The Los Angeles Sparks are about to get a lot more of co-owner Magic Johnson. Or so says the NBA legend.
That’s because the team parted ways with Curt Miller this week. Miller had been the head coach of the Sparks for the last two seasons. He’d also been the only publicly out gay male head coach in US pro sports.
No, there is absolutely zero evidence Miller being gay had anything to do with this move by the Sparks.
On the outside, the move may have seemed like it was coming. The team went 25-55 under Miller. This season’s winning percentage — 20% — was the worst in franchise history.
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Yet many were still surprised by the move. First, Miller took over a team that was in decline, having missed the WNBA Playoffs the previous two seasons. Miller was heading a rebuild project, and in his first season the team had its best record in three years.
Maybe more importantly, the roster was decimated by injuries. Starter Lexie Brown missed 52 of the team’s 80 games the last two seasons. Stephanie Talbot missed the entire 2023 season after tearing her ACL three weeks after signing with the Sparks. Katie Lou Samuelson missed last season on maternity leave, and Julie Allemand missed the entire 2024 season with an injury. Layshia Clarendon and rookie Cameron Brink were also gone the second half of the season.
And on and on…
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Given the circumstances, many people thought Miller — who was part of the coaching staff that led Team USA to gold at the Paris Olympics — would get another shot with a fully healthy team.
Magic Johnson had other plans.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times’ Bill Plaschke, Johnson said everybody should be mad at the Sparks for the poor record. And he had a familiar solution:
“I’m going to get more involved,” Johnson told the LA Times. “I I think I have to get more involved, and I’ll do that, that’s a commitment to the fans, that I will get more involved and be part of it more to help bring the Sparks back to a championship level.”
Johnson was the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers for a fraction of a season, going 5-11 before resigning. He admitted that Miller has faced a tough road.
“Curt has been up against it because injuries have hurt us,” Johnson told the LA Times, according to Women’s Fast Break on SI. “But you’ve got to look at it from both sides. … Did he make the proper adjustments, did he use the talent well? … You also have to say, ‘Hey we are 7-32 for a reason.’”
ESPN’s Michael Voepel didn’t seem impressed with the move by Johnson and team ownership.
“The Sparks might have the most disconnected ownership in the WNBA in terms of the relationship with the franchise, players, fans,” he said. “Considering what Miller stepped into, the idea that he was going to work magic in two seasons felt unrealistic. But apparently, Sparks ownership thought he should have done that.”
For his part, Miller has taken the high road.
Can Johnson bring the Magic back to the Sparks, whatever his publicly stated role is? We’ll see.
Either way, they’re looking for a new head coach who will inherit two of the top four 2024 picks, in addition to what is likely to be the No. 1 pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft.
That’s got to be one of the best job openings in a long time.
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