The Kelsey Plum era in Los Angeles ended overnight when the Sparks traded the All-Star guard to the Mercury for Monique Akoa Makani, a 2027 first-round pick and a 2028 second-rounder.
A true blockbuster ahead of Wednesday’s WNBA trade deadline that pairs one of the league’s best scorers with Alyssa Thomas and Kahleah Copper in Phoenix. Plum was a top name that was rumored to find a new home at the deadline as she will become an unrestricted free agent over the offseason and the Sparks are out of the playoff picture with a 10–17 record.
L.A. moved Plum at the right time, but the timing is peculiar from the Mercury’s perspective. After a trip to the WNBA finals last year, the Mercury are in the midst of a disappointing season. They lost Satou Sabally to the Liberty over the offseason, but the franchise inked Thomas and Copper to new multiyear deals that retained a star duo opposed to last season’s “big three.”
Falkenheim: With Kelsey Plum Traded to Mercury, Sparks Have to Start Over Yet Again
Depth was the biggest question that faced the roster, though, especially as Sami Whitcomb missed the first half of the season while she recovered from knee surgery. After an exciting win against the Aces in a finals rematch on opening night, the Mercury faltered to open the season with a 2–8 start. With 14 games left, Phoenix is 11–19 and six games back of New York for the final playoff spot.
That’s a lot of ground to make up in a short period of time, but the roster gets a huge spark (pun intended) with the addition of Plum—as long as she’s healthy after missing over a month with a lower leg injury. An interesting move for both sides, so who won the deal? Let’s dive in.
Phoenix Mercury
There’s no question that the Mercury brought in one of the WNBA’s premier scorers in Plum. She’s a five-time All-Star and has two championships under her belt from her time in Las Vegas. Before she went down with the leg injury, she was in the middle of a career year averaging 23.9 points per game for the Sparks in 12 appearances. A small sample size, but that’s the best mark in the league aside from A’ja Wilson—the clear MVP frontrunner.
The Mercury needed some scoring oomph and three-point shooting help—Plum certainly brings both—and it makes the team much more interesting down the stretch. As for the injury, Plum hasn’t played since June 21, but she was expected to return as soon as this weekend. Phoenix’s first game after the trade comes Monday against the Sky, but it’s unknown whether she will be available to make her Mercury debut, according to ESPN.
It’s fair to assume that Phoenix wouldn’t have made a splash if it wasn’t confident in Plum’s health the rest of the way, but after missing so much time and getting put into a new offense, she may need a short adjustment period. The biggest question for Phoenix is whether it has enough time to make a run at the playoffs with the franchise’s new “big three.” The Mercury most likely need to surpass either the Liberty or the Mystics to butt into the playoffs. Both New York and Washington have heated up as of late and the Mercury need one of the final playoff teams to start losing to make up ground. Fourteen games to make up a six-game deficit is a lot, but the Mercury’s roster just got that much better which keeps the door slightly open if it all clicks.
If Phoenix misses the playoffs, however, the Mercury would have given up a lottery pick for a short-term rental in Plum. The trade can be reassessed if Plum re-signs with Phoenix on a long-term deal, but that remains only a possibility at this time. The 2027 draft class is stacked with the possibility of JuJu Watkins, Hannah Hidalgo and Madison Booker at the top. Phoenix took a big swing to win now and you can’t fault the franchise for doing what it needed to acquire another star, but it’s certainly a huge gamble to let go of a potential lottery pick to give an 11–19 team a significant boost.
Grade: C+
Los Angeles Sparks
The crown jewel of the package the Sparks received is Phoenix’s aforementioned 2027 first-round pick. Currently out of the playoff picture themselves, L.A. now has two opportunities to add key building blocks for the franchise in next year’s draft. The Sparks fully push the rebuild button two years after they took Cameron Brink and Rickea Jackson with the No. 2 and No. 4 picks in the 2024 draft, respectively. Jackson has since been traded to the Sky for Ariel Atkins and Brink has struggled with injuries over her first three seasons. The arrival of Jackson and Brink marked a new chapter for the Sparks as Nneka Ogwumike signed with Seattle the same year.
Ogwumike came back this season and joined Plum and Dearica Hamby as the franchise hoped to compete for a playoff spot behind the three veterans. The team had a 7–6 start, but Plum’s injury derailed the season and the Sparks are in the middle of a six-game losing skid that precluded her departure. Plum re-signing with the franchise over the offseason was highly unlikely, so the team was right to go and get the best assets possible ahead of the deadline.
Akoa Makani has been a solid guard for Phoenix over her two WNBA seasons, which makes her an impactful addition in a depleted guard room for L.A.’s latest rebuild. It’s fair to question whether the Sparks could’ve obtained more assets from a different team, but the potential to add another lottery pick in a loaded draft is a good swing to take.
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