Kelsey Plum To The Mercury Changes The Playoff Math

We break down the Sparks trading Kelsey Plum to the Phoenix Mercury and why it feels like a high upside swing for Phoenix but a confusing pivot for Los Angeles. We argue the trade hinges on Plum’s health and free agency plans, then zoom out to what the Sparks should do next if ninth place is their ceiling.  
• Our mixed feelings as Sparks fans and why expectations were high  
• Why Phoenix’s offense could explode with Plum alongside Kahleah Copper and Alyssa Thomas  
• The real risk of a midseason rental if Plum tests free agency  
• What the Mercury need after the All Star break to build cohesion fast  
• Why the Sparks’ recent moves feel inconsistent and why tanking comes up  
• 2027 WNBA Draft targets and how they could change the franchise timeline  
• Who wins the trade depending on whether Plum plays and stays  

So please make sure to like, subscribe, comment, tell anyone who's anyone one about the WNBA and two about my show.  

Transcript

Welcome And Quick Housekeeping

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What's up, everybody? It's your favorite show, it's favorite show, get a bucket. I'm your host, Trey, and as usual. I hope you're all having a wonderful, wonderful day. Today we're going to talk about the Spark, my Sparks, trading Kelsey Plum to the Phoenix Mercury. But before we do that, please make sure to hit that like and subscribe button. Comment, tell anyone who's anyone about the show. Trying to get the ratings up a little bit, you know, just a little bit. And if you wonder where you heard this before, that's because you've been listening with me Monday through Friday at 11 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. And I greatly appreciate your support.

Why The Trade Feels Complicated

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Now, ladies and gentlemen, listen, as a Sparks fan, I'm kind of on the fence about this trade, right? For a couple of reasons. One, it's cool that we traded Kelsey Plum, especially given my stance at the original point of us signing her, right? Like I was kind of upset. But that wasn't quite, it didn't, it didn't have everything to do with Kelsey Plum. It was because we, my Sparks couldn't get Paige Becker's, which, if y'all seen how Paige has been hooping, she's been she's been getting the bucket for sure. And she's been helping people get a bucket for sure. She's been playing some good defense, and I thought that she could have been better than Kelsey Plum going forward. So that was my reason. That was my rhyme and reason, right? But we ended up getting Kelsey Plum. We ended up trading for Kelsey Plum, actually, to the point that, hell, we lost an all-star for Kelsey Plum, to be clear. And also the expectations of my Sparks personally have been a little high. Let's take it back to even last season, right? I thought there's a chance where, all right, Kelsey got to earn her contract and we got to make it to the playoffs. Okay. This season, I thought, well, with the talent that we have, we should make it to the playoffs for sure. Like the first season, it was, eh, all right, maybe we should make it. You know, show Kelsey that Kelsey show us that you're a number one option. Get us definitively to the playoffs with Dieca Hambey, who is an all-star caliber player, and then two young pups in Rikia Jackson and Cameron Brink, right? Like I thought we had enough talent to do so. We could have squeaked in there the first season when we got her. Second season definitely had to have her. Now I have us in the playoffs. Now, second season, she was injured, okay? But without the injuries, I had us before the season started at sixth. Keep in mind, too. I also had the Mercury at like eighth. I also had the the Valkyries at nine and the wings at 10th. So, I mean, there were some teams that shook my shook my links or shook my listings up for sure, right? Like the Liberty messed me up a little bit. Aces and the Lynx are still there, Dreamer's still there, Mystics. I went a little high with the Mystics. But again, ladies and gentlemen, the point is Kelsey Plum, I thought my Sparks were gonna do us justice. And we haven't done justice.

Mercury Fit And Big Three Debate

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Now, again, she got traded to the Phoenix Mercury. To the Phoenix Mercury, ladies and gentlemen. Kelsey Plum is on the Phoenix Mercury. This is an all-star caliber player. Hell, this is the all WNBA caliber play, especially when she's hitting on offense the way she's been doing. She's number two scorer in the WNBA when we're talking about averages. Because again, she got injured. So maybe that helps her out in this case, too, but not total points. We're talking about averages. We also have to note that the Mercury just acquired another playmaker in Kelsey Plum because she was getting about five, six assists, too, ladies and gentlemen. On decent assist to turnover ratio, might I add too. Y'all know I love my sell-sometist turnover ratio. So when I'm looking at the Phoenix Mercury, and keep in mind, too, the Phoenix Mercury played my Sparks this season, and both Kelsey Plum and Khalia Copper had phenomenal jobs. I think Kelsey had like 45, Khalia had like 41. So if my math's correct, that's 86 points between two folk. Hell, pair that with uh Alyssa Thomas, Yowzers, that's a lot. So do the Mercury now have a the best big three in the league? May have to may have to discuss that. But also, is Kelsey Plum going to return back healthy? That's something to note too. Also, will Kelsey Plum test free agency? Apparently, she might test free agency, ladies and gentlemen. So that does make me have a little concern for the Mercury. If she doesn't come back, right, I think the Mercury are in striking distance still of getting an eighth seed. And again, I had them before the season started as an eighth seed. My question was, do they have enough? Now, because you're acquiring Kelsey Plum, you should have enough. But let's keep in mind, too, she just is coming back from injury. So it's gonna be interesting to see how this team goes because we're past the all-star break and they got to gain their cohesion. So if their cohesion is not gained, they may lose Kelsey Plum. And that's a tragedy because they also gave up a couple players. So again, we got to think about the Mercury getting to the eighth seed because if they can get to the eighth seed, could they beat a team like the Liberty? Like the Lynx, like the Aces. Well, let's talk about it, but not specifically the Aces and Lynx. Because that again, that's if they get to the eighth seed. The eighth seed comprises, at least as of recently, of the Mystics, watching the Mystics, and the Liberty, the New York Liberty, okay? Can the Mercury actually get over that hump? Well, I think they could at least get to the ninth seed. And then here's my caveat. If the Liberty aren't eighth seed, I think the Mercury lose. Okay, I don't think the Mercury advanced to the playoffs. Because again, I believe that the Liberty will remain in the playoffs. The Mystics, it's their youth that I have question marks around. So if the Mercury can actually gel at the right time, maybe they can win more games than the Mystics in advance. But the Liberty, the only way they drop is because of injuries and availability. So again, ladies and gentlemen, the the Phoenix Mercury. They acquired Kelsey Plum. We can make a case that they could win a championship if everything falls right into place for them this season. So I understand the risk-reward dynamic, right? I am curious if I would have personally made that trade given the fact that I know Kelsey Plum is going to test free agency, plus she's also going to be 33 next season. Like these are things that we got to start thinking about, ladies and gentlemen, as people get older, start to lose a step. Clearly, she's been hooping, but to be fair, that was also early on in the WNBA season. So, Mercury, y'all got a good piece. Let's see how y'all do with her. And the big three is going to be very interesting. Again, Khalia Copper, Kelsey Plum, you lose defense, right? I will give you this much. You do lose defense, Phoenix Mercury, on the perimeter, but you gain

Sparks Direction And Tank Talk

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more offense, too. Now, for my sparks, ladies and gentlemen, I'm kind of confused. Yeah, I'm kind of confused at what we're doing. Before the season started, we traded Rakia Jackson for Ariel Atkins because our our our our window for a championship had shrunk a little bit, right? Like we didn't have, oh, we got Kelsey Plum, we acquired NECA Agumake, Dear Cahamby was always on the team. Like we we we're trying to go in a championship now. We're trying to be active now. And it has not really panned out the best person. Like Ariel's cool, don't get me wrong, as a player, she has not been playing as well as I would have liked for her to, specifically early on, as time goes on. She's gotten a little better. But early on, I was having some concerns. Cameron Brink, I got a question, is she the future of our team? Because right now she's coming off the bench, which I get, right? She's missed the season due to injury. She's coming back trying to get into the thick of things. But ladies and gentlemen, with us trading Kelsey Plum, I understand we still have NEC on the team. I understand we still have Dierka Hambi on the team. Respectfully, I kind of want us to tank personally at this point in time. Hell, like again, we traded for Kelsey Plum and we lost an all-star. Now that's Dominique Malonga. Can you imagine Dominique Malonga and Cameron Brink on the same team? Like, just real quick. Because I actually like that front court of the future. I do. I genuinely do. You got length, they can space the floor out, getting rebounds, getting a bucket, playing some defense. Bro, I love that. We have two rim protectors. I would have loved to see that. But instead, we end up getting Kelsey Plum, which we then traded a season freaking later. I am disgusted. So, ladies and gentlemen, I'm not the biggest fan of my Sparks right now. Keep in mind we've missed the playoffs for a while now, but specifically because we got to talk about when we acquired Kelsey Plum. Again, we missed the playoffs in 2025. We were ninth. And then if the season were to end today, we would have missed the playoffs and we would have been the ninth seed yet again. Currently,

2027 Draft Names Worth Chasing

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we're ninth. Okay, currently. Fingers crossed that we can actually tank because this 2027 draft class, it could be pretty spectacular. Like, we got to talk about players like Juju Watkins, Malaysia Fu Wiley, Talesia Cooper, Madison Booker, Zhang Ziyu. Like, bro, these are quality names. Juju, if you don't know Juju, she led the league in score. She led college in scoring as a freshman, to be clear. That hadn't been done in a minute. Right? That had not been done in a little minute. And keep in mind, too, ladies and gentlemen, not only is she a good score, not only can she get a bucket, but once she comes, she went to USC, right? So where is USC in California? Where are my sparks? In California. Y'all peeping the trend. And also the versatility. She's 6'2. Like she is a lighter framed Maya Moore. Like, let me say that again. She is a lighter framed Maya Moore. And that is disgusting to think about. Because again, on offense and defense, she's a two-way player, ladies and gentlemen. Now we gotta see what she looks like when she comes back from this injury. But I'm expecting good things. Someone like a Malaysia Fu Wiley. I got a question: if we draft her, would she be our starting point guard? I think she could actually. And remember, with Malaysia, she was given similar scoring output as Juju. Then we got to talk about the assist, right? Then we got to talk about the defense. Like Malaysia is a two-way player as well. But guess what, ladies and gentlemen? So is Talesia Cooper, right? Like we gotta act, we gotta ask ourselves, would she be battling against Ray Burrell and Ariel Atkins? Because I've actually liked how Ray Burrell has been playing for us this past season, to be clear. Like we need to make we need to make sure we we we lock in Ray for a long time. Because I'm telling you right now, she if she leaves and goes to another team, she's going to make them, she's gonna help make them a contender. Like for sure. Like if she went to the team a team like the Aces, oh God, that would she's their missing piece. Or the dream, she could be their missing piece. Like, or not the dream, I'm sorry. I meant the uh I meant the wings. My bad. I'm sorry. But the dream could use her too. Again, like Ray has been playing some good basketball. So if we were able to get someone like Talasia Cooper, I think that would that would challenge Talasia and Ray. So now going forward, we have two quality wings, or even a Madison Booker. Because Madison, her and Ray pairing, think about it, Ray's more the defender, the defensive-minded player, but she can get a bucket. Maddie is an actual bucket getter, bro. She can get a bucket easily. They were comparing her to Kevin Durant, partially because she were 35. She went to Texas in college. But still, she's a mid-range specialist. She has a high release point. So again, ladies and gentlemen, I actually wouldn't mind Madison Booker. And then Zangziu, 7'3, tallest player in WNBA history. Pair her with Cameron Brink. Cameron Brink's a little more mobile. So you know what, Zhang? We do need to see you move them puppies a little bit more. But imagine pairing Zhang with Cameron. I think that could be amazing to watch too. And again, we already missed out on Dominique Malonga. Would we miss out on a Zhangziu? Again, ladies and gentlemen, we just have a couple of things to note. But before we pay attention to these top picks, we got to make sure that MySparks tank a little bit more because ninth is not going to cut it. It's not going to cut it, ladies and gentlemen.

Who Won The Trade And Why

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But overall, who won this trade? Who lost this trade? That's tough. Because the Mercury did lose a couple pieces. Like we like we acquired Monique Okoa Makani, right? And then also a 2027 first-round pick and then a 2028 second round pick. And the Mercury acquired Kelsey Plum, who, again, remind you, if she does not stay, because she may leave, she may test free agency, that could be a big deal for them. So I'm personally looking forward to seeing how the Mercury play going forward. I'm looking forward to see if Kelsey Plum actually does play. And I gotta assume that she's going to play, or else or else the Phoenix Mercury wouldn't have made this trade. Like they had to do some due diligence to discover if she's going to play or not. So again, ladies and gentlemen, I gotta say I'm a lean Mercury in terms of who won the trade if Kelsey Plum plays. But if she doesn't, then they lost this trade in big fashion. Because they lost some youth and they're gonna lose another all-star, which then makes me wonder: well, what would Kalia Copper want to do? You know what I'm saying? What would Alyssa Thomas want to do next season if they can't acquire, if they can't re-sign Kelsey Plum? Would they be able to re-sign another big name star, another big name player? That's what I'm curious about. But ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I am curious. Who do you all think won this trade? Do you think my sparks won it? Do you think the Mercury won it? Do you think Kelsey Plum shouldn't have requested to get a trade out of the well, did she request to make a trade? I think we kind of traded her because we knew that she wasn't going to want to re-sign with us. But remember though, how much should we blame Kelsey Plum for this trade? We got to think about that. Because she did ask for a trade from the Aces to show that she was a one option. And can we can we defensively state that Kelsey Plum has proven to us she's a number one option? I don't know. Because you had a second, you had an all-star, to be fair, as your running mate. And you couldn't quite get the job done to get us to the playoffs. Ninth, that was close out of 13. Too bad this ain't horseshoes, because that's the only time that and grenades is when close really matters. So again, ladies and gentlemen, I am curious of your thoughts about this whole WNBA trade. Because this has been the biggest trade thus far this entire season. But let me know your thoughts in the comment section below. But, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, that does conclude the end of the episode. So please make sure to like, subscribe, comment, tell anyone who's anyone one about the WNBA and two about my show. My name is Trey. I'm the host of Get of Bucket. I hope you are all having a good one. Take care.