The Los Angeles Sparks have fired head coach Lynne Roberts, the team announced Friday. Roberts completed her second season at the helm, finishing with a 37-51 record and without a playoff berth for a consecutive season, extending the Sparks’ lottery streak to six seasons.
“We are grateful to Lynne for the commitment and determination she brought to the role, which was evident all the way through our last game last night,” Sparks special advisor Farhan Zaidi said in Friday’s news release. “Lynne has cared deeply about our organization and for our players and their development. We sincerely thank her for everything she has invested in the Sparks and wish her and her family the best moving forward.”
Roberts had just finished the second of a four-year deal with a team option in Year 5, according to sources with knowledge of the terms who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t permitted to discuss the matter publicly. The deal was not fully guaranteed. Because Roberts was fired without cause, the Sparks will owe her the lesser of a year or the remainder of her base salary. Roberts was set to make $950,000 in Year 3 and $975,000 in Year 4, which means the Sparks will owe her $950,000.
Roberts came to Los Angeles after 10 years as the head coach at the University of Utah, culminating in four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. The organization valued her for her offensive mind and ability to develop players. That manifested in her first season with the Sparks, when they became the best offense in WNBA history to miss the playoffs. Then, the roster experienced a significant overhaul prior to the 2026 season, and Roberts never found her bearings. General manager Raegan Pebley was let go in July, franchise player Kelsey Plum was traded shortly after, and now Roberts is gone, as Los Angeles undergoes another complete reset two seasons after the trio arrived.
Earlier this month, the Sparks hired a new general manager, Ariana Andonian, who comes from the Philadelphia 76ers. Zaidi, a special advisor for owner Mark Walter, has been taking a more active role in the basketball operations. The organization hired a new team president before the start of the season, the eighth individual to assume the role since 2019, and two new assistant general managers (Zach Knowlton and Nate Nielsen) to work under Pebley. Their status is unclear in yet another new regime inLos Angeles.
Roberts said Thursday she felt like she’d done enough to be the head coach in 2027. Ultimately, her last act on the job came in Nneka Ogwumike’s final WNBA game. The Sparks blew a 10-point lead with just over two minutes to play and Roberts earned a technical foul down 73-72 with 10.8 seconds to play, as L.A. lost 76-75.
The Sparks will introduce Andonian officially next week. She has been working for the team since the start of the month, including scouting at the FIBA World Cup in Berlin.