![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/MAVUT7SYFJW57KDVXZT2MC7JLE.jpg\")
Los Angeles Sparks guard Kelsey Plum dribbles during the second half of a WNBA basketball game against the Indiana Fever, May 13, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo\/Jae C. Hong, File) <\/p>\nLos Angeles Sparks guard Kelsey Plum dribbles during the second half of a WNBA basketball game against the Indiana Fever, May 13, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo\/Jae C. Hong, File) <\/p>\n
PHOENIX \u2014 Kelsey Plum was 10 years old when she saw Diana Taurasi play on television, walked into the kitchen and told her mom she was going to play in the WNBA.<\/p>\n
Not only did Plum fulfill her self-proclaimed prophecy by playing in the WNBA for nine seasons, she\u2019s now on Taurasi\u2019s former team, the Phoenix Mercury, following a blockbuster trade with the Los Angeles Sparks.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means everything,\u201d Plum said prior to the Mercury\u2019s game at Chicago on Monday. \u201cThat was the reason I started playing basketball. She actually texted me today and said there\u2019s no one she\u2019d rather have, so I\u2019m just very honored.\u201d<\/p>\n
An up-and-down, injury-plagued season put the Mercury teetering between being buyers or sellers at Sunday\u2019s WNBA trade deadline. At 11-19 prior to Monday\u2019s game, the Mercury are 11th in the WNBA, six games behind the New York Liberty for the final playoff spot with less than two months left in the season.<\/p>\n
Mercury general manager Nick U\u2019Ren doesn\u2019t like to be pigeon-holed into buying or selling, so he went into the trade deadline willing to see what options were out there.<\/p>\n
All-Stars have rarely been traded in the WNBA\u2019s history, yet the Mercury and U\u2019Ren were able to pull off a whopper of a deal, adding one of the WNBA\u2019s best players for Monique Akoa Makani and two draft picks.<\/p>\n
\u201cKelsey is one of the most impactful players in our league,\u201d U\u2019Ren said. \u201cWe\u2019ve coveted her for a long time because of her skill, because of her toughness, because of her character, because of our work ethic. So for those reasons, I\u2019m so excited to add to our current group.\u201d<\/p>\n
The current lineup includes do-everything forward Alyssa Thomas and Kahleah Copper, key cogs in Phoenix\u2019s run to last year\u2019s WNBA Finals.<\/p>\n
Plum adds a proven scorer and veteran presence to the Mercury mix.<\/p>\n
Plum was the NCAA\u2019s all-time leading scorer while at Washington \u2014 Caitlin Clark passed her two years ago \u2014 and has scored at least 14.8 points per game the past six seasons. She\u2019s a five-time WNBA All-Star and two-time Olympic gold medalist who\u2019s still in the prime of her career at 31.<\/p>\n
Prior to suffering a lower-leg injury in mid-June, Plum was averaging career-highs of 23.9 points and 6.4 assists while shooting 53% from the floor. She\u2019s second in the WNBA in scoring and sixth in assists.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe fits with pretty much everybody,\u201d U\u2019Ren said \u201cHer experience fitting in with other great players or experience at a championship level all played into it, and made her really appealing to us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Plum was traded to the Sparks in a three-way deal that included her former team, the Las Vegas Aces, and Seattle prior to the 2025 season. She\u2019s a free agent after this season, yet was surprised upon learning she had been traded late Saturday night.<\/p>\n
Plum went from expecting to make her return against Portland on Sunday to scrambling to join her new team. She used the time to familiarize herself with the Mercury, watching game film and going over the playbook during the trip.<\/p>\n
Plum didn\u2019t make it to Chicago in time to practice with her team teammates, but is expected to play about 20 minutes in her first game.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re great players and they\u2019ve played with great players,\u201d Plum said. \u201cAnd so, it\u2019s really just trying to learn fast and not make the same mistake twice, and also just trust my instincts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Plum has trusted her instincts since she first saw Taurasi play on TV, pushing herself to become a WNBA player<\/p>\n
Now, 21 years later, she\u2019s trying to help the team where Taurasi built her legacy push toward a playoff berth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Los Angeles Sparks guard Kelsey Plum dribbles during the second half of a WNBA basketball game against the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":423204,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[48,52,51,47,50,49],"class_list":["post-423203","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\/423203","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=423203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}