One of the biggest stories in the WNBA this week was LA Sparks forward Cameron Brink making her long-awaited return from injury. Leading up to her season debut, one insider touched on the role a member of the Denver Nuggets played in her journey.
In the 2024 draft, Brink was taken second overall by the Sparks behind Caitlin Clark. She quickly showed the potential of being a two-way force, but things got derailed when she suffered a season-ending knee injury. Now, a little over a year later, she’s back in action for LA.
While on NBA Today earlier this week, Alexa Philippou opened up on Brink ahead of her return to play. Given their connection through New Balance, Nuggets guard Jamal Murray was part of her support system as she worked her way back from this devastating injury.
“Cam Brink was saying she really leaned on a lot of other athletes, a whole village, to get through this process,” Philippou said. “Jamal Murray too, as a fellow New Balance athlete was someone that she leaned on.”
Cameron Brink leaned on athletes like Lindsey Vonn and Jamal Murray during her ACL recovery ❤️
Tonight, she makes her first game appearance since June 2024 👏@alexaphilippou @malika_andrews pic.twitter.com/WTzJLKlkM1
— espnW (@espnW) July 29, 2025
Brink logged 13 minutes off the bench in her debut outing against the Las Vegas Aces. She managed to fill up the entire stat sheet, finishing with five points, three rebounds, one assist, one steal, and one block.
Murray is a good source of inspiration for Brink, as he suffered a similar injury back in 2021 that cost him a year of his career. Since then, he’s been able to bounce back and return to a high-impact player for the Nuggets. In his first season coming off the injury, Murray averaged 20.0 PPG and 6.2 APG while helping lead Denver to an NBA championship.
As she continues to navigate life on the court after such an injury, Brink has a good source of inspiration to pull from in Murray.
