Sparks’ Alana Beard is retired but not forgotten

Alana Beard isn’t anywhere near the WNBA’s bubble in Bradenton, Florida, but on L.A. Sparks’ media day Friday, her name kept coming up.
Beard made a most casual retirement announcement Jan. 22, during a radio interview on a sports talk station serving her native Shreveport, Louisiana: “I’m rolling out,” the defensive stalwart said that day.
And with that, she moved on after 15 WNBA seasons, in which she was named Defensive Player of the Year twice, an All-Star