Chicago Sky vs Los Angeles Sparks Prediction, Picks, and Odds: Copper and Sky Keep Punching Up

The Chicago Sky have persevered through a rash of injuries to pick up two wins this week and remain among the WNBA’s contenders. Yet, they are slight WNBA odds underdogs tonight at the Los Angeles Sparks. Why? That is an excellent question.

Here are our free WNBA picks and predictions for Sky vs. Sparks on June 9, with tip set for 10:00 p.m. ET.

Sky vs Sparks best odds

Sky vs Sparks picks and predictions

When DraftKings set the first line on the market Thursday evening, it favored the Sparks by three points. In about an hour, that was knocked down to -1.5, where a handful of other sportsbooks opened Thursday night with some exceptions at -2.0.

Chalk up that initial over-eagerness to home-court advantage, and this line jumping the fence to favoring the Sky would perhaps be a bit much with that acknowledged. But if Chicago is clearly the better team, should Los Angeles’s homecourt matter that much?

The Sky are the better team. In the immediate aftermath of losing multiple rotation players and flirting with the WNBA’s roster-size minimums, Chicago lost twice, including a blowout at Atlanta. The second of those falls, though, was a one-point loss to New York, a dramatic game in which the Sky competed beyond all reasonable expectations.

Chicago is 6-1-1 ATS this season, the one ATS loss being that blowout defeat at Atlanta in the game after Rebekah Gardner and Morgan Bertsch were injured. Of the Sky’s three outright losses, the third came in the game those two went down, falling by a bucket against the Washington Mystics.

In other words, Chicago has been exceeding expectations this season in just about every game, the only exception being when trying to figure out the suddenly short-handed rotation. If those injuries had not arguably cost the Sky that game against the Mystics, the hype around Chicago would be gaining steam.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles is 1-2-1 ATS in its last four, that only ATS victory coming against so-far-woeful Phoenix. If wanting to be glib, one could look at the Sparks’ start this season and think Derek Fisher was not the only problem last season.

The Sparks have not held up against decent competition yet this year unless wanting to applaud a second-half collapse against the Aces last month.

As long as tonight’s line favors Los Angeles, there is value in Chicago. A bucket is worth at least 20%, though, if considering a moneyline, simply as deference to bookmakers’ usual insights.

My best bet: Sky +2.0 (-110)

Sky vs Sparks spread and Over/Under analysis

The opening total from DraftKings also took some movement, staring at 164 before getting knocked down to 163, with some books even opening Thursday night at 162.

Chicago’s greatest defensive weakness may be in the paint, giving up 46 points in the paint per 100 possessions, second-worst in the league. For all of Kahleah Copper’s excellence — and really, anyone ruling out an MVP run from the 2021 WNBA Finals MVP should spend some more time this season enjoying her game — she is not the staunchest interior defender, leaving an excess of work for center Elizabeth Williams.

That could be to the Sparks’ benefit, given they score 45% of their points in the paint, No. 3 in the league. Credit Nneka (20.6 points on 55.6% shooting) and Chiney Ogwumike (12.8 points on 48.9% shooting). But Chiney is questionable with a foot injury, and that absence could negate this edge for Los Angeles.

If Ogwumike is sidelined, the Under would quickly have value.

And, naturally, Ogwumike missing this game would add further logic to betting Chicago.

Sky vs Sparks betting trend to know

Chicago covered its last two matchups with Los Angeles last season by an average of 12.25 points after losing the season opener in overtime against the Sparks before Copper had returned from international play. Find more WNBA betting trends for Sky vs. Sparks.

Sky vs Sparks game info

Sky vs Sparks key injuries

Sky: Rebekah Gardner G (Out), Morgan Bertsch F (Out), Isabelle Harrison F (Out).
Sparks: Jasmine Thomas G (Probable), Chiney Ogwumike F (Questionable), Katie Lou Samuelson F (Out).
Find our latest WNBA injury reports.

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