The LA Sparks will be without Cameron Brink for the foreseeable future — almost assuredly the rest of her first pro season.
The star WNBA rookie suffered a torn left ACL in Tuesday’s game at Connecticut, the team announced Wednesday.
The 22-year-old Princeton, N.J., native was still processing the diagnosis but defiant in the face of the injury in the wake of the announcement.
“You never think it will happen to you,” Brink wrote Wednesday on Instagram. “And despite all the hard work sometimes it does. This is hard to fathom but I know it will only make me stronger. I will not be derailed and I will continue to love this life- I’m not defined by basketball, but it is something that I love deeply and I will work everyday to get back to it.
“It’s not goodbye basketball it’s just a see you later. I’m always so thankful for your thoughts and prayers.”
Brink fell to the floor in a non-contact play while driving against Sun center Brionna Jones in the first quarter and immediately grabbed her knee.
The 6-foot-4 Stanford product — who won a national title with the Cardinal in 2021 — was carried to the locker room by trainers.
Brink, the No. 2-overall pick by Los Angeles in the 2024 draft, was enjoying a standout rookie season — averaging 8.1 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 2.4 blocks and 1.1 steals per game while shooting 39.8 percent from the floor and 32.3 percent from 3-point distance through the first 14 games of the season.
Her absence is already being felt by at least one of her fellow rookies.
“I pray God wraps his hands around you & heals you back even better!” Chicago’s Angel Reese wrote on her Instagram Story alongside a picture of her and Brink at the WNBA draft in April. “Love you my Barbie doll.”
With the Sparks at 4-11 and 25 games to go in their 2024 season after Tuesday’s 79-70 loss to the Sun — and the recovery timetable for a torn ACL normally at six to nine months — Brink’s rookie season is all but officially over.
She will also have to be replaced on Team USA’s four-person 3×3 basketball entry for the Paris Olympics, with the Games set to start on July 26.
The Sparks will have to begin figuring out life without their star rookie with two road games against the Liberty on Thursday and Saturday.