With the individual season Kelsey Plum has been able to come up, an All-Star honor felt like the least she would manage to receive. With that surprisingly not happening, Los Angeles Sparks HC Lynne Roberts had some strong words in Plum's defense.

While Plum is out injured, her participation in Chicago becomes moot. But her season up to this juncture has certainly been All-Star worthy. This is why Roberts had some very strong words when discussing the snub with John W. Davis.

"It's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. It's become a social media popularity contest, not about who the most impactful players are. She's the best one-on-one player in the league, having an MVP season," Roberts said.

"KP's about winning. She's about being great, being excellent, she'll take it in stride."

Roberts' social media aspect of the voting is half true, as the breakdown of the voting for WNBA All-Star starters is 50% fan vote, 25% media vote, and 25% player vote.

So while Roberts is correct that popularity clearly plays a role, half of the vote total does come from the media and Plum's peers.

And Plum ended up short on all three. Ballots include four guards as starters, while the Sparks star finished 6th amongst fans and 5th amongst media. Shockingly, she was 12th among the players.

Plum was and currently is in second place in the WNBA's scoring leaders chart, averaging 23.9 points on 52.7% shooting and 38.3% from deep. That's to go along with 6.4 assists.

Perhaps Plum's injury has played a part in her receiving fewer votes than she would have. But her impact on the Sparks knows no bounds, as fans will hope for her return sooner rather than later.

Kelsey Plum's Injury Update: How Many Games Will She Miss

Around the end of last month, it was announced that Plum would be sidelined for at least a month after suffering a lower-leg injury. Safe to say, the Sparks are not doing well in her absence.

Los Angeles (8-10) dropped decisions by 28 points at Toronto on June 25 and 24 points at Indiana on June 27.

"She's the best one-on-one player in the league. She's having an MVP (type of) season," Sparks coach Lynne Roberts said of Plum.

While the Sparks are still in playoff contention, Plum could miss the next eight games at the very least this month, which would make or break their season.

So, do you think the Los Angeles Sparks will be able to survive this stretch without Kelsey Plum? Let us know in the comments.

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Written by

Joy Bassy

Edited by

Joy Bassy