Kelsey Plum Traded to Phoenix Mercury: Sparks Deal Five-Time All-Star in Blockbuster Ahead of WNBA Trade Deadline

The Los Angeles Sparks have traded five-time All-Star Kelsey Plum to the Phoenix Mercury, sending the star guard to a new team just hours before Sunday’s 3 p.m. ET WNBA trade deadline. In return, Los Angeles receives guard Monique Akoa Makani, a 2027 first-round pick, and a 2028 second-round pick, according to multiple league sources. The deal, completed late Saturday night, marks just the fourth time in league history an All-Star has been traded during the season.

Plum, 31, arrived in Los Angeles before the 2025 season in a three-team blockbuster that sent the No. 2 overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft to the Seattle Storm and ended her run with the Las Vegas Aces, where she won back-to-back championships in 2022 and 2023 and earned All-Star Game MVP honors in 2022. She was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 WNBA Draft out of the University of Washington, where she finished her college career as the NCAA Division I women’s all-time leading scorer. Across her nine-year WNBA career, Plum has now earned five All-Star selections, including one with the Sparks this season before the trade.

A Sparks Season Derailed

Los Angeles entered 2026 hoping Plum could anchor a playoff push, but a lower-leg injury limited her to just 12 games this season. Even in that reduced sample, she was putting up elite numbers — 23.9 points per game, second in the league, to go with 6.4 assists and 2.2 rebounds per game. The Sparks, however, could not stay afloat without her on the floor consistently, entering the trade deadline at 10-17 and 5.5 games back of a playoff spot in the Western Conference. With the season slipping away and Plum set to become an unrestricted free agent this offseason, Los Angeles opted to secure draft capital and a rotation piece in Akoa Makani rather than risk losing Plum for nothing when free agency opens.

Akoa Makani, 25, is in her second WNBA season and has averaged 9.7 points, 2.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 18 games for Phoenix this year. Over her two-year career, she has posted 8.3 points, 2.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists across 59 appearances, giving the Sparks a young piece under team control for multiple seasons as they retool. Los Angeles is also expected to continue shopping veterans like Nneka Ogwumike, Dearica Hamby, Erica Wheeler and Ariel Atkins before Sunday’s deadline closes, positioning the franchise as one of the league’s most active sellers this weekend.

Mercury Make a Bold Move

Phoenix enters this trade at 11-18 and sitting fifth in the Western Conference, a disappointing follow-up to a run to last season’s WNBA Finals, where the Mercury fell to the Aces. Adding a scorer of Plum’s caliber signals Phoenix isn’t ready to fully concede the season, even with a middling record. Plum gives the Mercury a proven playmaker who has performed on the league’s biggest stages, and the front office is betting her arrival can spark a late push while also making Phoenix a more attractive long-term destination for her once free agency opens this winter.

The move instantly reshapes the backcourt rotation in Phoenix and adds another marquee name to a roster already built around veteran talent, including Alyssa Thomas. It also continues a trend of aggressive in-season moves around the league this year, with both the Mercury and the Dallas Wings reportedly pursuing Plum hard in the days leading up to the deadline before Phoenix ultimately won out with the strongest offer.

League-Wide Trade Deadline Fallout

Trades of this magnitude are rare in the middle of a WNBA season, and the timing — completed just hours before the deadline itself — added to the shockwaves across the league. Plum was widely viewed as the top available name on the trade market this summer, and her camp had reportedly been bracing for a move for weeks as speculation mounted following the Sparks’ slow start. She had said publicly in the days before the trade that she planned to keep playing hard for Los Angeles regardless of the rumors, telling reporters she wasn’t taking the speculation personally and would be “where my feet are.”

With the trade completed before Sunday’s deadline, attention now turns to what other moves the Sparks might make as they lean further into a retooling effort. For Plum, the deal sets up a fresh chapter in Phoenix as she looks to help push the Mercury toward a playoff berth down the stretch, all while her impending free agency looms large over the rest of the WNBA season. Both teams will need time to integrate the new pieces, but Sunday’s deadline ensures the rosters are now locked in for the stretch run toward the postseason.

The deal also shakes up betting markets around the league, with sportsbooks expected to adjust Mercury and Sparks futures odds in response to the shakeup. Bettors tracking WNBA lines can check the latest updated odds through the DraftKings promo code or compare offers via the FanDuel promo code as both teams adjust to their new-look rosters. For a broader look at where lines currently stand across sportsbooks, the sportsbooks hub offers a full rundown of platforms carrying WNBA markets, while the BetMGM sportsbook review breaks down another option for fans looking to follow the Mercury’s stretch run with Plum in the fold.