Trade destinations for Kelsey Plum: Which teams make the most sense for Sparks guard?

When the lottery balls didn’t fall their way in 2025, the Los Angeles Sparks opted to accelerate their rebuild. Instead of staying pat with the second overall pick, putting them in range to land eventual All-Stars in Dominique Malonga, Sonia Citron, or Kiki Iriafen, they sent that pick (Malonga) to the Seattle Storm as part of a blockbuster three-way trade that ultimately landed Kelsey Plum in LA, and Jewell Loyd in Las Vegas.

That 2025 campaign didn’t end in a playoff berth, but the second half of the season — they went 13-9 behind the league’s fourth-best offense after the All-Star break — gave a glimpse into what things could look like.

With that, the Sparks entered the offseason looking to improve upon their 10th-ranked defense, and ultimately push themselves into more serious contention conversations. They traded Rickea Jackson, one of their two 2024 lottery selections, to the Chicago Sky for Ariel Atkins. They followed that up with landing Nneka Ogwumike, a former Spark and future Hall of Famer fresh off another All-WNBA campaign, to create a veteran-led Core Four.

In theory, a Plum-Atkins-Dearica Hamby-Ogwumike quartet could be among the league’s best. Add in 2024 lotto pick Cameron Brink, an intriguing two-way wing in Rae Burrell, and a veteran guard addition in Erica Wheeler and it wasn’t difficult to talk yourself into the Sparks’ top-seven. If they hit the right notes on both ends, they’d have the talent and versatility to duke it out with anyone.

Unfortunately, they have not hit the right notes.

Kelsey Plum #10 of the Los Angeles Sparks dribbles against Gabby Williams #1 of the Golden State Valkyries in the second quarter during a Commissioner’s Cup game at Chase Center on June 15, 2026, in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Eakin Howard/Getty Images)

(Eakin Howard via Getty Images)

They’ve dealt with injury woes, namely Plum and Brink. The defense was historically bad to begin the year, and has only improved to regular bad. Instead of pushing for a top-four seed, the Sparks find themselves five games out of eighth place. And now, they may be forced to pivot from this build.

Earlier this week, The Athletic’s Annie Costabile reported the sense around the league is that Plum doesn’t intend to re-sign with the Sparks this offseason, making her an interesting potential trade candidate ahead of Sunday’s deadline almost by default. On Wednesday, Marisa Ingeni of the LA Times (as well as The IX and Her Hoops Stats) was told by league sources that Plum will likely be dealt — and the phones are already ringing.

It’s important to note that the Sparks retained Plum this offseason via the Core Designation, the WNBA’s version of a franchise tag. With that tag, Plum has veto rights on any potential trade she’d be involved in.

Beyond that, the WNBA is working with a hard cap — compared to the NBA that has apron restrictions, but still offers more wiggle room for trades to happen. As such, we’re talking about threading the needle on teams that:

Plum would (likely) want to join and ultimately re-sign with this offseason.
Have the personnel and/or draft picks to entice the Sparks.
Have the financial capabilities to pull off a legal trade.

That is not easy, but that doesn’t mean we won’t try. I’ve separated the other 14 teams in the league into tiers for how likely it is they could make a Plum trade happen.

Let’s dig in, shall we?

Plum says no: Storm, Sun, Sky, Fire, Tempo

If Plum is unlikely to re-sign with the Sparks, I’d imagine part of the reasoning is because she wants to be in a win-now situation that is actually winning. That would likely rule out teams below the Sparks in the standings (Sky, Sun, Storm; more coming on the Mercury shortly), as well as the expansion teams (Fire, Tempo).

We’re definitely good here: Fever, Lynx

The Caitlin Clark-Kelsey Mitchell duo is fresh off dropping a combined 60 points in a win over the Storm on Tuesday night. At absolute worst, they’re a top-three backcourt duo in the league — and I’d probably give them the top spot right now. It’s hard to envision the Fever breaking up that duo on purpose.

If it’s not the Fever with the best backcourt duo, it’s likely the Lynx with Olivia Miles and Courtney Williams. Plum, if healthy, would represent a talent upgrade on Williams; I don’t know if it’s enough of an upgrade to consider breaking things up when the Lynx have been [checks notes] the best team in the WNBA.

We’re pretty good here: Wings, Liberty

The Wings have made a massive leap, going from cellar dweller to a no-doubt-about-it playoff team with home-court aspirations. They’re rolling with a three-guard alignment right now with MVP candidate Paige Bueckers, former All-Star Arike Ogunbowale, and rookie standout Azzi Fudd.

If there’s an Ogunbowale-based package to build, maybe the Wings could consider that kind of splash. I’m not sure how interested the Sparks would be in that, nor am I sure the Wings would want to do that considering how much Ogunbowale has meant to the franchise, and the need for an actual wing instead of another (admittedly very talented) guard.

The Liberty will always find themselves in star conversations; heck, we’re months removed from them adding Satou Sabally (get well soon) to a mix that already included Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones and Sabrina Ionescu. A Plum for Sabally and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton deal is a financial match for what it’s worth; that just feels more 2K-like than something that would actually come to fruition.

Building a package around Pauline Astier (if the Sparks want to aim younger) is tough because of her expiring, minimum salary — though it’s worth noting she’d be a reserved free agent this offseason, so they’d have exclusive negotiating rights. I just don’t see this one.

Interesting, but probably not workable: Aces

Who doesn’t love a good “the grass isn’t always greener” story, amirite???

No?

Moooving on, then.

There’s obvious familiarity with Plum and the Aces, the team she started her career with and ultimately won multiple championships with. I don’t think the (re)integration process would be all that steep. There are two problems with this thought bubble, though.

1. Plum is in Los Angeles in (large) part because she wanted to spread her wings; does she really want to return to being the second or possibly third fiddle again?

2. Even if she did have a change of heart, what would an Aces package even look like? The Aces aren’t parting ways with their Big Three (A’ja Wilson, Jackie Young, Chelsea Gray), and I don’t think the Sparks are signing up for Loyd’s $800K-over-three contract. The Aces don’t have their ’27 first, and the ’28 first likely doesn’t hold much value.

We might Milly Rock on every block, but spinning might be a bridge too far.

Let’s talk business: Dream, Mercury, Mystics

There’s an argument to put the Dream in either of the “we’re good here” camps and I wouldn’t be mad at it. Jordin Canada, in the midst of a career year, and Allisha Gray form one of the best two-way backcourts in the league.

But the more I thought about it, the more “in” I became on Plum’s fit in Atlanta. She’d be an absolute beast within their spacing principles and ideal shot profile, and be an incredible screener for post touches (Bri Jones, Angel Reese) or mismatch hunting (Gray, Rhyne Howard). Her presence and gravity could make life easier on Howard and Gray, unlocking more off-ball utility for both.

You could build a reasonable package around Canada and one of Te-Hina Paopao (get well soon) or Madina Okot; I’d guess Atlanta would lean Paopao with the rotational emergence of Isobel Borlase plus the flashes they’ve seen from Okot. They don’t have a ’27 first because of the Reese trade, but they do possess all of their ’28 picks.

More than anything, the Dream could approach these conversations from a position of strength; because they’re this talented, they don’t have to enter the Plum conversation.

The Mercury are the one non-playoff team I’d leave the door cracked for. Plum is the kind of guard that could really optimize Alyssa Thomas as a screener; also, good lord would an inverted ball screen with Thomas as the handler be darn-near impossible to deal with. Similar to the Atlanta blurb, her presence alone could make life a little easier for Kahleah Copper, while also serving as a potential inverted screening partner for her.

Plum likely wouldn’t have to completely uproot her life with a Phoenix move, which could make it more likely that she’d re-sign. And because of the Mercury’s salary situation — only the Fire and Mystics have more cap space ($842,374) — this could be as simple as, say, Monique Akoa Makani and draft capital in a literal sense.

(The Sparks would obviously ask for more than that; I’d also guess the Mercury wouldn’t want to part with Makani so she could serve as a defensive complement to Plum. This is just to give you an outline.)

There’s room for the Mystics to be in the “Plum Says No” tier just because of their collective age; I’d argue this should be more reason for Plum to consider things.

The Mystics have been a revelation, firmly holding on to a playoff spot (15-12, 8th) as of this writing. In fact, they’re closer to hosting home court (three games behind the 4th-seed Wings) than they are to being out of the playoffs (4.5 games ahead of the 9th-seed Fire). Their defense (3rd overall) has been absurd all year, and their paint-mashing offense (3rd in points in the paint, 1st in percentage of points that come in the paint) has given them juuust enough wiggle room despite a poor overall ranking (14th in offensive rating).

Giving the Mystics a high-level guard to ease the burden on Citron and unlock more pick-and-roll opportunities for Iriafen and Shakira Austin would move the Mystics up a tier or two for me. They have plenty of young talent to offer, even if they took the Citron/Iriafen/Austin trio off the table — and they should. As mentioned earlier, the Mystics have nearly $2 million in cap space to pull off an “unbalanced” trade if necessary.

I’d imagine the Sparks would be more interested in the Mystics than Plum would be specifically, but it’s at least worth having a phone call to gauge things.

The favorites: Valkyries

The Valkyries just seem to check all the boxes to me.

They’re one of the best teams in the league, but Plum would still fill an obvious need.
There’s familiarity with head coach Natalie Nakase, as well as All-Defense candidate Kiah Stokes.
The location would lead me to believe there wouldn’t be major off-court upheaval of Plum’s life.
The Valkyries have multiple avenues to build a quality package.

I don’t know if there’s a better defensive infrastructure in the league for Plum than the one in Golden State. Having Veronica Burton as a backcourt partner, Gabby Williams on the wing, and Stokes on the backline would be an incredible luxury.

On the other end, Plum triples as a load-bearing scorer, a gravity-inducing spacer, and a strong-enough playmaker to accentuate the cutting that’s baked into Golden State’s offense. It feels like a match made in heaven.

Depending on what the Sparks prioritize, the Valkyries could go pick-heavy, build a package around quality veterans, or potentially push the Juste Jocyte chip to the table as a potential headliner.

(Jocyte, Cecilia Zandalasini and Kaila Charles for Plum and Jihyun Park is a salary match, just to give an example of what something could look like.)

If Plum is moved, I’d expect the Valkyries to be in the driver’s seat.

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