So, the Chicago Sky have made a really, really, really good move. But also, what the hell does this mean for Kelsey Plum? What does this mean for Kelsey Plum? I’m going to tweet this out and I’m like, what does this mean for Kelsey Plum? Because is the Araham gone? So my expectation is that the Aramp is gone, as is Azer, and you’ve probably then got man Azer to Chicago sounds likely now. Aerate to Chicago sounds likely. A lot of people have been hyping that one potentially. Man, the Chicago Sky—they might actually be smart about this. Might be smart about this whole thing. So they turned Sonia Citron into Rick. Like if they do okay this year, they’ve turned Sonia Citron into Rakia Jackson.
That’s not terrible. That’s not terrible. As long as the Sky are competent this year, they turn Sonia Citron into Rakia Jackson. Man, what is Jeff Paglaka cooking? He might be cooking here. He might be cooking. This is a very short-sighted trade for the LA Sparks. I was going to say the Sky are decent. They literally end up trading Citron for Rakia, which is not bad at all. And they have the fifth pick in the draft. They have the fifth pick in this draft. So they’re going to come out with Rakia, Cardoso, two max slots or a max slot, a near max slot for Azer, and a final year payoff for Courtney Vanderloot.
They might be okay. The Sky might be okay. People say no one wants to play for the Sky. I’m sorry—there are a million reasons to play for this team now. It’s one thing getting treated badly when you’re making no money. It’s another thing getting treated badly when you’re making a million dollars a year or 400–500k a year versus 60K. Those are big differences.
We have to talk about this again—this trade is really, really good for Chicago. I’m very impressed. Jeff Paglaka might be cooking here. Rakia to Chicago basically undoes the trade from last year. And not only that, the Sparks get better. At this point in time, Ariel Atkins is a better player than Rakia Jackson. She just is. I understand people say her stock takes a hit playing for Chicago, but Ariel Atkins is really, really good. She was the youngest player on the 2021 Olympic team. She made that team over Sabrina Ionescu, Kelsey Plum, and Jackie Young despite being the same age as Jackie Young and younger than Kelsey Plum. She made an Olympic team over them. Let’s not get it twisted how good Ariel Atkins is.
But Rakia Jackson going is very interesting because she will fill seats. Imagine if you add FJ. Imagine if the Sky starting five is Sloot, FJ, Rakia, Azer, and Cardoso. Courtney Vandersloot is still fine. You have Rakia, Flau’Jae as your sixth woman, then Azer playing the four or five, Cardoso at the five. You could even play Rakia at the two and bring in Flau’Jae as a makeshift one at times. Then sign 6’3″–6’4″ defenders in the league. Pay DJ Jane if you want. Pay DJ Jane 800k and now you’ve got a bench. This frees up so much cap space.
For anyone saying the Sparks made a bad decision—the Sparks are going championship this year. There’s no other explanation. Losing Julie Allemand means Kelsey Plum goes back to the point. You’re looking at Kelsey Plum and Ariel Atkins. Ariel Atkins can’t sign a supermax. Kelsey Plum is the type of player who won’t necessarily take the supermax. She took less last year. She’s someone who can afford to lose 200k to be in LA. So she might take the regular max.
You’ve lost basically all your rookie players. Rae Burrell is on a reserve deal, meaning you can pay her whatever you want. She either plays or doesn’t. You can pay her the minimum. Rakia’s gone, Azer’s gone. Hamby might be gone—Hamby to Dallas is interesting.
Then you look at who you can bring in as a center. This is LA—it’s still a big destination. You know who might go back? Nneka. She went to Stanford. She played years with the Sparks. Nneka to the Sparks might make sense. Then you just need a center.
Ariel Atkins fits a similar mold to Jackie Young. You can play her at small forward if needed. If Skylar is a package deal, you probably can’t afford it. You can bring in Nneka, but you don’t have a pick in this year’s draft. So they need to find players cheap. Maybe someone like Alissa Pili. If they’re confident in scouting, they are trying to win it all this year. They have enough for a good team.
Ariel Atkins might be an overpay. Maybe they get her for 900K. Maybe she just wants out of Chicago. Either way, this is a really big trade.
If I’m the Sparks, maybe I try to get a pick. Or maybe they take HVL or Maddy Westbeld back in that deal. That could explain why they kept picks. Maybe the trade involves Maddy Westbeld or HVL. Westbeld is a solid bench player. HVL is not terrible. That would make sense.
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