"I made more money than I made year before" - Cameron Brink shares honest feelings on Sparks return following extended injury recovery

LA Sparks forward Cameron Brink played in her first game of the 2025 WNBA season on Tuesday, July 29. After missing more than a year due to a torn ACL, Brink is finally back on the floor. Her first game back was against the Las Vegas Aces, where she appeared for less than 14 minutes.

Brink finished her game with five points, three rebounds, an assist, a steal and a block. It was a productive first game for someone who missed more than a year of competitive basketball. The former Stanford standout then had seven points, four rebounds, two steals and three blocks in almost 12 minutes against the Seattle Storm on Friday.

Amid her comeback, there has been talk that she had plenty of time while she was away from the game. However, Brink clarified on Monday's episode of her podcast, "Straight to Cam," that it wasn't time off from the game. According to the forward, she worked hard to get her body ready to be competitive again.

“I’ve seen things where it’s like, ‘Cam Brink had a 13-month layoff.’ I was like, if only y’all knew, I made more money than I did the year before,” Brink said (1:30).

“It wasn’t a layoff, that wasn’t time off. That was hard work every day.”

Recovering from a torn ACL is never easy. It takes a lot of time for athletes to recover and prepare their bodies for play.

Cameron Brink made the most of her time away from the game to make her comeback a success. With her back, the Sparks are looking forward to finishing the current season strongly.

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Cameron Brink said she missed playing basketball

For someone as competitive as Cameron Brink, being back on the court feels satisfying. After her first game back, Brink talked to the media and expressed that she missed the competition the WNBA offers.

“I really missed it,” Brink said. “That’s definitely my favorite part of basketball is just competing, working my butt off. It was really fun to be out there with my teammates and feed off the crowd.

In her first game, Brink made an immediate impact by crashing the board, dishing to her teammate Rickea Jackson and hitting a 3-pointer. According to her, making the shot from beyond the arc felt like a weight off her shoulders.

“Credit to my teammates, they made me feel super comfortable. If I didn’t know a play, they got my back and were telling me where to go.”

There's still time left in the season for Cameron Brink to get into rhythm and develop chemistry on the court with her teammates.