Kristi Toliver to sign with with the LA Sparks and make them WNBA contenders again

The Los Angeles Sparks will sign point guard Kristi Toliver, according to High Post Hoops. Multiple sources confirmed the news to SB Nation. Toliver, a reigning champion for the Washington Mystics, will rejoin the team she played with for seven seasons (2010-16). She helped the Sparks win a championship in 2016.

Toliver’s decision comes as a surprise as the Mystics are expected to re-sign MVP Elena Delle Donne and Finals MVP Emma Meesseman, keeping the bulk of last season’s championship core intact. Toliver also serves as an assistant coach for the NBA’s Washington Wizards.

Instead of returning to the best team she’s ever played for, Toliver’s headed back to Staples Center with a slightly different core than the one she left four years ago. She’ll join a rotation that includes Chelsea Gray, Candace Parker, Nneka Ogwumike, and Chiney Ogwumike, Maria Vadeeva and Brittney Sykes. The Sparks are in win-now mode, and Toliver could be the piece who brings them back to the Finals.

How does Toliver’s signing change the WNBA?

Toliver’s signing weakens the Washington Mystics, the championship team that dominated the entire league by producing the best offense in WNBA history. The Mystics will still be loaded with talent including Delle Donne, Meesseman, Natasha Cloud, Ariel Atkins and LaToya Sanders, but losing an on-court leader who averaged 13 points on 36 percent three-point shooting will sting. The Mystics went 12-2 in Toliver’s absence due to injury during the regular season, but that’ll be hard to replicate unless Delle Donne, who had a minor back surgery at the end of January, has another historic season.

Teams competing for the championship like the Seattle Storm — who will see Sue Bird and Breanna Stewart return to the court — Las Vegas Aces, Connecticut Sun and Sparks all win with an all-star like Toliver off Washington’s depth chart.

How does Toliver’s signing change the Sparks?

The Sparks have launched themselves back into title contention after a lackluster 2019 campaign that saw the team slog to third place in the regular season, only to be swept by the Connecticut Sun in the semifinals. Head coach Derek Fisher caught heat for benching franchise star Candace Parker in that series finale, and LA’s season ended on a sour note. Weeks after, ESPN reported general manager Penny Toler used several racial epithets in a speech. She was fired a day later.

Now, despite a vacancy for the Sparks’ GM role, LA has a brand new starting five of Chelsea Gray (who the team intends to keep in restricted free agency), Toliver, new-acquisition Sykes, Parker, and Nneka Ogwumike. Highly-coveted prospect Maria Vadeeva, who showed star potential as a 20-year-old last season, former Rookie of the Year Chiney Ogwumike, and scoring guard Riquna Williams will come off the bench.

In its first day of free agency, LA’s cleared up two major issues from last season: ball-handling behind Gray and a lack of shooting. Before signing Toliver Tuesday morning, the Sparks dealt 2019 No. 7 pick Kalani Brown to the Atlanta Dream for Sykes and Marie Gulich.

It’s hard to know where the Sparks rank among the WNBA’s elite until the hectic days of free agency play out. But their rotation is as sound as we’ve seen it, and maybe Toliver’s voice and hot hand can reinvigorate one of last year’s more disappointing teams.