Most WNBA rookies get a grace period. Maybe a few easy matchups to find their footing. Los Angeles Sparks guard Chance Gray didn’t get that memo.
In her very first regular-season game, she was matched up against Las Vegas Aces stars Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young. Game two featured Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell of the Indiana Fever. Then came a back-to-back against Marina Mabrey and Brittney Sykes — two players known for making life miserable on offense.
“It’s been crazy having to guard some of these people that I’ve grown up watching and been a fan of,” Gray told ClutchPoints in an exclusive interview. “But it’s been a blessing. I feel like if I can start off my career guarding them, it can only get better from here.”
That baptism by fire has become a defining storyline for the Sparks, who opened the season 1-3 but found a defensive anchor in their second-round pick.
Defense First, Everything Else Follows
Gray’s defensive impact was evident from training camp. Sparks head coach Lynne Roberts noticed it almost immediately.
“From the first day of training camp we were conscious like, ‘oh wow, she can defend,'” Roberts recalled earlier this season. “She went out there and actually stood up Chelsea Gray. It’s a big moment for a rookie to stand up the ‘Point God.'”
That ability to lock down elite guards isn’t new for Gray. At Oregon, she earned Pac-12 All Defensive Team Honorable Mention. At Ohio State, she sharpened her perimeter work further. Now in the WNBA, she’s leaning into that identity as a path to consistent minutes alongside All-Stars like Kelsey Plum and Erica Wheeler.
“That’s the way I can carve out minutes on the floor being with All-Stars,” Gray said. “Every time I go out there, I try to guard the best player on the floor if that’s the matchup they have for me.”
How She Made the Roster
Making a WNBA roster is never guaranteed, even for talented rookies. Gray knew that. Before training camp started, she texted former Ohio State teammate and current Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell for advice.
“I wanted to make the team, I wasn’t just coming here to be cut,” Gray said. “I took it one day at a time and just tried to stay as humble as I could. I was very well prepared going into camp and just made it a focal point every day to be the first one in and be the last one out.”
That work ethic was the trait that stood out most to the Sparks’ front office on draft night. When the team selected Gray at No. 24 overall, she didn’t even realize her name had been called — she was in the gym getting up shots.
The Offensive Fit: Shooting and More
In college, Gray was a reliable 3-point shooter, hitting a career-best 40.5 percent from deep during her senior year at Ohio State. That hasn’t translated into consistent WNBA numbers yet, but there have been flashes. During a recent road trip against Washington and Connecticut, she knocked down 4-of-7 from beyond the arc.
Her role is straightforward: run lanes, space the floor, and shoot when open. But Gray also brings ball-handling ability she developed at Oregon, where she played point guard as a sophomore. In the Sparks’ early rotations, she’s often been the default point guard off the bench, with Wheeler starting alongside Plum.
“I can pass and I have vision,” Gray said. “A lot of people don’t know that I have that just because I’m known as a shooter.”
With a veteran-heavy roster featuring players like Plum, Wheeler, and Azurá Stevens, Gray is soaking up every lesson she can. She knows she’s landed in an ideal development situation.
“I don’t think any rookie could be in a better situation than me,” she said. “I just want to learn and soak up as much as I can about how they prep for games, how they practice, how they play, how they lead. That can take me a long way.”
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