RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesEditor’s note: This article is part of our WNBA Trade Deadline coverage, which follows the moves reshaping the league.
The WNBA trade deadline has a history of being relatively uneventful, but is that about to change?
There are several reasons for that history, starting with the league’s hard salary cap, which limits teams’ ability to absorb contracts.
However, some of the WNBA’s biggest power players believe that the influx of money and the new roster construction tools in the collective bargaining agreement — including the minimum salary cap exception and the ability to carry seven protected veteran contracts compared to six in previous years — could make teams more likely to take chances before the Aug. 2 deadline.
Franchises that have made bold moves in the past have been rewarded for it.
The Minnesota Lynx have generally been the most aggressive franchise at the deadline, executing deals like the 2015 midseason trade for center Sylvia Fowles, who went on to help the team win two titles and become a league MVP. Last year, Minnesota acquired guard DiJonai Carrington at the deadline, and her perimeter defense has provided a huge spark off the bench for the Lynx.
The Las Vegas Aces traded for NaLyssa Smith in June 2025, ahead of the deadline, and she ended up paying dividends in their championship run.
Talks are active around the league with less than a week to go before Sunday’s deadline. The question is, will those talks amount to substantial movement?
Here’s everything I’m hearing coming out of the All-Star break:
Expiring contracts to watch
Kelsey Plum was part of a three-team trade in 2025 that sent her to the Los Angeles Sparks, Jewell Loyd to the Aces and the No. 2 pick, which became Dominique Malonga, to the Seattle Storm. Las Vegas can say it won that trade by claiming its third title in four seasons last year, though Malonga is now an All-Star for the Storm.
Los Angeles and Seattle weren’t one move away from becoming contenders when they executed that deal, and now the Sparks are at risk of losing Plum for nothing.
Plum signed a one-year deal valued at $999,999 in free agency, but the sense from sources around the league, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not cleared to comment publicly on the matter, is that the 31-year-old guard does not intend to re-sign with the Sparks as a free agent. Both Plum and her agent, Zack Miller of WME, declined to comment to The Athletic on her plans.
The only way for the Sparks, who are 10-16 and four games back of the eighth-seed Washington Mystics, to guarantee they do not lose a valuable asset for nothing is to move Plum before next week.
The franchise fired former general manager Raegan Pebley earlier this month, and assistant GMs Zach Knowlton and Nate Nielsen have been filling the role on an interim basis.
The Sparks haven’t engaged in meaningful trade talks involving Plum, according to multiple high-level team executives around the league. She has missed the last month with an injury that also cost her an All-Star Game appearance, but she’s expected to return this week.
Candace Parker, Chelsea Gray and Nneka Ogwumike are all former Sparks champions who left in free agency because of the franchise’s consistent missteps. After almost a decade of staying out of the franchise’s operations, controlling owner Mark Walter appears to be taking a more active approach, as evidenced by Pebley’s midseason dismissal and the team’s announcement of a new $150 million practice facility that will open in 2027.
If the Sparks opt not to trade Plum, they are taking a big risk that they’ll be able to execute offseason moves that will convince her to stay in Los Angeles.
Lynx star Napheesa Collier is another franchise player who, because of the terms of her contract, has to be considered a trade option.
The back-to-back MVP runner-up has spent her entire career with Minnesota, which selected her with the sixth pick in the 2019 draft. She signed a one-year, supermax deal for 2026 after being cored by the Lynx, and in doing so, she signaled to some degree that she’d like to explore her options in free agency.
Even without Collier, who missed 27 of the first 28 games of the season recovering from offseason surgery on both her ankles, the Lynx have the league’s best record at 22-6. That is in large part thanks to Olivia Miles, who is playing her way into MVP discussions as a rookie. Furthermore, the No. 2 pick is on the path to solidifying herself as the franchise’s future cornerstone.
“Every team is going to be opportunistic to improve their roster,” Lynx coach and president of basketball operations Cheryl Reeve told reporters in Minnesota on Monday. “Every team is maybe in a different spot in terms of what they think they need, whether they should or shouldn’t. We’re certainly a team that’s been, quote, open for business, open-minded to things that are being talked about. It’ll be a busy week for us.”
Reeve’s task is to determine whether she has assurances that Collier will re-sign with Minnesota after the season. That promise could be mutual, too. For example, Collier could agree to sign a multiyear deal as long as Reeve can guarantee that if she wants out at any point during its duration, the team will work with her to make that happen.
Collier’s 2026 debut — 24 points and 10 rebounds in 22 minutes — showed that she’s healthy and would give any team that hopes to trade for her faith that they’d be acquiring an MVP-caliber player moving forward.
The Lynx’s status as contenders puts Reeve in a different position from the Sparks front office, because keeping Collier will help Minnesota contend for a title this season. Reeve is not operating from a position of desperation.
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