Weird trade. They must think they can re-sign her. This is more or less what I said before the 2025 season, when the Los Angeles Sparks traded for a year of Kelsey Plum. In a three-team deal that also sent Jewell Loyd to Las Vegas, the Sparks gave up the No. 2 pick in the 2025 draft to Loyd’s former team, Seattle. Plum was the best player in that deal, and in Los Angeles, she did kind of prove what she wanted to when she sought an opportunity to lead her own team, out from the shadow of A’ja Wilson. In the 12 games she played this year before she went down with a leg injury, Plum was averaging close to 24 points per game and putting up some outrageous paint scoring numbers with her rim pressure. The problems become visible with additional context: The undersized Plum certainly didn’t help, but last year’s Sparks defense was hopelessly bad, and this year’s retooled roster with reinforcements Nneka Ogwumike and Ariel Atkins hasn’t done the trick either. Late Saturday night, after a few days of rumbling that Plum wanted out, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that the 10-17 Sparks were trading Plum to the 11-19 Phoenix Mercury.

Weird trade? They must think they can re-sign her? The Mercury are sending over a 2027 first-round pick, solid rotation guard Monique Akoa Makani, and a 2028 second-round pick. The weirdness this time owes to Phoenix’s place in the standings, which was half a game below Los Angeles at the time the trade was reported. Usually, a deadline buyer does not have a worse record than the deadline seller they patronize. The Mercury have always had a funky roster, and injuries made their thin rotation even thinner, so their 2026 season has been a real disappointment following last year’s Finals run. Kahleah Copper has played better after a brutal shooting start to the season, but as of deadline day on Sunday, the Mercury still sit 12th in the WNBA standings and a full six games back of New York for the final playoff spot with 14 games left.

You could read a bit of euphemism in Charania’s post about the news: “Plum, a two-time WNBA champion, and the Mercury have shared excitement about the future in Phoenix.” Maybe that meant Plum and Phoenix had some understanding about her staying there long-term. The Mercury have a habit of trading away picks for star players, a habit they can sustain because of their resources to attract free agents and their international scouting wins. But The Athletic’s Annie Costabile reported on Sunday morning that Plum “still intends to go through free agency,” which would make her a fairly expensive rental for a team with an already-poor defense and very little hope of making the playoffs. When the Sparks first traded for her, ESPN reported that Plum “hopes to stay with the Sparks beyond 2025.” Technically she did, though L.A.’s hope was probably that she’d stay with them a little longer.