Jordin Canada rediscovers her love of the game with the Los Angeles Sparks —

Jordin Canada prefers to call it a return to her old self. 

As the Los Angeles Sparks find themselves in the middle of a WNBA playoff hunt with nine games remaining in the regular season, a big reason for their contention has been the play of Canada, the Sparks’ two-way point guard who has put forth a career season.

The 2023 season has been a welcome change of pace for Canada, who had spent the last few years of her WNBA career on a journey to rediscover her love of basketball. It’s a joy that Canada lost early in her career as she struggled to adjust to her role with the Seattle Storm.

For Canada to move forward, she realized she had to first go back home.

This season, as a leading member of the Sparks, Canada’s performance has commanded her place as one of the top point guards in the league and has catapulted her name into the conversation for the league’s Most Improved Player of the Year award.

“We’ve asked a lot of her and a lot of it has fallen onto her and she accepted it,” said Sparks coach Curt Miller. “I feel like she’s just had an outstanding year for us.”

It’s a position Canada always knew she was capable of reaching – the ability to excel at the pro level and play the game with confidence and comfort – though the path hadn’t always been clear.

Now, with her opportunity in the driver’s seat, Canada welcomed the chance to reintroduce herself.

“It’s fun to see her declare her own value,” said Sparks teammate Nneka Ogwumike. “She’s really established herself as a major player in this league.”

Canada describes her four years in Seattle as a growing period. Adjusting to the league, adjusting to a different role, navigating what she said was a hard transition from college to the WNBA. At UCLA, she had been the top dog who scored in bunches and averaged 33 minutes per game. Canada had to figure out and understand how she could adjust her game to be more successful at the pro level.

With the Storm, Canada was playing behind legendary guard Sue Bird while also being touted as Bird’s eventual successor, carrying an unfathomable burden of expectation. After a tough rookie season in 2018, Canada got an opportunity to flash her potential in 2019 when she started in place of the injured Bird, who was sidelined for the season with a knee injury. Canada ended 2019 as the WNBA steals leader, was named to the All-Defensive first team and averaged 9.8 points, 5.2 assists and 2.3 steals per game.

Bird’s return, however, would return Canada to the backup role for the ensuing two seasons.

“Knowing how competitive she is, how much she loves to be on the court and loves the game, I’m sure it had to be hard playing behind…