August 10, 2023
Locked on Women’s Basketball: Los Angeles Sparks’ Jordin Canada, Most Improved Player candidate, put in the work
By The Next
Howard and Jordin Canada discuss her offseason regimen, leadership role with the Sparks' and her years in Seattle
It’s time for another Locked on Women’s Basketball podcast episode. Los Angeles Sparks’ Jordin Canada, Most Improved Player candidate, has done everything in her power to turn herself into the elite starting point guard she’s become in 2023. But it was anything but easy, as she details her offseason regimen to Howard Megdal, along with a multi-year effort to figure out precisely what her game can be. The two talk about her return home, what the offseason looks like, and much more in this wide-ranging interview.
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Jordin Canada talks about how much work she put in the offseason and how is paying off during the season:
“Beginning of the season, honestly, I put in a lot of work in the offseason and just trying to find that confidence that I had while I was at UCLA and trusting the process and what I did in the offseason. And then soon as the season started, I kind of just float into that. And I’ve been confident ever since of feeling like my old self again. So really, just the hard work that I put into the offseason.”
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Jordin Canada talks about her years in Seattle and leadership role:
“I think, coming into Seattle being drafted, being in a different role, honestly, my whole career up until that point, I was a starter. And just being in that leadership role, and then coming onto a fully talented team and playing behind one of the best point guards, if not the best point guard in the history of the WNBA, in Sue Bird. I mean, that was a lot. And I had to learn a lot; I had to figure out my role and what it was. So it was just a lot that I had to deal with. And I think mentally that kind of took me out, you know, who I was as a player, and trying to establish a new role and being put into a new system. And I think that was just really hard for me, honestly, throughout my years in Seattle trying to navigate that.
Honestly, obviously being in and out of the lineup, my second year having to step in when Sue Bird was out. And I kind of got my confidence back a little bit there. But you know, like you said, it’s more psychological than physical. And I think once I came to the Sparks, I was able to kind of get that confidence back and feeling like I was being put into more of a leadership role. And I think that helped me, honestly. And like I said in the offseason, just trusting the work that I put in, and then coming into this season, knowing that I had another opportunity to be a leader of this team. I think that just kind of helped get me back to where I used to be.”
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