TORRANCE, CA -- The Sparks have a new general manager as they once again go on a new direction. Ariana Andonian, who has extensive NBA experience even at the young age of 31, takes over the reins of L.A.'s WNBA franchise.
Andonian, hired earlier this month, opened up with these remarks.
"First of all, honored to be back home in Southern California and working for the L.A. Sparks," Andonian said. "This is a dream come true and I don't take the responsibility lightly. To Sparks fans, I know you know what success looks like. This is a championship franchise with an incredible history and I'm incredibly excited about the opportunity to help build its next chapter and bring sustained success back to Los Angeles. I'd like to thank Mark Walter, Eric Holoman, and Farhan Zaidi for trusting me with this opportunity. And finally, I'd like to thank my parents, John and Cynthia, and my family who never laughed at the young girl who wrote her school reports on Lisa Leslie and believed basketball could be more than just a hobby."
When Andonian got the call to be the GM of the team Lisa Leslie was in, she didn't hide her excitement about it.
"Yeah, it was pretty surreal to be honest," Andonian stated. "I got to meet Lisa this week, which was a really big deal for me. And I was, you know, after being in sports for a long time, I think you get a little less nervous each time you talk to people, but talking to Lisa was kind of a big moment for me knowing the history I have and being a big fan of hers growing up. I'm sharing the moment with my family who all live in Southern California. They all live within San Diego, Orange County, or L.A. And so the joy that they felt having me back to a franchise that they care about and also being that close to home. There's a lot of excitement all around. I'm super excited to get started here."
Andonian understands the position the team is currently in. She said that it will take time for them to hire a new coach.
"We want to take our time with this process and make sure that we get it right," Andonian offered. "We want an excellent leader, an excellent communicator, someone who's collaborative, and willing to work in the W and work with all of us and have relentless standards of kind of how great we think this franchise could be. And that's the great developer of talent as well."
When asked about taking black women coaches into account, considering there are currently none in the W...
"I think representation is really important, particularly with this is a basketball team of women with a lot of different backgrounds," Andonian said. "And having the right type of coach who could relate to them, who could, they feel like they can identify with, is very important. So what that means in terms of what the head coach looks like, as I mentioned, I don't think putting any particular labels on what we're looking at is probably fair at this point, but you know, as a woman who worked in a men's league, looking up to other women who had done things before me, that representation really mattered to me, and I don't take thinking about that in terms of our players very lightly."
The team hasn't made the playoffs since 2020. Still, Andonian wants to take it step by step.
"Yeah, I think the real goal here is we want sustained success, right?" Andonian said, mentioning that phrase again. "We want to be a change-of-level organization. We want to be able to sustain it over time. And that doesn't happen overnight. A lot of that is making a lot of long-term decisions and taking time to assess and making sure we have super high standards across all departments and doing our best to bring in the absolute best people here. I can't speak to the time before me. I can only look forward to the future and do my best with where we are now and take us into that way. But I think having patience with taking this offseason one step at a time and making sure we're, like I said, have relentless standards across a bunch of different departments and do our best with all the decisions that we can."
Will having that NBA background help Andonian in the WNBA?
"Yeah, I think that building a basketball operation kind of applies across different teams, whether that's international basketball teams, men's basketball, women's basketball," Andonian said. "And I feel really lucky that it worked for what I think are some of the best professional sports organizations in the world, regardless of men's or women's basketball. And so I think, like I mentioned before, like having those high standards and really making sure that we're bringing in the best people possible across all groups, and really being championship level and everything, whether that's talent identification, whether that's coaching player development, player health... I've been in organizations that really took their time and did things that way. And I hope to bring that and build a similar basketball operation here."
Andonian understands the skepticism when it comes to her youth.
"I've been in sports for 11 years, working in basketball for different basketball teams for 11 years, which I think is not usually typical of someone my age," Andonian admitted. "And I've been through a lot of different experiences, through a lot of different teams, and seen a lot of ups and downs within professional sports. I think my experience is what helped me get here, and being able to be put in different roles, be put in hiring roles, be put in opportunities where the team was in different places, and at different stages of becoming a contender. I think all those experiences have prepped me for this, for this now, and I'm really excited about the opportunity to get started."
Of course, there still is a matter of building this roster. Andonian was asked about what kind of players she's looking for.
"I think the players, obviously, above a certain baseline of talent, the players with the best work ethic, who also have the best quality of character are the type of players that I tend to identify with," Andonian answered. "That being said, we have a process ahead of us to hire a new head coach and some of that will be working on a vision together and aligning and making sure we're bringing the right type of person that aligns to both of our visions. But the character and who these players are as a human is a big part of this. There's a level of talent that's incredibly important, and obviously, you have to have a certain level of talent to be a professional basketball player. But on top of that, having the right kind of standards, willing to go the extra mile, these players are coming in at a certain age, but they have a lot of growth to go and a lot of improvement.
"And if you don't work hard and care about the right things and care about being the right teammate, having team first over yourself, it's probably more difficult for you to hit the upside."
Is that pillar, as far as players leading the team to success, on that team now or is it in the draft?
"To start, being a part of (Nneka Ogwumike's) retirement game on Thursday was very special for me, as I mentioned, as a fan, but obviously Nneka is a huge pillar, and the success she's had in the W, I think that loss will definitely be felt, and really grateful to have gotten to know her a little bit over this short time here, and kind of learn how she is as a leader, and learn looking forward to kind of what that role could look like because she was very huge for a lot of our other players as well.
"I think in terms of pillars, I've been on different teams where it manifests in different ways, like the pillar for an organization can be an older vet. Sometimes, it can be a really vocal young player who's confident, and knows how to get people motivated and get people behind her as well. So I think we're kind of still working through that process here, and evaluating where we are, so I can't really give a super direct answer on that yet."
The first step of this build has been done with the slot of GM being filled by the young Andonian. Next on the docket for the Sparks is the draft lottery, which will probably happen around mid-to-late November or early December. They currently have the 6th and 7th picks and could move up, depending if the basketball gods bless them during that lottery. And then they have to hire a head coach, which would likely be after the lottery.
It's going to be a long offseason for the Sparks.