Samuelson ready to go for Sparks, who are waiting on Toliver
LOS ANGELES >> Luka Doncic did his part to make sure Kristi Toliver — the two-time WNBA champion guard who is also a Dallas Mavericks assistant coach — wouldn’t make it to the Sparks’ home opener tonight at Crytpo.com Arena.
Sparks coach Derek Fisher acknowledged Monday that, though he remains enthusiastic about his player’s opportunity in the NBA arena, “it’s not an easy situation”
not knowing when Toliver might rejoin her WNBA team this season.
The good news for Fisher: Fresh off a successful playoff run of her own, Katie Lou Samuelson will be in the arena and likely available to play tonight when the Sparks face Minnesota, feeling thrilled by her new opportunity.
The Orange County native and former Mater Dei
High standout said after practice Monday that she was relishing her experience as a new member of the Sparks — while trying to adjust to a nine-hour time difference. On Thursday in Valencia, Spain, she and her sister Karlie just helped lead Perfumerias Avenida to a second consecutive Spanish league championship.
That crowning achievement, which capped a season that began in October, was followed by an eighthour bus ride Friday and then a 12-plus-hour flight back to the United States on Saturday.
The 6-foot-3 wing had an entire day off on Sunday, which she spent relaxing with her family and the family dogs — as the Sparks announced a oneyear contract extension that will keep her on the team through 2023.
Then, on Monday, Samuelson — who averaged 16.2 points and shot 43.8% from 3-point range in Euroleague play — reported to her WNBA job, for which she’s been studying a playbook for the past few weeks.
“I’m super-excited, that’s getting me through,” Samuelson said after practice Monday at Crypto.com Arena, where the new-look Sparks — back from an 11day road trip on which they went 2-2 — reviewed plays and concepts.
“I have high adrenaline and all that,” she added, motioning to her gold practice jersey. “Because putting this on was kind of surreal to think about. That I’m really here, in here, on the team and being on this court.”
There’s no telling when Toliver will join the Sparks, with whom she won a title in 2016 before departing for Washington, where she won another in 2019 before returning to action for L.A. last season.
After the Mavericks’ stunning Game 7 rout of the top-seeded Phoenix Suns on Sunday in their second-round playoff series, the only certainty is that Dallas’ season will be over by June 20, at the latest.
That’s because the NBA Finals’ if-necessary Game 7 is slated for June 19 — the same date the Sparks face the WNBA’s Dallas contingent in their 14th game of this summer’s 36-date schedule.
Toliver – whom Dallas coach Jason Kidd called “a pioneer” earlier this season — is the only active WNBA player to work as an NBA assistant, which she did the first time between 2018 and 2020 as a player for the Mystics and a coach for the Wizards.
It was her plan from the start of the NBA season to stick with the Mavericks as long as their season lasted before turning her attention to the Sparks, with whom the 35-year-old is under contract for this season.
“I get that they kinda entangle a little bit,” she said in November. “But I just have support on both sides, so they know when I’m there, I’ll be 100% ready.”
Fisher — who also is the Sparks’ general manager — confirmed his support, but he also said that he’ll have to do some figuring in regard to his team’s roster while the Mavericks play on.
“We are in support of and happy for Kristi professionally in terms of her desire and her passion to be a coach, whether it’s NBA, WNBA, whatever the level,” he said. “We want our players to be complete people, right?
“But we just have to also balance the Sparks and our priorities and where those things align. So, it’s ongoing; we have to continue to talk to Kristi and just see where she is as the team continues to advance, but we’ll figure it out.
“We’ll make some decisions, but we’ll communicate as best we can. And ultimately, my job ... is to do what’s best for the Sparks, and sometimes that may mean, like with Amanda (Zahui B.), for example,” Fisher continued, noting that the Sparks elected to suspend the center for the season instead of waiting for her to return from overseas commitments that he said could have cost her double-digit WNBA games.
“That’s not an easy decision to make, but that’s what I get paid to do and we’ll just have to see how it plays out.”
Fisher said he’s been in touch with Toliver and that if she were to arrive in June, it might be workable because of how infrequently the Sparks play next month, with only seven games scheduled.
For now, though, the Mavericks’ Western Conference finals berth is “cool for Jason. And Mark (Cuban). And everybody in Dallas.
“But for the Sparks? Not so much.”