When the Los Angeles Sparks traded for Ariel Atkins this offseason, they knew they were getting a proven winner and a lockdown defender. What they didn’t expect was that she’d force head coach Lynne Roberts to reconsider her entire offensive philosophy.
Roberts has always preached shots at the rim and three-pointers, a system she brought from her days at the University of Utah. But Atkins has a weapon that doesn’t fit neatly into that math-driven approach: a midrange jumper she hits at absurdly high rates. Last season with Chicago, she shot 55.6 percent from 10-16 feet. The year before that in Washington, it was 55.4 percent.
“I said, ‘You’re making me rethink my whole philosophy of no midrange,’” Roberts joked back in May.
And she wasn’t kidding. The Sparks have loosened up. Roberts now tells Atkins to take that pull-up when it’s there, because for her, it’s a great shot. The coach’s whole thing is players taking shots that fit their skill set, and Atkins’ skill set includes one of the league’s most reliable pull-up games.
“It’s my favorite shot in the game,” Atkins said. “It’s not a shot that many people love anymore, but I think it’s because a lot of people can’t make it. So that’s on them, that ain’t on me.”
A new offensive home
Atkins’ role in L.A. looks completely different from what she was asked to do in Chicago last season. The Sky needed her to be an on-ball creator after Courtney Vandersloot went down with a season-ending ACL injury. Now alongside Kelsey Plum and Erica Wheeler, Atkins is playing off the ball more than she has in years. That means more catch-and-shoot chances, something she hasn’t had this consistently since her early days in Washington.
Through her first eight seasons, Atkins shot 35.7 percent from three. But this year has been a different story early. Through the first 12 games, she’s hitting a career-low 24.5 percent from deep. The Sparks offense is still finding its rhythm, and so is she.
Still, she’s not overthinking it.
“The highest shot percentage in the game of basketball is catch-and-shoot,” Atkins said. “We’re getting to know each other better and better each and every game in my opinion. It is a different role for me from what I’ve been in the last few years which is nice.”
Defense never takes a night off
The Sparks’ biggest priority this offseason was getting better on defense. Atkins was their answer. A starter on Washington’s 2019 championship team, she made an All-Defensive team each of her first five seasons, including a First Team nod in 2022. She’s the team’s best on-ball perimeter defender, and a lot of what she does doesn’t show up in the box score.
Take the Sparks’ win over Phoenix back on May 21. That was Atkins’ first game back after two games out with a concussion. She was all over the floor early — multiple deflections, active hands, making life miserable for the Mercury’s guards. A few nights later, she drew the primary assignment on Jackie Young and held the four-time All-Star scoreless on just two shot attempts.
“Defense has always been my way of being on the floor,” Atkins said. “A lot of it is effort and wanting to do something. That’s just my mindset behind it. I really just enjoy playing it for the simple fact that everybody’s not willing to do it, to be honest.”
Finding her voice in a new locker room
The Sparks are off to an inconsistent start, and Atkins is still settling into her offensive rhythm. But she’s brought something else that matters just as much: a steadying veteran presence. She picks her spots to speak up and leads by example the rest of the time. The team has plenty of vets, but Atkins keeps an even temperament that the younger players can lean on.
“You just got to find your voice,” Atkins said. “Being steady, making sure the young ones are good and then making sure I’m doing my job on a day-to-day basis. Just being the calm person that I am. I never really get too high, never get too low, I just try to stay locked into that.”
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