23.9 points per game through 12 games, a career high and the WNBA's scoring lead at its peak this season, set Kelsey Plum's price at the summer deadline. The Los Angeles Sparks traded the five-time All-Star guard to the Phoenix Mercury on Saturday night in exchange for Monique Akoa Makani, a 2027 first-round pick, and a 2028 second-round pick, hours before Sunday's WNBA trade deadline. The move is only the fourth time in league history that an All-Star has been traded mid-season.
The cost of the Sparks' gamble
Los Angeles first acquired Plum before the 2025 season by trading the No. 2 overall pick to Seattle. Seattle took Dominique Malonga with that selection. Malonga became an All-Star in her second season. The turnaround Los Angeles expected, built around Cameron Brink and Rickea Jackson, did not arrive. The Sparks missed the playoffs in 2025.
This season, the team entered this trade at 10-17 with six straight losses on the ledger. Without Plum, who has been sidelined since a lower left leg injury on June 21, Los Angeles went 2-9. The organization is now in danger of missing the postseason for a sixth consecutive year.
The franchise also lost general manager Raegan Pebley in July. Zach Knowlton and Nate Nielsen, both assistant general managers, are running the front office on an interim basis. With Plum heading to free agency at season's end and reportedly unwilling to re-sign, the trade was the cleaner exit. The New York Liberty and Atlanta Dream had also expressed interest before Phoenix closed.
Phoenix's math
The Mercury arrived at the deal at 11-19, six games behind the eighth-place Liberty for the final playoff spot. Plum's 6.4 assists per game this season, also a career high, give Phoenix a second distributor alongside Alyssa Thomas, who leads the team with 8.3 assists per game. Her two WNBA championships bring tested postseason experience to a roster still in playoff range.
She was expected to return Sunday against the Portland Fire under a minutes restriction, though her status for Phoenix's Monday game at the Chicago Sky had not been confirmed as of the trade announcement.