The Los Angeles Sparks have acquired guard Brittney Sykes and center Marie Gülich from the Atlanta Dream in exchange for center Kalani Brown, the team announced today.
“We’re excited to add two more talented players to our roster in Brittney Sykes and Marie Gülich,” Managing Partner and Governor Eric Holoman said. “Brittney is an athletic young guard who puts pressure on the defense, gets to the free-throw line and takes pride on the defensive end. Marie gives our frontcourt additional rim protection and rebounding.”
Drafted seventh overall in 2017 by the Dream, Sykes has averaged 11.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game over three seasons. In 2017, she made the WNBA All-Rookie team. In 2018, she helped Atlanta earn the No. 2 seed and appeared in five playoff games for the organization, averaging 12.6 points per game. Sykes attended Syracuse University and is from Newark, New Jersey.
The 6-foot-5 German center Gülich attended Oregon State where she averaged 17.5 points and 9.1 rebounds per game her senior season. She was drafted 12th overall by the Phoenix Mercury in 2018 before being traded to Atlanta during the 2019 draft. In limited minutes, Gülich averaged 3.3 points and 2.7 minutes per game last season.
In exchange, the Sparks part ways with 2019 first round pick Kalani Brown who averaged 5.1 points and 3.5 rebounds per game her rookie year.
“We thank Kalani Brown for her contributions to the Sparks organization and wish her nothing but the best moving forward,” Holoman said.
