The Los Angeles Sparks made some big moves in the offseason in hopes of winning a championship in Lisa Leslie's final season.

The Detroit Shock have their eyes on capturing yet another title.

The Shock begin their defense of their third WNBA championship Saturday at Staples Center, where they'll face a Sparks team missing reigning MVP Candace Parker, in the teams' first meeting since a July 22 skirmish that led to multiple suspensions.

Los Angeles (20-14) had high hopes of winning its third title last season with Olympians Leslie, Parker and DeLisha Milton-Jones leading one of the league's highest-scoring teams.

The Sparks, though, fell in three games to San Antonio in the Western Conference finals. Detroit (22-12) didn't have any problems with the Silver Stars in the best-of-five championship series, sweeping them to claim another championship.

"We want to get to the WNBA finals," Shock coach Bill Laimbeer said of 2009. "That's been our goal every season - win the Eastern Conference championship. If we do that, we'll take our chances in the finals. We've gotten there three times in a row, and I think we can make it four."

They'll have a great chance to be even better with a full season from center Taj McWilliams-Franklin and fellow All-Star Cheryl Ford, a forward. Detroit acquired McWilliams-Franklin from Washington last season after Ford went down with a knee injury, and both are healthy and ready to complement the backcourt of Deanna Nolan (15.8 points per game) and Katie Smith (14.7).

McWilliams-Franklin averaged 10.7 points and 6.7 rebounds in seven games with the Shock, while Ford scored 10.1 points and grabbed 8.7 boards per game on the season.

"I think we're deeper and better, but that's true of the league as a whole," Laimbeer said. "With rosters down to 11 players, there are a lot of talented players available for the last couple spots on your roster."

Laimbeer's assistant Rick Mahorn and 10 players were suspended after a dustup at the end of Los Angeles' 84-81 win July 22 at The Palace.

The Sparks signed one of the most talented players in league history in Tina Thompson, a Los Angeles native, in the offseason. A five-time All-Star who's second on the all-time scoring list, Thompson won four titles while spending her first 12 seasons with the Houston Comets, who folded after last season.

"She's a great teammate and we have great chemistry and for me, it was a no-brainer. It's a perfect fit," three-time MVP Leslie said of her former Olympic teammate. "I would have been annoyed if she was on any other team. .... Fortunately, our GM did her homework."

Los Angeles will play at least the first month of the season without Parker, who averaged 18.5 points and a league-high 9.5 rebounds last season while taking home WNBA rookie of the year and MVP honors. Parker gave birth to her first child last month and is on maternity leave until late June.

"I think Candace is going to come in when she knows she's effective and she can contribute," Leslie said. "I think the beautiful part of it is that she is young enough that she will be able to do it faster than any of us here that have been able to do it."

Detroit will be without center Kara Braxton, who is suspended for six games after pleading guilty to a drunk-driving charge during the offseason. Braxton averaged 8.9 points and 5.1 rebounds in 33 games last year.

The Sparks won both meetings with the Shock last season behind 16.0 points per game from Milton-Jones.