window managing a back injury and minutes restrictions, with her participation monitored by the Indiana Fever.

The Mercury arrived with their full roster available. The Sparks entered without the player who had scored 43 points the last time these two teams met. Los Angeles held a series lead it built with Plum healthy, and was now defending it with a shorthanded rotation against a Phoenix team that had just ended a five-game skid.