March 31, 2025
How Anneli Maley and Shaneice Swain fit on the LA Sparks
The LA Sparks added a hard-working Aussie duo to round out the roster
The WNBL is a strong basketball league, and the LA Sparks just landed two of its best players. Anneli Maley and Shaneice Swain will both join the franchise after coming off of elite campaigns in the 2024-25 season.
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Swain was third in the league for points per game this past season, with 17.1 a night, claiming the Sydney Flames team MVP award. She shot 34% from three, which is perfectly unremarkable on its own, but the number doesn’t include the context of all the grenades she was handed. Due to another season heavily impacted by injury for the Flames, it also doesn’t account for how much attention Swain received from opposing defenses.
Swain is thrilled about her opportunity with Los Angeles. “Playing in the WNBA has been a dream of mine for some time,” she told The Next. “After not being able to go the past two seasons, due to a number of reasons, I’m excited it’s all finally coming together, and I can’t wait to get over there.
“It’s a different style of play in the United States,” Swain continued. “Especially the physicality. I’m looking forward to the challenge of that.”
Swain’s head coach with the Flames, Guy Molloy, told The Next that Swain’s journey in Los Angeles will be a steep learning curve for the 21-year-old. “However, she will shine in a comfortable role if one comes about,” he said.
Swain’s maturation as a player over the past few seasons has been interrupted by injury, but her growth this WNBL season was exponential. It was made evident by a 40-point performance on Jan. 22 against the Townsville Fire. She followed that with a 36-point game one week later.
“She’s an improved player dealing with physicality,” Molloy said, reflecting on Swain’s growth. “[Swain] can bully into the lane and score. She’s got great touch, can really get on a roll and score from deep in tremendous bursts.”
The field goal attempts won’t come as readily in Los Angeles as they did in Sydney for Swain; however, there’s still a lot she can add to the team, and even more she can learn. The game steadily slowed down for her as she navigated her way through the WNBL this past season. Coming up against the best basketball players in the world will only strengthen her processing speed and ability to identify angles and advantages.
“I’m excited to learn from new coaches and teammates to expand my game,” Swain told The Next about the opportunities she’ll encounter in LA. “The Sparks play an exciting brand of basketball and I feel I can add to that on both ends of the court.”
As for Maley, she came second in the race to be the Perth Lynx’s team MVP this season, and was second team all WNBL. She averaged 12-12-3, finishing second in the league in rebounds for the third straight year. In the 2021-22 season she was named MVP, a season in which she averaged 15.7 rebounds per game.
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Maley’s ebullience through her introductory press conference with the Sparks was palpable, even demonstrated with the volume in which she said the word “excited.” Though she’s only 26, Maley has become a mainstay of Australian basketball, but she expressed excitement on what new opportunities outside of Australia will hold for her.
Her history in the WNBL has prepared her for this moment. “I was able to show what I could do as a basketball player,” she told The Next about her time with the Bendigo Spirit. And she also credited her time with the Gangurrus and the Perth Lynx as helping tremendously with her development as a human being, outside of basketball.
“The Lynx have given me a space to really step into a leadership role,” Maley added, reflecting on her time with the team. “I know my leadership style is very different, but being a captain at the Perth Lynx has been one of the highlights of my career. Being able to help facilitate a culture … That’s really important to me.”
Maley’s fit with the Sparks is natural, both stylistically and mentally. “Obviously her biggest strength is that she can rebound the ball and she plays really hard,” Ryan Petrik, Maley’s coach with the Lynx, said to The Next. “I’m sure LA have seen that and they think they can adapt their style of play to how she fits.”
As it pertains to leadership and fit with the Sparks, Petrik added that Maley is a really good leader. “She hustles her backside,” he said. “You’re never gonna find a player who works harder than Anneli does and it’s infectious. It’s really hard to not play hard alongside her because of just how hard she works.”
Maley echoed this sentiment about her unique leadership, but with grace and humility. “My leadership style is different to a lot of people. I do communicate, but I like to show what I want people to do and then hope that they follow.”
With Kelsey Plum, Rickea Jackson and Cameron Brink, Maley should be able to fit in well. “I love the way they play,” Maley shared with The Next. “The brand of basketball that each of them individually have is very different, but the competitiveness is something that stands true.
“I just really can’t wait. It’ll be really exciting just to play with high caliber basketball players and high caliber people,” she continued. “To be in that type of environment is going to be something. I’m excited to soak it up and see how they go about their business every day. You can learn so much from just being around elite people, but also, they seem like really cool cats.”
Swain and Maley have shown their commitment to their individual development, marked by both hard work and grit. Those traits — classic for Australian basketballers — will add to the competitiveness that characterises the rest of LA’s roster.
Swain could be the Sparks’ microwave off the bench, allowing her the opportunity to strengthen her playmaking abilities. She moves fluidly and turns any corner with ease, and these are skills she can bring to a pick-and-roll offense as the ball handler.
Maley, meanwhile, could be the perfect accoutrement to the Sparks roster. As Petrik said, “her rebounding will be a major addition to LA. Her hustle, her grit, her ability to play off the ball, but just how hard she works is what stands out the most.
“She’s got a different skill set to most,” Petrik added. “She actually doesn’t need the ball a lot to be really effective.”
The Sparks are actively building for both the current moment and the future. They could be the good-vibes team in the 2025 WNBA season, an important foundational step to instilling a winning mentality. With a great young core, the addition of Plum and two hard working Aussies, Los Angeles might just be the place to be as a basketballer.
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