# 1999 Los Angeles Sparks season

The 1999 WNBA season was the third for the Los Angeles Sparks. The Sparks qualified for the playoffs for the first time in franchise history, but they fell in the Conference Finals to eventual champion Houston Comets.

## Transactions
### Minnesota Lynx expansion draft

The following player was selected in the Minnesota Lynx expansion draft from the Los Angeles Sparks:
| Player | Nationality | School/Team/Country |
| Octavia Blue | United States | Miami (FL) |

### WNBA draft

| Round | Pick | Player | Nationality | School/Team/Country |
| 1 | 4 | DeLisha Milton-Jones | United States | Portland Power |
| 2 | 16 | Clarisse Machanguana | Mozambique | San Jose Lasers |
| 3 | 28 | Ukari Figgs | United States | Purdue |
| 4 | 40 | La'Keshia Frett | United States | Philadelphia Rage |

### Transactions

| Date | Transaction |
| April 6, 1999 | Lost Octavia Blue to the Minnesota Lynx in the WNBA expansion draft |
| May 4, 1999 | Drafted DeLisha Milton-Jones, Clarisse Machanguana, Ukari Figgs and La'Keshia Frett in the 1999 WNBA Draft |
| May 6, 1999 | Waived Michelle Reed |
| May 15, 1999 | Signed Gordana Grubin and Nina Bjedov |
| June 21, 1999 | Traded Jamila Wideman to the Cleveland Rockers in exchange for Jennifer Howard |
| June 22, 1999 | Waived Sandra Van Embricqs |

## Schedule
### Regular season

1999 game log Total: 12–18 (Home: 8–8; Road: 4–10) :
June: 5–4 (Home: 2–1; Road: 3–3)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
1
June 10
Sacramento
W 100–78
Lisa Leslie (19)
Mwadi Mabika (6)
Tamecka Dixon (5)
Great Western Forum
1–0
2
June 12
@ Cleveland
W 75–59
Lisa Leslie (30)
Lisa Leslie (18)
Figgs Grubin (4)
Gund Arena
2–0
3
June 15
@ Orlando
L 86–88
Lisa Leslie (23)
Lisa Leslie (9)
Mwadi Mabika (5)
TD Waterhouse Centre
2–1
4
June 18
@ New York
L 72–84
Ukari Figgs (13)
Lisa Leslie (10)
Mwadi Mabika (4)
Madison Square Garden
2–2
5
June 19
@ Charlotte
W 73–69
Lisa Leslie (15)
Leslie Mabika (7)
Mwadi Mabika (6)
Charlotte Coliseum
3–2
6
June 22
@ Houston
L 76–84
Lisa Leslie (19)
DeLisha Milton-Jones (12)
Dixon Frett Figgs Grubin Mabika (2)
Compaq Center
3–3
7
June 24
Minnesota
L 73–86
Lisa Leslie (21)
Lisa Leslie (7)
Ukari Figgs (4)
Great Western Forum
3–4
8
June 26
@ Sacramento
W 76–73
DeLisha Milton-Jones (20)
DeLisha Milton-Jones (9)
Dixon Milton-Jones (4)
ARCO Arena
4–4
9
June 28
Utah
W 102–70
Penny Toler (21)
Lisa Leslie (7)
Mwadi Mabika (7)
Great Western Forum
5–4 :
July: 6–7 (Home: 5–5; Road: 1–2)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
10
July 1
@ Minnesota
W 81–77 (2OT)
Gordana Grubin (20)
DeLisha Milton-Jones (9)
Grubin Mabika (5)
Target Center
6–4
11
July 2
@ Detroit
W 91–81
Lisa Leslie (18)
Lisa Leslie (10)
Penny Toler (7)
The Palace of Auburn Hills
7–4
12
July 5
Cleveland
W 74–72
Nina Bjedov (14)
Lisa Leslie (11)
Frett Leslie Toler (5)
Great Western Forum
8–4
13
July 7
@ Phoenix
W 67–61
Mwadi Mabika (16)
Lisa Leslie (8)
Penny Toler (4)
America West Arena
9–4
14
July 9
Sacramento
L 72–77
Leslie Mabika (16)
Lisa Leslie (9)
Feaster Toler (3)
Great Western Forum
9–5
15
July 11
Phoenix
W 68–57
DeLisha Milton-Jones (14)
DeLisha Milton-Jones (8)
La'Keshia Frett (5)
Great Western Forum
10–5
16
July 17
@ Phoenix
L 76–84
Lisa Leslie (21)
Lisa Leslie (8)
Mwadi Mabika (7)
America West Arena
10–6
17
July 18
Houston
W 78–65
Lisa Leslie (20)
Lisa Leslie (12)
Gordana Grubin (6)
Great Western Forum
11–6
18
July 21
Phoenix
W 84–63
Lisa Leslie (18)
Nina Bjedov (8)
Tamecka Dixon (6)
Great Western Forum
12–6
19
July 24
New York
W 75–72 (OT)
Lisa Leslie (22)
Mwadi Mabika (11)
Grubin Leslie (4)
Great Western Forum
13–6
20
July 27
Orlando
W 81–60
Lisa Leslie (19)
Leslie Milton-Jones (10)
Lisa Leslie (5)
Great Western Forum
14–6
21
July 30
Utah
W 87–77
Lisa Leslie (24)
Leslie Mabika (10)
Mwadi Mabika (7)
Great Western Forum
15–6
22
July 31
Washington
W 81–64
Lisa Leslie (15)
Mwadi Mabika (11)
Mwadi Mabika (5)
Great Western Forum
16–6 :
August: 4–5 (Home: 2–1; Road: 2–4)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
23
August 3
@ Utah
L 75–81
Gordana Grubin (20)
Lisa Leslie (8)
Gordana Grubin (5)
Delta Center
16–7
24
August 6
@ Minnesota
W 77–59
Lisa Leslie (29)
Lisa Leslie (15)
La'Keshia Frett (8)
Target Center
17–7
25
August 9
Detroit
L 59–84
DeLisha Milton-Jones (16)
DeLisha Milton-Jones (8)
Figgs Mabika (3)
Great Western Forum
17–8
26
August 10
@ Sacramento
L 80–82
Mwadi Mabika (20)
Leslie Milton-Jones (8)
Gordana Grubin (6)
ARCO Arena
17–9
27
August 12
@ Houston
L 61–83
Gordana Grubin (10)
Lisa Leslie (8)
Figgs La'Keshia Frett (6)
Compaq Center
17–10
28
August 14
@ Washington
L 53–55
DeLisha Milton-Jones (13)
Leslie Mabika (6)
Frett Grubin Mabika Toler (3)
MCI Center
17–11
29
August 16
Charlotte
W 76–65
Lisa Leslie (25)
La'Keshia Frett (10)
La'Keshia Frett (6)
Great Western Forum
18–11
30
August 18
Minnesota
W 72–54
Allison Feaster (16)
DeLisha Milton-Jones (9)
Mabika Toler (3)
Great Western Forum
19–11
31
August 20
Houston
W 68–64
DeLisha Milton-Jones (18)
DeLisha Milton-Jones (7)
Gordana Grubin (6)
Great Western Forum
20–11
32
August 21
@ Utah
L 81–89
Allison Feaster (14)
Mwadi Mabika (4)
Mwadi Mabika (7)
Delta Center
20–12 :
1999 season schedule :

### Playoffs

1999 playoff game log :
First round vs. Sacramento Monarchs Won Series: 1–0
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceSeries
1
August 24
Sacramento
W 71–58
Lisa Leslie (22)
Lisa Leslie (12)
Gordana Grubin (9)
Great Western Forum
1–0 :
Conference Finals vs. Houston Comets Lost Series: 1–2
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceSeries
1
August 26
Houston
W 75–60
Lisa Leslie (23)
Frett Leslie (7)
Gordana Grubin (7)
Great Western Forum
1–0
2
August 29
@ Houston
L 55–83
Lisa Leslie (11)
Lisa Leslie (8)
Lisa Leslie (4)
Compaq Center
1–1
3
August 30
@ Houston
L 62–72
Lisa Leslie (20)
Leslie Mabika (7)
Mwadi Mabika (5)
Compaq Center
1–2 :
1999 playoff schedule :

### Season standings

| Western Conference | W | L | PCT | Conf. | GB |
| Houston Comets $^x$ | 26 | 6 | .813 | 16–4 | – |
| Los Angeles Sparks $^x$ | 20 | 12 | .625 | 12–8 | 6.0 |
| Sacramento Monarchs $^x$ | 19 | 13 | .594 | 9–11 | 7.0 |
| Phoenix Mercury $^o$ | 15 | 17 | .469 | 7–13 | 11.0 |
| Minnesota Lynx $^o$ | 15 | 17 | .469 | 8–12 | 11.0 |
| Utah Starzz $^o$ | 15 | 17 | .469 | 8–12 | 11.0 |

## Statistics
### Regular Season

| Player | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
| Mwadi Mabika | 32 | 28 | 29.3 | .372 | .281 | .718 | 4.8 | 3.5 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 10.8 |
| Lisa Leslie | 32 | 32 | 29.1 | .467 | .423 | .731 | 7.8 | 1.8 | 1.1 | 1.5 | 15.6 |
| DeLisha Milton-Jones | 32 | 32 | 26.1 | .530 | .000 | .791 | 5.5 | 1.6 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 9.9 |
| Gordana Grubin | 32 | 18 | 22.1 | .405 | .430 | .765 | 2.2 | 2.8 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 8.9 |
| La'Keshia Frett | 31 | 18 | 21.2 | .478 | N/A | .791 | 3.0 | 2.1 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 6.1 |
| Tamecka Dixon | 32 | 14 | 17.6 | .378 | .313 | .738 | 2.1 | 1.7 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 6.8 |
| Nina Bjedov | 27 | 0 | 16.0 | .520 | .421 | .500 | 2.6 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 4.5 |
| Ukari Figgs | 22 | 10 | 15.0 | .366 | .298 | .875 | 1.6 | 1.5 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 4.3 |
| Penny Toler | 30 | 4 | 14.2 | .340 | .154 | .867 | 1.4 | 2.2 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 4.8 |
| Allison Feaster | 32 | 4 | 12.8 | .495 | .368 | .684 | 1.8 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 5.1 |
| Clarisse Machanguana | 28 | 0 | 8.8 | .490 | N/A | .722 | 1.8 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 2.6 |
$^‡$Waived/Released during the season $^†$Traded during the season $^≠$Acquired during the season