'Swain Train' is leaving the station at warp speed

• Shaneice Swain was drafted by the Los Angeles Sparks in 2023
• Swain is 21 years old and has been dominating for the Sydney Flames
• Sparks GM says she "is ready for the WNBA".

Shaneice Swain is poetry in motion on the basketball court. But you already knew that.

Whether you’ve got to know her game this season as she’s lit up the WNBL for the Sydney Flames, prior seasons like when she truly announced herself as a rising star with the Canberra Capitals two years ago, or as a talented junior making waves for Australia on the international stage, Swain has been doing things on the basketball court that make opponents throw their arms up in the air and ask themselves 'how am I meant to stop this?' for years .

Now, the 21-year-old guard is set to take on the WNBA next.

Fresh off officially signing her rookie contract yesterday with the Los Angeles Sparks, the team that drafted her 14th overall in the 2023 WNBA Draft, Swain admits two years after being drafted it’s starting to feel real now.

“I’m super excited,” she told basketball.com.au. “I think it all hasn't seemed really true until now, until I actually signed the contract, but I’m just excited to get over there.”

When Swain arrives in Los Angeles she will be greeted by a team who has watched her develop from afar into an even better player than the one they drafted in 2023. Sparks General Manager, Raegan Pebley put it best; "Shaneice is ready for the W, and the Sparks are ready for her.” A resounding endorsement for Swain as she begins her WNBA journey.

The Sparks have undergone a transformation in the backcourt this off-season, highlighted by the sign-and-trade deal that landed 3x WNBA All-Star and 2x WNBA Champion Kelsey Plum in Los Angeles. The opportunity to go head-to-head every day in practice against a player of that calibre is something that excites Swain.

"That’s huge for me, to have her in the guard spot, I can pick her brain a little, get better against her, just going against her every day,” she said.

"It's a massive opportunity for me to take my game to the next level, not just against her but all the athletes that I'll be training against, it's going to be crazy and really good for me.”

Swain’s draft day experience was also crazy, to say the least.

Flying home from the Nike Hoop Summit — which she dominated — as the draft was happening, typical temperamental airplane Wi-Fi let her down and it wasn’t until she landed for a stopover, in Los Angeles of all places, that she could find out where her future lied.

"As I was just getting on the plane, my agent Sammy [Wloszczowski], he was texting me and he was like, ‘okay, we need to be ready, will you have Wi-Fi on the flight?’ I was like, ‘I don't know if I'm going to have it’,” she recounted.

"Turns out I didn't really have Wi-Fi. I couldn’t connect and I was talking to the lady next to me asking if she had it, but her connection was really slow.

"I had a layover in LA, so I got off and obviously my phone was blowing up — it was nice to see, I shed a tear. Then some of the [Sparks] team met me at the airport, so that was great. I got home and my family were at the airport just waiting for me, it ended up being really nice."

Before Swain heads to the States for the WNBA season, which tips off in May, she has business to handle with the Flames. Currently on an absolute offensive tear, averaging 27 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.3 assists over her past four games, Swain knows every game matters in the battle for the fourth and final playoff spot. The ball is in Sydney’s court and they are in a favourable position; if they win two of their remaining three games, the playoffs await.

"This is the most important part of the season,” she said. “It's just a battle every time we go out there. I'm super excited for the challenges, I feel like this is where I thrive the most. I showed a lot of emotion in the Canberra game and I'm excited for the last three games we have.”

While she showed a lot of emotion, and rightfully so as the Flames claimed a nail-biting and critical overtime win against the Capitals, Swain also showed exactly the type of threat she is. She finished with a game-high 36 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists in a masterclass of offensive talent.

The thrilling win over Canberra felt like a heavyweight bout between the 21-year-old Swain and 22-year-old Jade Melbourne. Neither takes a backwards step and while they traded baskets all night long, Australian basketball fans were the winners as the young superstars showed us all just how exciting and competitive the Opals backcourt is going to be in the years to come.

"Anytime I get to go against like any of those girls — the girls in my age group — it's always really nice,” she said.

"Jade is obviously an amazing player and even just going against her, that's making me better. I go back and look at film and look at the things I need to do better to get past Jade or defend her because she's obviously going to get a bucket.

"I definitely enjoy it, it doesn't look like I enjoy it, she makes it hard for me!” she said with a laugh.

Speaking of the Opals, Swain – who represented Australia at the 2021 FIBA U19 Women’s Basketball World Cup – has her sights set on pulling on the green and gold once again.

"It's obviously a huge privilege to put on the green and gold, to play for your country and also just represent it,” she said. “One of my main goals is to make an Opals team and go to the Olympics. That's the next thing for me that I want to tick off."

Currently the third-leading scorer in the league at 18.6 points per game, while also dishing out a career-high 3.9 assists per game, it’s all come together this season for Swain - who was sidelined most of last season due to injury — and she credits the off-season work she put in with Player Development Coach Jono Hansford.

"I think the one thing that’s helped me a lot is Jono — I did some shooting sessions with him and shout out to him, he's been a big part in the change of my game recently,” she said.

"I feel like my shooting has definitely gotten a lot better since last season or even during the NBL1 season and props to him, I give my credit to him."

It’s fair to say the shooting sessions paid off when Swain produced one of the best offensive performances in recent WNBL history last month against Townsville. A 40-point outburst, including seven triples, was a sight behold; she caught fire from deep, attacked the bucket and created highlight play after highlight play. Her speed, and perhaps most importantly her change of pace and ability to stop on a dime, makes her one of the toughest covers in the WNBL.

"I was just trying to get the game back, just cut the lead down,” she said. “In the moment I was just really relaxed, I feel like that's the most relaxed I’ve been while playing and I was just letting the game come to me. I was definitely cooked afterwards though!"

Teams are trying (and largely failing) to take time and space away from Swain to force her to give up the ball. While she’s clearly still scoring at will, this has led to her adding a new dimension to her game and being able to facilitate at a high level has taken her game to new heights.

"I think all teams are taking that away from me, so I've got to find other options and I think it has been something that I have been learning to do and trying to do more often because most of my career I've just been a scoring guard,” she said. “In the point guard spot, I've really got to look to facilitate as well, and I try my best to do that as much as I can."

As the Swain Train continues to gain momentum, there’s really no limit to the type of offensive force she could become, and this all points to great things for the Flames, Sparks and Opals.