Overview
- The Sparks completed the trade late Saturday night, sending five-time All-Star Kelsey Plum to the Phoenix Mercury in exchange for guard Monique Akoa Makani, a 2027 first-round pick and a 2028 second-round pick.
- Plum is on a one-year contract that expires after this season and has not played since June 21 with a lower-left leg injury, leaving her immediate availability for Phoenix uncertain.
- Phoenix, which sits well outside the playoff picture, surrendered a young, cost-controlled starter and valuable draft capital to add Plum’s scoring and playmaking for the stretch run.
- Los Angeles, 10-17 and operating under interim front-office control after a mid-July GM firing, prioritized recouping long-term assets rather than risk losing Plum for nothing in free agency.
- The move closes a short, costly chapter for the Sparks who acquired Plum in 2025 at the price of the No. 2 pick and now shifts the franchise toward a rebuild while the Mercury gamble on short-term upside.