At long last, Cameron Brink is poised to make her return to the court for the Los Angeles Sparks during the team’s game against the Las Vegas Aces on Tuesday, July 29. Brink tore her ACL and meniscus on June 18, 2024, and has been missing in action since.
Reporter John R. Davis shared the news via X, formerly Twitter. Davis asked Brink if she plans to play against Las Vegas and she quickly replied, “I don’t know if I can say that, but yeah. It means the world, I’m just very excited. Very humbled by this experience. It’s not an easy thing to come back from so very excited.”
The game will be Brink’s first official match under coach Lynne Roberts, who took over the position ahead of the 2025 season.
Brink was selected as the No. 2 overall pick by the Sparks in the 2024 WNBA Draft. She is a true force on the court, capable of using her size (Brink is 6’4″) and athleticism to her advantage. Before her injury, Brink averaged 7.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks for the Sparks.
The Sparks have been dropping return hints all season
Brink and the Spark have sprinkled hints of her return throughout the season, and things really began to ramp up in July, when Davis shared footage of her in a 5×5 session on a half court as the rest of team practiced nearby. At the time, Brink had not yet returned to full-court team practice.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, it can take 6-9 months to recover from an ACL tear. The clinic also notes that competitive athletes often need longer — and as Brink herself has pointed out, not everyone is able to come back from the injury. Though it’s possible to live with a torn ACL, surgery is mandatory for athletes if they want to continue to play at the professional level.
Brink is hardly the only women’s basketball player who has torn their ACL. Both Georgia Amoore and JuJu Watkins suffered the same injury early this year — Amoore during the Mystics’ training camp, and Watkins during USC’s NCAA Tournament run. Amoore is on track to make her WNBA debut in 2026, and Watkins will have the option to declare for the draft in 2027, when she will first become eligible, or in 2028, to account for the season she will miss due to the injury.
