Sparks hire former Seattle Storm executive Karen Bryant as general manager

With free-agency negotiations allowed to start in lower than two weeks, the Sparks put in place the ultimate piece of their entrance workplace by hiring Karen Bryant as their chief administrative officer and common supervisor, the staff introduced Tuesday.

Bryant’s main WNBA expertise got here throughout 15 years with the Seattle Storm, the place she served as chief working officer and, for the ultimate seven years of her tenure, staff president and chief govt officer. The previous common supervisor of the American Basketball League’s Seattle Reign, Bryant was one of many Storm’s first hires when the WNBA awarded Seattle a staff in 1999 after the Reign folded.

Since resigning from the Storm in 2014, she based an advisory firm targeted on advancing ladies’s sports activities and joined the Sparks in 2021 as a strategic advisor. She was the interim president of enterprise operations and helped lead the seek for present Sparks President Vanessa Shay and head coach Curt Miller.

Now the trio’s first main activity can be free company, which begins on Jan. 21 with negotiations. Groups can signal gamers starting Feb. 1.

“Karen Bryant is a proficient and veteran sports activities govt with a observe report of constructing profitable organizations from high to backside,” Sparks proprietor and managing companion Eric Holoman stated in a press release launched by the staff. “Since becoming a member of the Sparks, she has established a daring imaginative and prescient and a powerful basis for long-term development all through the franchise. I’m assured her govt management, in partnership with head coach Curt Miller and president Vanessa Shay, will result in sustainable success on and off the court docket.”

Bryant stated she was honored to tackle her new duties with the Sparks.

“I’m actually excited to companion with Curt, Vanessa and the remainder of our staff to usher in a brand new period of Sparks basketball,” she stated. “We’re dedicated to constructing a tradition and group that’s consultant of the unbelievable legacy this franchise carries. I wish to thank Eric Holoman and our possession group for this chance and their continued funding within the Sparks and the WNBA.”

After lacking the playoffs for a second consecutive 12 months, the Sparks have six unrestricted free brokers on their roster, together with All-Star ahead Nneka Ogwumike, her sister Chiney Ogwumike, former UCLA star and level guard Jordin Canada and veteran guard Kristi Toliver.

The Sparks, who completed eleventh within the WNBA final season with a 13-23 report, have one playoff victory within the final 4 years.