The WNBA offseason is kicking off with a blockbuster trade, as the two-time champion Las Vegas Aces are breaking up their trio of former first-overall picks. The Aces are sending Kelsey Plum to the Los Angeles Sparks in a three-team trade that lands them Jewell Loyd from the Seattle Storm.
In the addition to Loyd, the Aces are receiving the No. 13 pick in the 2025 draft from the Sparks. The Sparks are receiving the No. 9 pick and a 2026 second-round pick from Seattle in addition to Kelsey Plum. And the Storm are receiving a 2026 first-round pick from Las Vegas, and the No. 2 pick in the 2025 draft as well as Li Yueru from Los Angeles.
Loyd was a six-time all-star had spent the entirety of her ten-year career with the Storm, and was part of their 2018 and 2020 championship teams. She took home the 2023 scoring championship averaging a career-high 24.7 points per game and setting a then WNBA single-season record for points in a season with 939. Loyd’s point production would slightly dip to 19.7 following the Storm’s acquisition of Skylar Diggins-Smith in the offseason.
Loyd and Aces star A’ja Wilson went viral in a comedic clip following the NBA Celebrity All-Star Game last year.
But antics aside, Wilson broke Loyd’s single-season scoring record just this season. The Aces core of Wilson, Plum and Jackie Young were consecutive number one overall picks in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
Plum became a three-time all-star with the Aces, won the 2021 Sixth Woman of the Year award, and won the 2022 and 2023 championships with them.
This move makes Plum a leading veteran for a young Sparks team, who drafted Cameron Brink and Rickea Jackson in last year’s WNBA Draft, the latter making it to the All-Rookie Team averaging 13.4 points per game on 45.6% from the field. With other veterans such as Dearica Hamby and Odyssey Sims
As for the Storm, they trade up for the second pick in this draft and seem to be committed to a hard rebuild. With Diggins-Smith and Nneka Ogwumike both 33 years old, they could be the next dominoes to fall as the Storm look to get younger especially with pieces such as Jordan Horston and Nika Muhl., alongside the ninth overall pick they seem set to build towards contention.
As the WNBA Draft nears, they could be looking at adding a young guard such as Olivia Miles or Sonia Citron from Notre Dame or a franchise big such as LSU’s Aneesah Morrow or USC’s Kiki Iriafen.
WNBA’s free agency opens up on February 1, so stay tuned for more WNBA news.
Click here for more basketball content!
Join the best sports community on Discord!
Subscribe to Fantom Sports on YouTube!