Cameron Brink of the Los Angeles Sparks will return to motion Tuesday after a 13-month absence. The No. 2 general decide within the 2024 WNBA Draft missed greater than a calendar yr as she recovered from a torn ACL. And after she received medical clearance over the weekend, she informed John W. Davis of the Long Beach Press-Telegram that she intends to play Tuesday in opposition to the Las Vegas Aces.
Brink tore the ACL and meniscus in her left knee early in her rookie season, and this week’s return will mark her first sport motion since June 19, 2024 when she went down in opposition to the Connecticut Sun.
“It means the world,” Brink mentioned. “I am simply very excited, very humbled by this expertise. It is no straightforward factor to return again from, so simply actually excited.”
Sparks’ Cameron Brink cleared for return after 13-month recovery for torn ACL; out Saturday against Liberty
Carter Bahns
Throughout this spring’s draft, ESPN’s Holly Rowe reported that Brink can be again earlier than the All-Star break. That timeline didn’t come to fruition because the festivities unfolded over every week in the past, however it was solely a brief delay for Brink, who labored her method again to on-court drills earlier this summer season.
“It is nice,” Sparks coach Lynne Roberts said to Davis. “To not put an excessive amount of strain on Cam’s impression proper now. I need her to return out and, I informed her, go searching, odor the popcorn. You made it again. That is the accomplishment. Simply be within the second and never fear an excessive amount of about lacking a layup. Simply be within the second. Play with gratitude and pleasure.”
It didn’t take lengthy for Brink to determine herself as a defensive weapon on the professional degree as she posted 2.3 blocks per sport in 22 minutes per sport. She tallied 7.5 factors, 5.3 rebounds and 1.1 steals per contest within the small pattern dimension — 15 whole video games — earlier than her harm. The previous Stanford star, nationwide champion and Naismith Defensive Participant of the Yr boasts a excessive ceiling as some of the prized younger gamers within the league regardless of the bump within the highway.
“She’ll be a greater participant due to this,” Roberts mentioned. “It sucks that you need to undergo it. You do not want it on any participant. However I feel it helps you, simply what you study in that adversity. She’s been super. It is onerous. … I am actually, actually pleased with her.”
Brink’s return could possibly be a much-needed boon for the Sparks (11-14), who enter Tuesday’s contest three video games beneath .500 and tenth general.