The 2026 WNBA trade deadline has come and gone with relatively few moves, although the eleventh hour blockbuster trade that sent Kelsey Plum from the Los Angeles Sparks to the Phoenix Mercury provided a ton of buzz.
BREAKING: The Los Angeles Sparks are trading five-time All-Star Kelsey Plum to the Phoenix Mercury for Monique Akoa Makani, a 2027 first round pick and a 2028 second-rounder, sources tell me and @kendra__andrews. pic.twitter.com/0HvWAsrPGJ
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 2, 2026
Plum became the fourth example in league history of an All-Star getting traded midseason. The closest example to this in recent memory was when not yet All-Star Marina Mabrey was traded midseason from the Sky to the Sun in 2024.
Is it status quo for the WNBA’s trade deadline to be relatively uneventful to what is expected across other professional sports? The answer to that question is a resounding yes, but the reasons for that reality range.
As The Athletic’s Sabreena Merchant explained on the No Offseason Podcast, teams have limited draft capital to work with because they can only trade picks two drafts into the future. But also, the WNBA remains a relatively small league where still there aren’t a ton of clear buyers and sellers, with still over half the league making it to the postseason.
On top of that, the first year of the new CBA made deals more difficult, as many tradable players carried higher salaries than they’ll likely command later in the agreement. The WNBA also continues to operate under a hard salary cap, with only limited exceptions for season-ending injuries and maternity leave.
Even with fewer transactions than fans may have hoped for, there were still clear winners and losers from a trade deadline that was both quiet and dramatic.
Winner: Los Angeles Sparks
The Sparks probably made the first net positive move they have for the future of the franchise since 2024. You can read about how we got here and why this franchise has been cycling through general managers and risky trades for over half a decade in my latest WNBA Spotlight piece.
But the haul they received back in the Kelsey Plum trade from the Mercury could potentially yield two 2027 lottery picks if the Mercury also miss the playoffs. Phoenix is currently six games out of the eighth and final playoff spot with 14 games left in the regular season. The probability that the Sparks and the Mercury both do not make the playoffs is currently quite high.
In addition to getting the Mercury’s 2027 first round pick and their 2028 second round pick for Plum, the Sparks got sophomore guard Monique Akoa Makani. She’s a two way guard that has WNBA All-defensive honors potential, has shot over 39 percent from three in her first two seasons in the league, and played a pivotal role during the Mercury’s run to the WNBA Finals last year. In the era of the 2026 CBA, getting an impactful player under a cost controlled deal is just so valuable. While the Sparks could have gotten more for Plum, what they did get was advantageous and were clear winners of this deal.
Loser: Phoenix Mercury
The Mercury are risking a lot with this deal. They are making a bet that at least 14 games with Plum will give them a leg up in free agency and lead her to sign a long-term deal with them. That’s the best case scenario especially after ESPN reported that Plum still intends on going through a full free agency process.
If Plum doesn’t have a great experience in Phoenix because she doesn’t mesh with some of her other teammates that aren’t her good friend Kahleah Copper, if she loses faith in the team because they don’t make the postseason or simply because she doesn’t jell with the last minute system that head coach Nate Tibbetts constructs for her arrival, the Mercury won’t have much to show for it.
If the Mercury miss the postseason, they miss a chance to draft a high end young talent, something the Mercury desperately need to balance their roster especially now that the 25 year-old Akoa Makani is gone. Speaking of Akoa Makani, her skill set and value of her contract were both way too valuable to give up for potentially a 14 game rental that might not go beyond that.
Winner and Loser: Nate Tibbetts
Tibbetts has a mightily tough task in front of him, although this might be empowering for the third-year Mercury head coach? That’s why I have labeled him both a winner and a loser. On one hand, he gets more talent to coach and if the WNBA preseason GM survey revealed anything, it’s that he runs some of the best offensive schemes in the league and is widely respected. It’s also quite clear that for Tibbetts to be successful, he needs high end talent as he struggled this season to get a less talented 2026 roster to over perform what it looked like on paper.
While media member Nekias Duncan pretty much predicted the elements of this deal between the Sparks and Mercury to a tee, the Xs and Os he predicted too are theoretical, although could be exactly what Tibbetts does. Even if the basketball concoction that Tibbetts throws together has success, there’s so much pressure on him to get his 11-19 Mercury in a spot to make the playoffs. Also, what if Tibbetts struggles to get Alyssa Thomas to buy into Plum having the ball in her hands a little bit more than Akoa Makani did while she was in Phoenix? Don’t rule it out of the realm of possibility.
Winner: Kelsey Plum
Plum clearly didn’t get what she was promised in Los Angeles. Was it that the amenities were so much worse than what she was used to in Las Vegas while playing for the Aces? Did the Sparks franchise not honor Plum’s desires to be the franchise’s number one option? Was the coaching staff and front office too green and dysfunctional to really know what to do with one of the best scoring guards in the league when healthy? It honestly could be all of the above.
Now Plum can go to Phoenix for less than two months and play alongside her close friend Mercury wing, Copper, who posted to her Instagram story the infamous Lebron James meme where he’s smiling in a pool with the text that reads: “Smiling through it all! Can’t believe this is my life.”
The pressure isn’t on her at all but instead is on the franchise she’s joining. According to ESPN, Plum still plans on going through with free agency in winter of 2027. She gets to test drive the Mercury franchise and see if she likes what she sees from head coach Tibbetts and point forward Thomas in addition to Copper. Also, Plum gets to stay on the West coast, where she grew up and her family are.
Loser: Connecticut Sun
The Sun are obviously in full tank mode with less than two months left as a franchise before the wheels begin to turn to move the franchise to Houston to become the revived Comets. With that in mind I expected Connecticut to try to get back as much draft capital as humanly possible especially when maybe their only indispensable player at this point is sophomore two way guard, Leïla Lacan.
Saniya Rivers would have been an excellent trade candidate for a bunch of teams who need wing depth desperately. I’m looking at you Indiana Fever, Dallas Wings and New York Liberty. Maybe they believe they are building around Rivers, Lacan and Aaliyah Edwards? It remains hard to know the direction of the Sun besides maybe the hope that they land the No. 1 overall pick in the 2027 draft.
Winner: Aneesah Morrow
The trade that landed Morrow in Toronto and gave the Sun Maria “Masha” Kliundikova and a 2028 second-round pick back was a transaction that benefited both sides equally, which was a major reason for why only two real deals got done before the deadline this year.
Morrow wanted more playing time that the Sun couldn’t give her and the Tempo needed post depth especially with their current group of Nyara Sabally, Temi” Fágbénlé and Isabelle Harrison in and out with various injuries for stretches of the season. This was a low risk and high reward for both of the teams, but a fresh start for Morrow who can provide her scoring and rebounding presence to a roster that’s in desperate need of a jolt in the front court.
Winner: Chloe Bibby
I expected the Minnesota Lynx to be active during the deadline just because their depth remains a question, but it seems as though President of Basketball Operations and head coach, Cheryl Reeve, couldn’t get a deal that wouldn’t make her question if she won it or not. Instead she decided to poke at the Chicago Sky, her favorite proverbial punching bag, and the team that traded away what that ended up being the pick that allowed the Lynx to select Olivia Miles at No. 2 overall in the 2026 draft.
The Lynx offered Sky developmental player Bibby a standard contract, allowing her to join a playoff team for more money than she would on the Chicago developmental deal that doesn’t impact the salary cap. Reeve is betting on Bibby’s shooting stroke from her 14 games in the league last season to return when she averaged shooting over 40 percent from beyond the arc.
Loser: Betnijah Laney-Hamilton
Some social media teams across the WNBA have caught on to how confusing Laney-Hamilton’s season has been. Now the Lynx in addition to the Mercury twice have acknowledged Laney-Hamilton’s reunions with former teammates across the league that are often happy to see her.
But this social media post that showed Laney-Hamilton reuniting with her former teammate in Thomas really struck a chord with fans. The post reads “Who doesn’t love Betnijah 🫶” which many online responded to the rhetorical question with the New York Liberty’s new head coach, Chris DeMarco, who hasn’t played Laney-Hamilton in two weeks since the viral “shoe-gate” game against the Toronto Tempo.
The fans on the internet also pointed to Liberty general manager Jonathan Kolb who reportedly had been shopping Laney-Hamilton since the season began but couldn’t get substantial talks across the board because of his incredibly high asking price and the idea that he needed to win whatever trade by a country mile. As a player on an expiring contract, Laney-Hamilton was seeking the chance to reestablish herself as a productive contributor. But it remains to be seen whether she can regain the form she displayed before her meniscus surgery in 2023 and 2024.
Now that New York didn’t trade her, does Laney-Hamilton earn any minutes? The Liberty could surely use her feel on both sides of the floor even if her athleticism isn’t what it used to be.
