The Sparks reportedly agreed to trade All-Star guard Kelsey Plum to the Phoenix Mercury on Saturday night, ending a brief stint in Los Angeles as the franchise continues its rebuild ahead of the WNBA trade deadline.
ESPN reported the Sparks acquired guard Monique Akoa Makani, a 2027 first-round draft pick and a 2028 second-round selection for Plum.
The move comes less than two years after the Sparks acquired Plum in a blockbuster three-team trade with the Las Vegas Aces and Seattle Storm, sending the No. 2 pick in the 2025 WNBA draft as part of the package to land the two-time champion.
The Sparks fired general manager Raegan Pebley on July 12 following two straight wins. Since then, the Sparks have lost six in a row and dropped further back in the playoff race.
Despite Plum’s individual success, the partnership never translated into team success. The Sparks entered the deadline well outside the playoff picture, and reports in recent days indicated Plum was not expected to re-sign after the season, making a trade the organization’s best opportunity to recoup assets before free agency.
Plum, who has been out because of a lower leg injury, was enjoying one of the best offensive seasons of her career before sitting out 10 games, averaging 23.9 points and 6.4 assists and while shooting 52.7% from the field and 38.3% from three-point range in 12 games. She earned another All-Star selection while serving as the focal point of the Sparks’ offense.
For Phoenix, Plum provides an immediate offensive boost. One of the league’s premier scoring guards, she brings championship experience, perimeter shooting and playmaking to a team that is trying to move back into the WNBA playoff picture. The Mercury (11-19) are 12th in the standings just behind the Sparks (10-17).
The Sparks, meanwhile, are stuck in their rebuild limbo, with several veterans on long-term contracts and just Rae Burrell on an expiring contract.
The trade is one of the most significant moves before the WNBA deadline on Sunday and could reshape the championship race. But for the Sparks, it’s just another indicator that they are still searching for a way to contend.
The Sparks’ ownership made a major shift in direction on Sunday, firing general manager Raegan Pebley amid a lackluster season that has the team just below the WNBA playoff cutoff line and far from the title-contending form Pebley promised.
Assistant general managers Zach Knowlton and Nate Nielsen will split interim GM duties, the team announced.
“We are grateful to Raegan for her leadership and commitment to the Los Angeles Sparks and women’s basketball,” Sparks managing partner and governor Eric Holoman said in a statement. “Her work on the Sparks roster and player experience will have a lasting positive impact on our organization. We sincerely thank her for all she has invested in the Sparks and wish her success in her next chapter.”
The Sparks (10-11) sit in ninth place in the WNBA standings, one removed from the last playoff spot. The team is coming off back-to-back wins over the Chicago Sky and Indiana Fever, which followed a three-game losing streak.
“There is a united vision from ownership to leadership, and then I think it’s discipline,” Pebley told The Times in an interview before Friday’s game. “I think you can make a lot of mistakes if you use recency bias, and if you become really reactionary. We want to respond to the things that we’re seeing that we want to grow in, but we don’t want to just demonstrate a lack of discipline and quickly react that way.”
The Sparks have won three WNBA titles, the most recent in 2016, but the franchise has not made the playoffs since 2020.
Leading scorer Kelsey Plum has missed two long stretches because of injuries, but the biggest headache for the team for much of the season has been its poor defense.
Under Pebley’s direction, the Sparks hired coach Lynne Roberts and acquired Plum and Nneka Ogwumike, a former most valuable player with the team. Roberts, however, had been the coach at the University of Utah and had no WNBA experience. Despite the team’s struggles, Pebley gave Roberts a vote of confidence on Friday.
Sparks general manager Raegan Pebley, left, speaks during a news conference introducing new guard Kelsey Plum, center. They are joined by Sparks coach Lynne Roberts.
(Ringo Chiu/For The Los Angeles Times)
“She has been all we were looking for and more,” Pebley said. “We wanted someone who had that emotional regulation; she stays neutral. I think the days of a tyrant head coach are over.”
“Loved having her here … she’ll be successful wherever she goes,” Pebley said of Jackson shortly after the trade. “But we’re focused on winning a championship and finding that fit and balance and getting all those pieces locked in with each other.”
Pebley’s other moves included trading the No. 2 pick in the 2025 draft, which became Seattle center Dominique Malonga, for Plum, and trading the Sparks’ first-round pick this year, which became third overall selection Awa Fam, for Kia Nurse and the No. 4 pick in 2024, which the Sparks used to select Jackson.
Instead of demonstrating marked improvement, the Sparks have struggled with consistency, at times showing their potential, as in a win at Las Vegas, a dramatic come-from-behind win against New York on the league’s 30th anniversary and a defensive shutdown of Fever guard Caitlin Clark last week.
With the trade deadline less than a month away, Pebley had expressed excitement about the return of Plum and Cameron Brink.
“Knowing those two are going to be added into a group that’s continued to be able to get better in their absence,” she said, “I think we have a right to be optimistic.”
The franchise found itself in the middle of some controversy with reports that the Sparks were among more than half the players in the league who did not complete their All-Star starter ballots. The ballots were emailed to players, but they reportedly did not see them in time to vote. Plum was not named a starter despite leading the WNBA in scoring at the time votes were cast, although it’s unclear whether full player participation would have altered a decision calculated by combining player, fan and media votes.
“That’s something we take responsibility for as an organization, and we’ll have a more robust process going forward,” the Sparks said in a statement.
Soon afterward, the Sparks’ director of communications left the team.
The Sparks hired Pebley in January 2024 to help the former WNBA champions break out of their playoff drought.
A third-round pick by the Utah Starzz in the WNBA’s inaugural 1997 draft, Pebley was the coach at Utah State (2005 to 2012) and Fresno State (2012 to 2014) before a nine-year stint at Texas Christian, where she led the Horned Frogs to four WNIT appearances in her first five years before stepping down in 2023 as TCU finished 8-23. She was a TV analyst for the Dallas Wings from 2016 to 2023.
