On the Kelsey Plum Trade

At the risk of this subject overpowering my traditional rundown of the recent Sparks vs. Valkyries game, I thought that I would briefly touch on what “the elephant in the room” looks like after only a week. Outside of online spaces, today was the first encounter I had with the aftermath, the first real observation of what fans were thinking of the Kelsey Plum trade midseason.

To provide my own developing opinion first, I am stuck in a state of dissonance. The simple truth is that I support any player going where their heart wants them to. Selfishly, I would like Plum to be in Los Angeles, but it’s clear that whatever she wanted was not here. As it stands, I have A LOT of criticisms around them benching players this season (ex: Kate Martin) that I will get to at a different time. For now, I am willing to assume there were valid causes for KP moving to the desert and giving The Mercury a chance, especially after they had a phenomenal finish last season. Does it hurt? Yes, especially given that she made her Sparks announcement in The Walter Pyramid at CSULB. You parasocially attach deeper meaning, like somehow she loves Long Beach and the various cities in L.A. County as much as you do. 

But on a more serious note, there’s a bigger feeling I’ve struggled to shake even as I’ve found contrary details. The Plum trade falling when it did may be the single most devastating act The Sparks were involved with since Liz Cambage left back in 2022. If there’s a difference, Cambage was considered a menace whereas Plum strikes me as a professional intent on winning. Her records early in the Phoenix era prove she’s still beyond talented and whoever has her has a great shot of being pushed further. The Sparks, much to my chagrin, entered today’s game in ninth place with six games back from eighth place. The next 3-4 ranked are even closer to sabotaging potential upward trajectory, and I fear this is the Jenga piece needed to collapse the whole tower… even if Nneka Ogwumike and Rae Burrell (among others) continue to put in amazing work night after night. 

Nowhere is that more concerning than watching the game, at one point, come within a single point of LAS taking the lead. I had to wonder… would Plum have given them more of an advantage? The team is good, but the trade’s long-term impacts are only beginning to be processed. I have faith that The Sparks are a GOOD team and today was far more enjoyable than my melancholic outlook would suggest. However, what is the team without Plum? Is it salvageable in the short run? My fear is that slight advantage is disappearing and will bite them by the end of the month. Again, I will more directly talk about the larger game and team in another post.

The upside to going to the GSV game when I did is that there hasn’t been time to fully let the dust settle. The fans are still wearing the jerseys. There’s still a mystery on how they will move forward AND it could still be better than I think. However, I was shocked by how flawlessly she was removed from the opening video. Admittedly, it’s not hard when it’s a montage, but you wanted to believe it was set in stone. Nope! She’s in there, but she’s in it like Bam Margera was in Jackass Forever. The editor is impeccably diligent. 

Not to create a new Sparks curse, but it does feel like the opening video has developed a bad omen of sorts. Two times now, a main athlete has sat in the central car used to promote the video. Cameron Brink had been in the hot seat before only to miss part of the season. Now Plum has disappeared. While this isn’t a 1:1 theory given that there’s usually multiple players in the mix, it’s hard not to think these things come in threes (stay tuned in 2027).

But how are fans responding? I mostly got a clue from visiting the store where, quite prominently, signs were posted saying that everything with Kelsey Plum’s likeness would be sold for 40% off. I had wanted to buy the Funko Pop since it was going to become a rare novelty very soon (and, at 40% off, was dirt cheap) and serve as a reminder of her being on the team. I also bought a nice shirt marked down from $75. 

While it’s safe to say that fans were swarming the entire store, there was an emphasis in the Plum areas, where a lot of conversation was developing around their feelings about the trade. I once joked to my sister that The Sparks were going to put her name on anything they were just trying to get rid of. I think the joke was misunderstood because somebody nearby said, “Don’t say that!” when all I meant was something closer to, “Well, we haven’t sold these Rickea Jackson dolls yet, let’s put Plum’s name on it!” It’s safe to say that I’m not the only one who will miss her, as I also encountered a woman buying her socks.

As it stands, it’s too early to tell how much bitterness there is among fans, even if her likeness still wanders the halls in large quantities. It’s also telling that she was the one who got the Funko Pop when many of the athletes were developing their own reputation among the homebase. She had a legacy that reached beyond the current struggles. She provided hope. Given that I was at the final game of the 2025 season, I still recall her standing before the crowd and saying that she/they would come back next season with the goal of winning. If there was a difference (and, again, I may be too mixed up in anxiety to see the other way right now), it was that we missed the playoffs by one game. It was the closest we had come to seeing that potential in three years. 

To be a Sparks fan, you have to accept the patience of trial and error. We have the legacy and some phenomenal players, but we just haven’t figured out how to get over the hump yet. I’m beyond excited to see what Ogwumike can do with her next venture with the team… though I had also assumed Plum would fit in the team the same way she did with The Aces and it was an accent mark on an impressive rooster. Again, this is discrediting a lot of players I really like, but I once drove to and from Las Vegas in a single day to see her play in Game 1 of the Finals. She’s meant something in the past few years other than saving gas money.

Anyway, for those who won’t read my next essay that’s more central to the game, do know that I had a good time and this season’s cumulative experience was way more optimistic than other years. I have seen them lose by 30+ points before. That didn’t happen in the three games I attended. It can be argued that things could’ve looked different if so and so was in better shape, but that’s the beauty of sports. Sometimes you have enough to win and, in this case, your margin of loss is actually an improvement over where it has been. Things are getting good. I think it’s just too easy to get impatient and wish the miracle would kick in already.