WNBA free agency hasn’t even begun, but the league has been turned upside down by two huge trades that were announced Monday: Jonquel Jones, the 2021 MVP, was traded to the New York Liberty as part of a three-team deal, and her former Connecticut Sun teammate Jasmine Thomas was traded to the Los Angeles Sparks.
The trades include Tyasha Harris, Rebecca Allen, Olivia Nelson-Ododa, Jasmine Walker and the rights of Kianna Smith all being traded to Connecticut, the Dallas Wings acquiring Natasha Howard and the rights to Crystal Dangerfield, and Kayla Thornton being traded from the Wings to the Liberty.
Los Angeles also now owns the No. 10 pick in the 2023 WNBA draft (from Connecticut), while the Sun acquired New York’s first-round pick (No. 6 overall).
A source also told ESPN that the Sun intend to designate Brionna Jones a core player; Friday is the last date teams can offer that designation.
There are surely plenty of deals to come, not to mention more movement when free agents can officially sign deals beginning Feb. 1. But for now, ESPN’s Kevin Pelton, M.A. Voepel and Alexa Philippou share their analysis on what this pair of trades means for each individual team involved and the league as a whole.
