Overview
- Plum, who agreed Sunday to return to Los Angeles, left roughly $400,000 below the $1.4 million supermax to create spending flexibility.
- The Sparks cored Plum earlier in the week, which made her eligible for the supermax before she chose the discounted one-year deal.
- Los Angeles also re-signed Dearica Hamby, brought back Nneka Ogwumike, and traded Rickea Jackson to the Sky for Ariel Atkins as part of a veteran push.
- The WNBA uses a hard salary cap of about $7 million, so a star taking less can free room to sign multiple impact players instead of one max contract.
- Plum led the Sparks last season at 19.5 points and 5.7 assists, and the franchise is trying to end a playoff drought that stretches back to 2020.