August 13, 2025
Locked On Women’s Basketball: Cameron Brink’s new level
Sabreena Merchant of The Athletic joins host Howard Megdal to talk about Brink's return, their coach of the year candidates and more
It’s time for another episode of Locked On Women’s Basketball, and Sabreena Merchant of The Athletic is here to talk about her impressions of Cameron Brink, who recently returned to action for the Los Angeles Sparks. Merchant joins host Howard Megdal.
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The conversation started with a quick analysis of Tuesday night’s game, which Merchant attended in Los Angeles. You can learn more about Brink’s return from the ACL injury that interrupted her rookie season in recent articles from Michelle Smith and Cameron Ruby.
“It’s just been so delightful to watch her come back and be the same defensive monster that we’ve come to know and love from her Stanford days, and even those first dozen or so games that she played with the Sparks in 2024 before tearing her ACL,” Merchant said. “You can tell the way she not just deters shots, but makes people second-guess wanting to go to the rim in the first place.”
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In later segments, Merchant and Megdal took a look around the league, discussing everything from the reveal of the new Golden State Valkyries mascot Violet, to their WNBA coach of the year candidates, which included Natalie Nakase (Golden State), Karl Smesko (Atlanta) and Nate Tibbetts (Phoenix).
“I think [Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase] would be my coach today, right now, just the level of difficulty of coming in with an expansion team immediately crafting your identity,” Merchant said. “Karl Smesko has obviously done great things in Atlanta. I think he just had a better talent base to work with starting off, no disrespect to the Valkyries roster, like, yeah, a lot of good players in Atlanta.”
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