Today, the Los Angeles Sparks announced the team has acquired guard Monique Akoa Makani, the Phoenix Mercury’s 2027 first-round draft pick and Phoenix’s 2028 second-round draft pick in exchange for guard Kelsey Plum. The trade will be completed pending a physical assessment and final approval by the WNBA.<\/p>\n
“On behalf of our entire organization, I want to thank Kelsey for everything she gave to\u00a0the Sparks. She embraced Los Angeles from the moment she arrived and represented our franchise with passion, competitiveness and professionalism every day,\u201d said Sparks Assistant General Manager Nate Nielsen. \u00a0\u201cWe are grateful for her contributions both on and off the court, and we wish her nothing but success as she begins this next chapter of her career.”<\/p>\n
“We’re excited to welcome Monique to the Sparks,” said Sparks Assistant General Manager Zach Knowlton. “She is a talented young player with tremendous\u00a0upside\u00a0who competes on both ends of the floor. Her athleticism, versatility and work ethic make her a great fit for our organization, and we’re looking forward to helping her continue to develop in Los Angeles.”<\/p>\n
Akoa Makani is an athletic, versatile guard with the ability to impact the game on both ends of the floor. Still early in her WNBA career, she has shown the ability to defend multiple positions, create in transition and continue to develop as a dynamic, perimeter player. Along with Akoa Makani, the Sparks add valuable draft capital that strengthens the organization’s long-term flexibility.<\/p>\n
Prior to entering the WNBA,\u00a0Akoa Makani\u2019s\u00a0professional career began in France\u00a0with the ASVEL\u00a0F\u00e9minin\u00a0where she\u00a0helped win the 2019 Ligue\u00a0F\u00e9minine\u00a0de Basketball title.\u00a0Her professional French accolades include\u00a02023 French LF2 Champion, as well as 2025 French League Guard of the Year, First Team and All-Defensive Team selection.\u00a0In addition to\u00a0the WNBA and\u00a0signing with\u00a0Tango Bourges Basket\u00a0for the 2025-26 season, she\u00a0is also a member of the Cameroon National Team.<\/p>\n
Originally\u00a0signed a training camp contract with\u00a0Phoenix\u00a0on March 11,\u00a02025, Akoa Makani has appeared in\u00a060\u00a0games over her first two WNBA seasons, averaging\u00a08.2\u00a0points,\u00a02.2\u00a0rebounds and\u00a02.7\u00a0assists while continuing to develop into one of the league’s promising young guards.\u00a0During the 2025 season,\u00a0she\u00a0was\u00a0one of five rookies in WNBA history to shoot at least 40% FG, 39% 3PT and 90% FT\u00a0in a minimum of 25 games played.\u00a0While with\u00a0the Mercury,\u00a0she madefranchise history tallying\u00a0the second most three-pointers made by a rookie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Today, the Los Angeles Sparks announced the team has acquired guard Monique Akoa Makani, the Phoenix Mercury’s 2027…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422003,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[48,52,51,47,50,49],"class_list":["post-422002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}