Did the LA Sparks Make a Mistake by Trading for Kelsey Plum?
Examining a "win-now" move by Los Angeles that saw the #2 pick in April's draft shipped to Seattle.
A three-team trade sending Kelsey Plum to Los Angeles and Jewell Loyd to Las Vegas created shockwaves around the WNBA universe on Sunday evening—with the move promising to shake up the Aces’ bid for a third title in four seasons while also significantly altering the short and long-term ambitions of two other traditional West Coast powers. But while many around the league were quick to praise both the Storm (for making the best of a bad situation) and the Aces (who, perhaps, improved in the process of losing a cornerstone player) for what they received in the deal, the reaction to the Sparks’ acquisition of Plum seemed, surprisingly, more divisive.
Many pointed to the fact that the deal—which was first reported by the Sun-Times’ Annie Costabile—sees the Sparks pass on the opportunity to add a cost-controlled player to their roster ahead of what promises to be a landscape-altering CBA renegotiation before the 2026 season, but that seems to ignore the short (and long) term impacts that a bonafide superstar like Plum could have for Los Angeles. In the immediate future, Plum should escalate the Sparks into contention for a playoff berth during the 2025 season—something the #2 pick in April’s draft would be much less likely to do.
She also makes Los Angeles a much more attractive destination for free agents ahead of the massive league-wide roster overhaul that’s expected next winter—especially if she settles quickly alongside Cameron Brink and Rickea Jackson and LA does make the postseason. Granted, the #2 pick in the draft—quite possibly Notre Dame G Olivia Miles—could do the same, but there’s nothing Miles will accomplish after just one year in the league that will give her the pull that a multi-time All-Star and WNBA Champion like Plum has.
And while Miles would, over the course of her rookie contract, open up more cap space for the Sparks to add talent alongside their young core, Plum happens to be the exact type of player you’d be hoping to recruit with that cap space. Tier-1 superstars like A’ja Wilson or Breanna Stewart only come to free agency once in a blue moon, and it’s possible movement for stars (in their tier or the one just below) becomes less frequent if longer-term contracts become more common with the advent of a new CBA.
Thus, jumping the queue and getting a player like Plum (who fits in the tier of players just below the two MVPs) in the building could turn out to be a move that opens up avenues LA would not have had access to had they decided to wait and pursue free agents next winter. With Brink and Jackson both under cost-controlled deals of their own for the next three seasons (most of the remainder of Plum’s “prime”), there’s little cause for cap concern in Los Angeles anyways—meaning the decision to punt on a rookie contract looks a lot less damaging.
And speaking of Plum’s “prime” years, another concern—which is all too common with trades of this nature—is that Plum’s timeline doesn’t align with Brink and Jackson’s. And given Plum will turn 31 during the 2025 season, that’s certainly a factual argument. However, isn’t that kind of the point of a “win-now” deal? While a younger player like Miles could be a career-long partner in crime for Jackson and Brink, she too will likely have her own growing pains at the professional level (though it must be said her game looks very pro-ready at Notre Dame).
The “timeline” argument suggests that, by the time Brink and Jackson have worked through their own adaptation, Miles should be close to competing hers, but what if that’s not the case? For all the settling Plum will need to do in Los Angeles, there’s very little she needs to do to adapt to the W game. If Brink and Jackson are already at the level to trouble teams like the Aces and the Liberty as soon as the 2025 postseason, Plum is a player who’s ready to complement that growth and give them a legit chance to contend with those two teams right away—accelerating the franchise as a whole’s timeline. Miles, on the other hand, could never go into a playoff-series in 2025 with an “I’ve been here before” attitude because she simply hasn’t. That’s no knock on Miles as a player nor on her future potential; instead, it speaks to the motivation behind a deal of this nature for Los Angeles’ front office.
The last point of contention raised with the deal is the perceived lack of defense around Brink given the offense-heavy games of Plum, Jackson, and Dearica Hamby. This, for certain, is a point that Raegan Pebley and her staff can’t afford to ignore. Without the right additions around the edges of the roster, this Sparks team will struggle periodically (or frequently) at the defensive end.
That being said, Brink already registered as one of the W’s top interior defenders as a rookie, and there’s support available from other veterans (Azurá Stevens, for instance) on the current roster and plenty of leftover cap space (around $250k to fill 2 roster spots if the 9th pick acquired in this deal makes the team) to play with when free agency opens later this week. The addition of a player of Plum’s stature tells free agents—whether they be marquee names or role players that can help fill the defensive holes—that Los Angeles are serious about winning now.
For all that Miles could’ve brought, it would’ve been difficult for Pebley to shake the “young and fun team” label when speaking with free agents this week had they not acquired Plum. Teams with that label, while earmarked by free agents as potential future landing spots, rarely end up landing role players of the level LA needs to complete their, so far strong, roster adjustments ahead of the 2025 season. With a veteran franchise player now in the fold, Pebley can confidently look free agents in the eye and tell them they’re the missing piece that could solidify LA’s defense and push the roster into the realm of title contention—an unfathomable concept as recently as 72 hours ago.
Of course, whether that comes to fruition is a totally different story. Plum may not fit—personally or stylistically—with the pair of Brink and Jackson or the defensive issues the offensive stars create could leave the former Stanford big in perpetual scramble mode protecting the paint. In a worst-case scenario, Plum could take advantage of her own chance at free agency next winter and bolt after just a single season—leaving the Sparks completely empty-handed in twelve months’ time.
Elsewhere, the Storm could profit massively from the selection of a player like Miles or even open the bidding for the pick with hopes of luring in offers from teams like the Sky who are scheduled to pick just behind them at #3. Such a frenzy could land the Storm the complementary pieces they need to quickly retool around Skylar Diggins-Smith, Nneka Ogwumike and Ezi Magbegor—allowing them to finish near or above the Sparks again next season and pocket LA’s first-round pick (acquired last year in the trade that led to LA picking Jackson) in the process. Those “doomsday” scenarios are certainly possible, and the risk they bring should raise some red flags for LA.
Yet, it’s a rare to see a hugely risk-averse team that perpetually makes the safe play and stockpiles assets see any reward from that behavior in professional basketball either. Unless you’re able to land multiple number one picks in a short span of time like the Aces or Fever (and then choose the right players with those picks), it’s hard to assemble all the pieces of a contender via the draft in a league where the talent is so concentrated in the top few picks of each April’s lottery (even Vegas looked externally for Chelsea Gray—a huge puzzle piece for their title teams). By adding Jackson and Brink last season, the Sparks made a considerable (and so far successful) investment in draft assets, but their decision to rapidly accelerate their timeline by dealing the same type of asset should, in my opinion, be applauded—regardless of the inevitable risks it carries.