{"id":580062,"date":"2026-04-12T16:43:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T16:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/580062\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T16:43:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T16:43:09","slug":"sparks-acquire-ariel-atkins-from-sky-for-rickea-jackson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/580062\/","title":{"rendered":"Sparks acquire Ariel Atkins from Sky for Rickea Jackson"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Chicago Sky<\/a> traded two-time All-Star and Olympic gold medalist Ariel Atkins<\/a> to the Los Angeles Sparks<\/a> on Sunday for 2024 No. 4 overall pick Rickea Jackson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Atkins is signing a multiyear deal with the Sparks in the sign-and-trade.<\/p>\n

The Sparks are clearly aiming to contend in 2026 as they signed 10-time All-Star Nneka Ogwumike<\/a> and also re-signed four-time All-Star and two-time WNBA champion Kelsey Plum<\/a> and three-time All-Star Dearica Hamby<\/a>. The team also added 2019 All-Star Erica Wheeler<\/a> to play alongside 2024 No. 2 overall pick Cameron Brink<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Editor’s Picks<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

1 Related<\/p>\n

Atkins was designated as a core player by the Sky before being traded for Jackson, who is still on her rookie contract. With the Washington Mystics<\/a>, the 5-foot-10 guard was a starter on the 2019 championship team. She averaged 13.1 points, 3.4 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.6 steals while shooting 44.4% from the field last season. A five-time all-defense selection, Atkins is one of the most well-rounded guards in the league and is a career 36.2% three-point shooter.<\/p>\n

Jackson joins a remade Sky roster that added seven-time All-Star Skylar Diggins<\/a> and 2021 WNBA champion Azura Stevens<\/a> in free agency while re-signing Elizabeth Williams<\/a> and Rachel Banham<\/a>. The organization also traded a 2028 first-round pick to the Mystics for guard Jacy Sheldon<\/a>. On the eve of free agency, the Sky traded Angel Reese<\/a> for 2027 and 2028 first-round picks.<\/p>\n

A 6-2 forward, Jackson was named to the All-Rookie team in 2024 and averaged 14.7 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 2025 while shooting 42.4% from the field and 34.8% from behind the arc.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Chicago Sky traded two-time All-Star and Olympic gold medalist Ariel Atkins to the Los Angeles Sparks on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":580063,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-580062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=580062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/580063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=580062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=580062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=580062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}