Two WNBA teams can absorb Kelsey Plum’s $999,999 salary outright, and one of them is the 11-17 Portland Fire. Everyone else has to send salary back to the Los Angeles Sparks with 17 games left in the regular season.
The deadline passes at 3 p.m. ET Sunday. Marisa Ingemi of the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday that the Sparks have fielded calls from multiple teams and intend to move Plum, and Annie Costabile of The Athletic reported a day earlier that she does not intend to re-sign in Los Angeles as a free agent. Plum signed that one-year deal last offseason and becomes an unrestricted free agent this winter.
Plum has averaged 23.9 points and 6.4 assists on 52.7% shooting through 12 games, and her 38.3% mark from 3-point range is her best since 2023. She has not played since June 21. A lower left leg injury has cost her the last 15 games. Los Angeles is 3-12 in them.
The Sparks are 10-17, have lost six in a row, and parted ways with general manager Raegan Pebley on July 12. Despite the additions of Nneka Ogwumike and Ariel Atkins, the defense ranks 14th in the WNBA at 113.0. Los Angeles last reached the playoffs in 2020, and no other franchise in the league has waited as long.
Sparks coach Lynne Roberts spoke about the roster Tuesday, before a 113-109 home loss to the New York Liberty.
“When we’ve been healthy, we’ve been good,” Roberts said. “Things have not shaken out how we wanted them to, so we need to evaluate everything. I’ve been in contact with the front office. For where we want to be, I think everything has to be evaluated.
“I’m not going to get into specific players, I’m not in a position to do that,” Roberts said. “But we are evaluating everything. We’re not where we want to be right now, I’m not going to sugarcoat that.”
Plum’s Return
Plum spoke to reporters after practice Thursday and was asked about the possibility of being traded. She respects whatever decision the Sparks make and continued to point to it being what comes with professional sports.
“The thing about professional sports is like it’s business,” Plum said. “At the end of the day people have to do what’s best for them and I respect that. And I’m not taking anything personal. For me, I’m gonna be where my feet are.”
She shared her plan to play on Sunday and is embracing making an impact regardless of what her minutes restriction ends up being. She’s just eager to get back to playing and helping her team.
“I play for the Sparks so on Sunday, I’m going to suit up and I’m going to give them whatever minute restriction, fill the blank in minutes of hell, coming off the bench,” Plum said. “I’m actually really excited about it.”
Roberts said after Monday’s practice that Plum was getting close, and Los Angeles ruled her out for Tuesday against the Liberty.
“I think for me, like anyone else that’s been around professional sports, you have to be where your feet are,” Plum said. “There’s a lot of things that are in the unknown and those things are outside of my control. For me, my control is to be here to play the highest level basketball I could possibly play and help my team win games.”
The $7 Million Cap
The WNBA has no salary-matching requirement. A team can send out a single minimum contract for a max player, as long as both sides finish the deal under the cap and get back to a legal roster. The new collective bargaining agreement set that cap at $7 million for 2026, up from $1.5 million in 2025.
Los Angeles has already paid out most of Plum’s $999,999, but whoever acquires her has the full amount count against the salary cap. Rosters carry 12 spots. Developmental players cannot be dealt.
Golden State Valkyries
Golden State sits $148,440 under the cap, less than the $270,000 league minimum. Kayla Thornton is earning $750,000 this season and has averaged 8.3 points on 36.1% shooting. Tiffany Hayes signed for $600,000 and has averaged 7.2 points on 44.1%. Kiah Stokes counts another $380,625 on a two-year protected veteran deal worth $761,250, with 3.6 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks a night.
Fitting Plum requires shedding $851,559. Thornton’s contract is the largest on the roster and does not cover it, so any version of this trade costs Golden State at least two rotation players.
Golden State owns the best defensive rating in the WNBA at 101.5. The offense ranks eighth at 108.0. Gabby Williams leads the roster at 14.8 points per game.
Plum and Stokes won two titles together in Las Vegas, where Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase was on staff from 2022 to 2024. General manager Ohemaa Nyanin traded this year’s eighth overall pick to the Seattle Storm and has not used the past two drafts to build the rotation. Future first-round picks are available in a package.
Kaitlyn Chen has averaged 7.6 points and 1.9 assists off the bench while shooting 55.5% from the field and 40.5% from 3-point range. Juste Jocyte, the fifth overall pick in 2025, has appeared in nine games. Neither salary reaches $851,559 without Thornton or Hayes attached, and Golden State will have more cap room in the offseason.
Veronica Burton has averaged 12.0 points and 5.5 assists in 28.5 minutes a night, and Williams leads the team at 14.8. Plum has averaged 23.9. Burton and Williams would spend more possessions finishing than starting, and both would draw the second-best perimeter defender instead of the first.
Golden State assists on 18.5 of its 28.4 made field goals per game. Plum draws traps and hedges.
Golden State plays the slowest pace in the WNBA at 91.11 possessions per 40 minutes. Plum scores early in the clock.
Washington Mystics
Washington carries nearly $2 million in cap space. The Mystics could take on Plum’s $999,999 and send back nothing more than a minimum contract. Portland is the only other team with as much room, and the Fire are 11-17 in their first season.
Washington ranks 14th in offensive rating at 100.6. The Mystics attempt 19.4 threes per game and make 29.5% of them.
Georgia Amoore, the sixth overall pick in 2025, has averaged 6.4 points and 3.6 assists on 34.6% shooting in her first year back from an ACL injury. Washington brought in Alicia Florez from Spain at midseason, and she has averaged 4.2 points and 2.8 assists on 32.2% shooting. Rori Harmon has played 6.7 minutes a night across 10 games.
Sonia Citron leads the team at 17.4 points and 3.8 assists per game. She has made 28.4% of her threes.
The defense ranks third at 103.5. Washington is 15-12 and seventh in the standings.
Kiki Iriafen, Shakira Austin, and lottery pick Lauren Betts are all under contract past this season. Washington owns a first-round swap with the Chicago Sky this year and the Sky’s 2028 first outright. Plum is 31 and on an expiring deal. Her only season outside the West Coast came in San Antonio in 2017, before that franchise moved to Las Vegas.
Amoore, Florez, and Harmon have combined for 11.6 points per game. Citron, Iriafen, and Austin take 34.2 of Washington’s 64.7 shots between them.
Los Angeles already has Cameron Brink and has rebuffed interest in her, which makes another young center a difficult sell. Betts was a top-five pick in this year’s draft and has averaged 6.7 points and 3.7 rebounds on 53.8% shooting in 27 games. The Sparks may not want her.
The Toronto Tempo have been short of post options all season and rate Betts higher than Los Angeles does. Toronto takes Betts, Los Angeles takes the pieces it wants out of Toronto, and Washington gets Plum. The Tempo are 10-18 in their first season, and a top-five rookie costs more than they have paid for anyone yet. Earlier this afternoon, they acquired Aneesah Morrow from the Connecticut Sun.
Washington traded Brittney Sykes last season, and its oldest player is 26.
Washington is the team best equipped to make this trade, but it remains to be seen if there will be interest.
Phoenix Mercury
The Mercury are 11-18 and sit five games behind New York for the final playoff spot, a year after reaching the Finals. Alyssa Thomas is signed through 2028 and Kahleah Copper through 2027. Phoenix held talks on Thomas earlier this season, according to The Athletic, and those talks have gone cold.
Phoenix has $842,374 in cap space, and only Portland and Washington have more.
Thomas has averaged 14.8 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 8.3 assists, and she has not attempted a 3-pointer all season. Copper has averaged 20.7 points while shooting 28.7% from 3-point range. Phoenix makes 32.1% of its threes as a team, and Plum shoots 38.3%.
Phoenix never replaced Satou Sabally, who signed with the New York Liberty. Behind Copper and Thomas, the leading scorer is Jovana Nogic at 10.4 points in 16 games.
Thomas has worked out of inverted actions for years, and Phoenix could run them in both directions. Plum can screen for Thomas to force a switch. Thomas can screen for Plum and roll short while two defenders track the ball. Blitz Plum, and Thomas catches it in a four-on-three.
Any Phoenix package starts with first-round picks. Phoenix has 15 games left to build something for 2027.
The 2027 Draft Class
The Sparks are 11th in the standings and own their 2027 first-round pick. JuJu Watkins, Madison Booker, Hannah Hidalgo, Mikaylah Williams, S’Mya Nichols, and MiLaysia Fulwiley are all eligible for that draft. Most of them are guards.
Nneka Ogwumike is also headed for unrestricted free agency this winter. Los Angeles has two expiring veterans, not one. The veteran forward could be another name to watch before the trade deadline.
Plum has appeared in 12 of the Sparks’ 27 games on a deal that expires at the end of the season.
Editor’s Pick
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