Nobody was expecting Skylar Diggins-Smith to become the Seattle Storm’s single-season assist leader in her first year with the franchise.
But that’s reality after Diggins-Smith supplanted the legendary Sue Bird on Saturday. She will look to add to her total when the Storm visit the Los Angeles Sparks on Wednesday night.
Diggins-Smith has a career-high 227 assists this season to surpass Bird’s mark of 221, achieved in 2003 and 2018.
“Give a shout-out to Sue Bird — you obviously know the impact that she had and continues to have on our game and our league,” Diggins-Smith said. “She’s one of the shoulders we stand on in this league and one of the pillars, and I recognize that.
“I don’t take it lightly being in the same category, the same sentence, the same breath as her. Hopefully, I can just continue to build after this.”
Smith surpassed Bird while recording 12 points and 11 assists in a 90-66 home rout of the Phoenix Mercury. It was her second double-double of the season.
Seattle coach Noelle Quinn was a teammate of Bird for five seasons over two stints. Then she was an assistant coach and head coach over the final four seasons of Bird’s career before the latter retired after the 2022 campaign.
“Anybody coming to Seattle and knowing that you’re following a legend like Sue, that’s hard,” Quinn said. “Sky is not Sue, but that’s not a bad thing. It’s actually a great thing for this organization to have another point guard of that caliber who is so hungry to continue the legacy.”
The Storm (21-14) have won just four of their past 10 games as they arrive in Los Angeles.
The Sparks (7-29) own the worst record in the league and have lost five consecutive games. They also get no rest after falling 86-66 to the visiting Connecticut Sun on Tuesday night.
“We’re going to continue to prepare hard,” Los Angeles coach Curt Miller said afterward.
The Sparks led by two points after the opening quarter and later trailed by as many as 28 points. Los Angeles shot 38.8 percent from the field while Connecticut made 53.2 percent.
“I haven’t pushed the right buttons on this team,” Miller said.
Azura Stevens grabbed a career-best 17 rebounds. Her previous high of 15 came in an 89-83 loss to Seattle on July 16.
Rickea Jackson scored a team-high 16 points on Tuesday.
The Storm are 2-0 against the Sparks this season. The teams play again Sunday in Seattle to kick off the regular season’s final week.
–Field Level Media