Sources – Jewell Loyd to Aces; Kelsey Plum to Sparks in trade

After a quiet first week of WNBA free company, the primary domino of participant motion has fallen — and it is a huge one.

In a blockbuster three-team commerce, the Las Vegas Aces are buying Seattle Storm guard Jewell Loyd whereas sending Aces guard Kelsey Plum to the Los Angeles Sparks, sources informed ESPN on Sunday. It’s the first commerce in league historical past involving a number of No. 1 total picks.

The Storm are additionally buying the No. 2 choose within the 2025 WNBA draft and ahead Li Yueru from the Sparks, in addition to Las Vegas’ 2026 first-round choose, sources informed ESPN. Los Angeles receives the No. 9 choose in 2025 and a 2026 second-round choose from Seattle. The Aces will get the No. 13 choose in 2025 from the Sparks.

The deal cannot be official till Feb. 1 as a result of it includes a sign-and-trade for Plum.

Plum entered the offseason as a free agent, a sign that her time in Las Vegas — as a part of the championship-winning core alongside A’ja Wilson, Jackie Younger and Chelsea Grey — could be coming to an finish.

The Aces used their core designation on Plum, so her solely manner of fixing groups was by way of a commerce, however she needed to log out on the deal. She joins L.A. on a one-year deal and hopes to stick with the Sparks past 2025, sources informed ESPN.

The overwhelming majority of WNBA gamers — together with Plum and Loyd — are anticipated to be free brokers in 2026, forward of a brand new collective bargaining settlement that many anticipate will function important wage will increase.

Loyd, in the meantime, nonetheless had one 12 months left on her contract with the Storm, however her commerce request occurred after her allegations of harassment and bullying in opposition to the Storm teaching employees. That prompted an exterior investigation, which discovered no violations.

Plum and Loyd, each capturing guards, have shared related trajectories as execs. They have been each No. 1 total picks — Loyd in 2015 to Seattle; Plum in 2017 to San Antonio, which relocated to Las Vegas one 12 months later. They each emerged as All-WNBA skills and perennial All-Stars, every successful a pair of championships with their respective franchises. They have been Olympic gold medalists in Tokyo, the place Loyd performed 5-on-5 and Plum 3-on-3. They have been teammates on the Paris Olympics and helped Workforce USA win an eighth consecutive gold medal.

And so they had each spent their WNBA careers enjoying for the franchises that chosen them — till now.

Plum, who till final 12 months held the NCAA ladies’s basketball scoring file, joins a Los Angeles group that employed Lynne Roberts as its new coach this offseason and is constructing round 2024 lottery picks Cameron Brink and Rickea Jackson, plus veterans Dearica Hamby and Azura Stevens. With a star of Plum’s caliber, the Sparks, one of many league’s most iconic franchises, look well-positioned to return to the playoffs for the primary time since 2020.

Loyd’s arrival in Las Vegas will assist the Aces, who fell wanting their three-peat bid final season. A six-time All-Star and the WNBA scoring chief in 2023, Loyd is a fringe scoring menace to play alongside three-time MVP Wilson, three-time All-Star Younger and 2022 Finals MVP Grey.

Coming off a disappointing first-round postseason exit, the Storm transfer up within the draft and, selecting second total, may need the possibility to pick out Notre Dame’s Olivia Miles or USC’s Kiki Iriafen. Seattle nonetheless has Skylar Diggins-Smith underneath contract, cored Gabby Williams earlier this month and can look to re-sign unrestricted free agent Nneka Ogwumike.

Sources informed ESPN the Sparks have been unsure about who could be accessible on the No. 2 choose and the staff additionally hopes to signal Plum to a multiyear deal, making it palatable to surrender the lottery choose. Miles and Paige Bueckers, the presumptive No. 1 total choose, are each thought of prime prospects, however each preserve their faculty eligibility for the 2025-26 season and have not publicly confirmed their plans for the upcoming draft.

ESPN’s Shams Charania, Ramona Shelburne and Kendra Andrews contributed to this report.