The Kelsey Plum era is over in Los Angeles. The Sparks are sending the five-time All-Star to Phoenix in exchange for Monique Akoa Makani, the Mercury’s 2027 first-round pick and a 2028 second-rounder, league sources confirmed to The Athletic. ESPN was first to report.
The Sparks traded the No. 2 pick in the 2025 draft (which became All-Star Dominique Malonga) to acquire Plum in the 2025 offseason in an attempt to end their rebuild and get to the playoffs for the first time since 2020. That plan didn’t pan out: Los Angeles ended two games short of the postseason in 2025, and Plum’s lower leg injury in 2026 dug the Sparks a hole they could not get out.
At 10-17 and 5 1/2 games out of a playoff spot, Los Angeles is pulling the plug on this season. That means moving on from Plum, who will be an unrestricted free agent in the offseason. Plum has played only 12 games in 2026 but is second in league scoring (23.9 points per game) and sixth in assists (6.4). She is arguably the most efficient No. 1 option as a guard in the league — her field-goal percentage trails only A’ja Wilson among top-10 scorers — and she has also been a secondary (even tertiary) scoring option on a two-time title team in Las Vegas.
As reported by The Athletic, the sense from executives around the league was that Plum wouldn’t re-sign in Los Angeles, forcing the Sparks’ hand to trade her and recoup some of the value they lost in acquiring the five-time All-Star guard. Even so, there have rarely been trades involving all-WNBA players during the season. The last time was in 2015 when the Chicago Sky dealt Sylvia Fowles to Minnesota. The Lynx ultimately won the championship that season and Fowles was named finals MVP.
The Mercury expressed interest in acquiring Plum when she left the Las Vegas Aces during the 2025 offseason. Phoenix was still able to build a big three by bringing in Alyssa Thomas and Satou Sabally to join Kahleah Copper.
Sabally departed for New York after the 2025 season, and the Mercury have struggled to replace her offensive production, ranking 12th in the league in offensive rating this year. Plum is an instant antidote to those scoring challenges, having ranked in the top 11 in scoring each of the last five seasons, peaking at second twice.
Kelsey Plum and Monique Akoa Makani are changing places after Saturday night’s trade. (Aryanna Frank / Getty Images)
Copper and Thomas are both signed through next season in Phoenix, and Plum fits neatly next to the pair. She can play at the one position but doesn’t have to be the lead playmaker and scorer like she was in Los Angeles since Thomas handles much of the Mercury’s ballhandling responsibilities.
The asset cost isn’t much for the Mercury, who have shown little interest in holding on to their first-round draft picks, provided Plum re-signs. They haven’t rostered a player they drafted in the first round that season since Alanna Smith.
However, Plum still fully intends to go through the free agency process this offseason, a source familiar with the situation told The Athletic. The source was granted anonymity because the person does not have permission to discuss the matter publicly. The Mercury are six games back of earning the eighth seed for the final playoff spot, making it a curious choice to make this move now rather than wait to court Plum in free agency. They’re essentially paying a first-round pick and a good young player to have extra time to recruit Plum for 2027.
Plum flew to Portland with the Sparks in anticipation of playing in Sunday afternoon’s game at the Portland Fire. She is now expected to meet the Mercury in Chicago for their game against Sky on Monday night, but it’s unclear if she will be available.
The Sparks, on the other hand, needed some draft equity in order to part with Plum. They get what is currently projected to be a lottery pick in 2027, though it’s likely to have the lowest odds of landing first overall (1.2 percent) because draft odds are calculated via two-year combined record.
Nonetheless, getting two picks in the lottery, since Los Angeles is also likely to miss the playoffs, will help the Sparks rebuild their young core, which currently includes Cameron Brink and pending restricted free agent Rae Burrell.
Los Angeles also gets a quality young guard in Akoa Makani, who started for a WNBA finalist at age 24 last season. Akoa Makani is a career 41 percent shooter from 3-point range and was been one of the better pick-and-roll defenders in the league last year before Phoenix’s defense fell off a cliff in 2026. The Sparks will have at least two more seasons of team control on Akoa Makani after this one, since she is under contract at the league minimum in 2027 and will be a reserved free agent afterwards.
The Mercury have to feel confident in their ability to retain Plum beyond 2026 by making this trade, since the 2026 postseason still feels out of reach; Plum and Copper share an agent, which should help Phoenix’s relationship with its new star guard. Los Angeles can move forward and should probably continue to shop its remaining veterans (Nneka Ogwumike, Dearica Hamby, Erica Wheeler and Ariel Atkins) before the trade deadline Sunday at 3 p.m. ET.
— Annie Costabile contributed to this report.