Sparks’ Derek Fisher welcomes women’s pro soccer to L.A.

The Sparks won’t be the only professional women’s game in town (whenever games return to L.A.), and coach Derek Fisher said he couldn’t be happier about it.

“I was excited when that popped up as breaking news earlier today,” said Fisher, referencing the National Women’s Soccer League’s announcement that in 2022 it will expand to Los Angeles, with a team launched by a group that includes 14 former U.S. women’s national team players, a group of A-list actresses and others, including tennis great Serena Williams.

“(I) love it because of how many women are involved in the ownership group,” Fisher said via Zoom from Bradenton, Florida, where the WNBA is holding its 24th season, all of which the Sparks have been a part.

“It’s one thing to bring a National Women’s Soccer League team to L.A., but if it’s not really led by women and run by women and women making decisions about how players are going to be treated, the culture of the organization, etc., then we’re just doing more of the same thing, in a sense.

“As a city we should be proud to have a team of women that can represent L.A. It is one of the most diverse cities in the world and young girls and women in L.A., and all around the world need to see women in powerful positions — owning businesses, owning sports team, being excellent on the court, making decisions in the board room.”

Fisher said he hoped there would be healthy crossover between fan bases, that he expected to attend the new team’s matches and that he was game for cross-promotion opportunities, too.

“Oftentimes, women get pitted against women, in a sense, right?” added Fisher, who began attending Sparks games when he was a member of the Lakers, for whom he played most of 12 seasons and won five NBA titles.

“Competing for the same things, the same space. And as we work to create more space within the media landscape to cover women, to tell great stories, then we have to support what they’re doing … when we put that energy into the world and what they’re doing, then that comes back to the Sparks, and it’s a win-win for everybody.”

GRINER and ANIGWE ARE ‘COOL’

Sparks newcomer Kristine Anigwe sounds like she’d like to move past her skirmish with Brittney Griner last season — and by both players’ accounts, they have.

Phoenix’s star center told reporters on a Zoom call Sunday that she and the Anigwe have resolved any issues stemming from the incident last season. Anigwe confirmed as much Tuesday.

During an Aug. 10 game in Phoenix, Anigwe took what the WNBA described as an “open-handed swing” at Griner, after which Griner threw punches at Anigwe and chased her around the court. Six players were suspended or fined following the incident, including Griner for three games and Anigwe for two.

The two players will meet on a WNBA court again for the first time in Saturday’s season opener between the Mercury and the Sparks, who acquired Anigwe, the second-year center-forward who played high school basketball in Phoenix, via a trade in May.

It won’t, however, be the first time Anigwe and Griner have crossed paths since then.

“We actually hooped, we were on the same team and everything,” said Griner, who said she and Anigwe spent time at a Phoenix-area gym after the season. “There’s no bad blood. We talked about it … I mean, tempers fly, it’s the game. Everybody that plays basketball, they know or they’ve been around it where they’ve seen tempers fly. Or maybe it happens with them? But everything’s good, everything’s good.”

“We’re cool,” Anigwe said. “We’re able to play five on five, we were able to talk before that.

“I’m definitely I’m just trying to win the game (against Phoenix),” she continued. “Obviously (Griner) is a really good athlete and player in general, so I’m really excited to play against her. I have no bad blood against her so it’ll just be like playing against anyone else in the league.”