When Chance Gray got the call that she was drafted by the Los Angeles Sparks, she was in the gym, getting up shots. She was attempting to quell her anxiety, unsure of whether or not she would even get a call at all.
She expected to be a third-round pick or potentially even go undrafted and have to wait even longer to know her future. Pick No. 24 was not even a possibility in her mind.
“I wasn’t like one of those high names, so I didn’t really know,” Gray told the IX. But I know that I worked my butt off all the time, so I felt like if I had a shot, I would take it.”
When Gray heard her name called, she says she screamed, ran around the gym with her dad and called her mom. In reflection, the call came at just the right time because there was nowhere else she’d rather have been than “in the gym, being where I started.”
In college, the 21-year-old spent two seasons at Oregon under Kelly Graves before transferring and playing two years for Kevin McGuff at Ohio State.
Over the course of her college career, she averaged 31.5 minutes per game, 12.7 points, and shot 35.8% from the 3-point line, with a career best 40.5% as a senior. She played 134 games and started all 134 of them. Of her points scored in her senior season, 48.2% were on 3-pointers.
Drafting Gray was a dream for Sparks’ head coach Lynne Roberts. Roberts’ offense hinges on pace and 3-point shooting, and she has repeatedly emphasized her love for a guard who leads with her hard work.
While the Sparks were excited about Gray from the start, South Carolina’s Ta’Niya Latson stole more of the conversation due to her record-breaking scoring and championship pedigree. She was deemed the steal of the draft by many. But when the Sparks opened their season against the Aces in May, Gray was an early entry into the game at the end of the first quarter.
During training camp, Roberts said that Gray was performing better than anyone had anticipated, describing her as an “incredible knockdown shooter” with “no fear, and a quick release” who had also picked up the defensive side of the ball faster than most rookies. That is the kind of praise that gets a young player off the bench and into real minutes — it’s thus unsurprising to see her coach trust her in early games.
The Sparks’ guard rotation is, by volume, overstocked. Kelsey Plum, Ariel Atkins, Rae Burrell, Jihyun Park, Latson, Gray, and, more recently, Kiana Williams, all compete for perimeter time in a system that demands efficiency.
Gray’s fit in Roberts’ system is about as clean as it gets. The quick-paced offense Roberts loves is exactly what Gray spent four college seasons doing. She isn’t necessarily a playmaker. But she’s capable of slashing and spotting up in the corner, and she prides herself on her defensive capabilities.
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She also has no problem following through on a rookie’s No. 1 responsibility: learning from those around her.
“I’m blessed to be in workouts with KP, working alongside her, and her instilling so much confidence in me,” Gray told The IX of her relationship with her veteran guard.
Gray notes that having someone like Plum telling her to shoot the ball every time she comes off a screen makes her feel “through the roof.”
In Gray’s outing of the year, a rout of the Sparks by the Las Vegas Aces, Gray’s first defensive matchup in the WNBA was none other than Chelsea Gray, the six-time All-Star, four-time WNBA Champion, and most recently Unrivaled MVP, an accolade that perhaps articulates her 1-on-1 capabilities even better than the others.
“I literally guarded Chelsea Gray in my first game, and I’m proud to say I locked her up,” Gray said, smiling. “She didn’t score on me.”
When asked about her biggest challenges on the defensive end, Gray mentioned Toronto’s Brittney Sykes first, as well as the Indiana Fever’s Kelsey Mitchell, whom she grew up playing against.
“I’m guarding all the best players in the league, 12-year vets that have a lot of experience, to be able to have that challenge every game, it’s fun,” Gray said.
She credits her defensive mindset and stay-ready mentality to film. She’s constantly studying, she said, watching film, before games, after games, focusing on the little things for each individual opponent.
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Roberts has been measured in how she’s deployed Gray. She is not logging heavy minutes (the roster depth sees to that), but she is logging them consistently. She’s earning trust one possession at a time, with nightly challenges that continue to push and test her.
“I’m a big Chance fan,” Roberts told reporters earlier this month. “She impressed us from day one of camp. She’s got confidence, and confidence comes from putting in the work, and she’s just a quiet worker. … We’ve already had to tell her, like, you have to take today off, like you cannot come in and shoot. She probably still does, sneaks in the back. But she’s just that kind of player.”
Gray is averaging 10.8 minutes per game and 2.4 points, and while her 3-point percentage may not be where she wants it at 27.8%, she’s shooting them quickly and confidently, with 22 attempts in her 151 minutes, coming out to 5.8 attempts per 40 minutes.
Her role to date has been providing a defensive spark, giving Los Angeles bursts of minutes here and there, guarding the other team’s biggest guard threat or ball handler, and showing energy and effort on a team that has relied deeply on its stars, particularly Plum, who is playing over 34 minutes per game.
“Her role is going to continue to grow, but every time she shoots it, I think it’s going in, and that’s, you know, she can get out quick, and it’s been fun to see her develop,” Roberts said.
“We have so many offensive threats, that’s hard right now, figuring out how to fit into our offense and get more and more looks,” Gray said. “I feel like I had that stretch when KP was out, I hit shots. … It’s part of me getting ready to catch and shoot, and then it’s just getting comfortable on offense once the ball gets moving. I’ll get more opportunities, so that’s coming.”
The increased opportunities may not be as far down the road as expected. Gray has come off the bench in 15 games for the Sparks so far, and with the recent announcement that Kelsey Plum would miss a minimum of four weeks with a leg injury, she can expect to see her playing time increase.
While there’s no replacing Plum, the Sparks have put themselves in a better position than what could have been by giving Gray these early minutes and challenges. She’s poised, unafraid, and doesn’t give the deer-in-headlights look that she could have if she were seeing fewer minutes.
“My personal goal is to soak up and learn as much as I can under some of the best vets. Who knows where I will be in a year?” Gray said regarding her mentality for the rest of the season. “I’m blessed to be alongside them and just learn from them every single day.”
