Around the W: Early Off-Season Trades, Sue Bird's Jersey Retirement
The 2023 Off-Season has officially begun!
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Happy New Year! We have officially reached the 2023 WNBA Off-Season. Some teams have made big waves already and we haven’t even reached Free Agency yet. Players can begin discussing contracts with teams this Saturday, January 21st. And Free Agency officially begins on February 1st.
Big WNBA Trades
The New York Liberty have made the biggest splash so far this year by trading for the 2021 League MVP, Jonquel Jones. New York acquired Jones as part of a three-team trade with the Connecticut Sun and Dallas Wings.
The Liberty sent Natasha Howard and Crystal Dangerfield to the Dallas Wings while sending Rebecca Allen and the 6th overall draft pick to the Connecticut Sun. In turn, Dallas will send Ty Harris to the Sun and Kayla Thorton to the Liberty.
My initial impression from this trade is that New York is the big winner of the deal and I would consider Connecticut the loser (if you had to pick one). Natasha Howard may have never fully lived up to her max contract with the Liberty but she is still a very talented and athletic two-way player that can have an impact on both the offensive and defensive ends of the court. Dallas has been a very talented offensive team in recent seasons but lacked legit defensive stoppers and this should help them in that regard.
Rebecca Allen is a lengthy sharp-shooting forward and Ty Harris has flashed some potential at the point guard position but ideally, you’d like to get more for a player as talented as Jonquel Jones. The 6th overall pick helps but I’m not certain Connecticut will be able to land an All-Star type player with that selection.
It has also been reported that the Sun are expected to add the Core designation to Brionna Jones keeping the talented post-player and reigning 6th Player of the Year Award-Winner on their roster. They were not going to be able to afford to keep both Jonquel Jones and Brionna Jones along with Alyssa Thomas and DeWanna Bonner; by trading Jonquel to New York they free up salary cap space and remove the Core designation from her contract. It sounds like Jonquel Jones had grown frustrated in Connecticut and asked to be moved this off-season so the team granted her wish and did it early enough that they can retain Brionna Jones without losing her as well.
It’s an unfortunate situation for Connecticut but they’re making the best out of the situation instead of losing Jonquel Jones for nothing in 2024.
This wasn’t the only trade the Connecticut Sun have been involved in as they also traded away long-time starting point guard Jasmine Thomas to reunite her with her former head coach Curt Miller. Miller took over the Sparks head coaching job after leading the Connecticut Sun to two trips to the WNBA Finals in the past four years.
Connecticut will receive Olivia Nelson-Ododa, Jasmine Walker, and the rights to Kianna Smith. Nelson-Ododa was a pleasant surprise having a solid rookie season in limited minutes. Walker has struggled to adjust to the WNBA after suffering a serious knee injury. Los Angeles also will receive the 10th overall pick in the 2023 WNBA Draft.
This likely means that Connecticut will look to retain Natisha Hiedeman, a player I had discussed as an option for the Storm to sign. Hiedeman took over the starting point guard role in Connecticut after Jasmine Thomas tore her ACL five games into last season.
Lastly, it is being reported that the Dallas Wings have made another deal, this time sending Allisha Gray to the Atlanta Dream for the 3rd overall pick in the 2023 Draft and another first-round draft pick (2024 or 2025). Reports had come out late last season that Gray was unhappy in Dallas and would be requesting a trade.
The Storm had tried to sign Allisha Gray a couple of seasons ago before she ultimately decided to re-sign with the Wings. It’s unfortunate that didn’t work out.
Sue Bird’s Jersey to be Retired
On Thursday, the Seattle Storm announced that they will be retiring Sue Bird’s Number 10 jersey to the rafters on June 11th when Seattle faces off against the Washington Mystics. Bird is synonymous with Storm basketball and is Seattle Sports royalty.
Drafted #1 overall in the 2002 WNBA Draft, Bird spent her entire 21-year career in Seattle. Sue helped lead the Storm to four WNBA Championships in 2004, 2010, 2018, and 2020 before calling it a career at the conclusion of the 2022 season. She finished her career as the All-Time Assists leader in WNBA History with 3,234 and finished with the most games played by any WNBA player (580). Bird also finished 3rd overall in Steals (724) and 7th overall in Total Points scored (6,803).
The Storm posted this video of several former teammates and coaches honoring Sue.
There is a nice message at the end by Breanna Stewart. And speaking of Stewie…
Stewie’s Big Free Agency Decision Looming
We are just days away from WNBA Free Agency which means we are just days away from finding out where Breanna Stewart will sign or if she’ll sign with any WNBA team at all this year. Stewie sent fans into chaos by posting this mysterious emoji tweet a few days ago.
Some have theorized that she is headed “home” to the “Concrete Jungle” AKA New York City. However, we may need Benoit Blanc (Knives Out/Glass Onion) to truly crack this case.
Outside of Seattle, the consensus is that Stewie will sign with the Liberty. We all know that she took a meeting with the Tsai’s last year to discuss the potential of playing for the Liberty in the future. There was no way Stewie would leave the Storm while Sue Bird was still playing. But now???
We saw a similar scenario play out with Chelsea Gray where she took a Free Agent visit to Las Vegas but ended up re-signing for one season with the LA Sparks. Then the following year she signed with the Aces.
I do believe Seattle still has a decent shot to re-sign Stewart. Although, the Liberty have certainly made things tempting by adding Jonquel Jones and would give New York a very stacked roster if Stewart, Jones, and Ionescu were all playing together.
When the Jonquel Jones trade was first announced, my initial reaction was that this was likely good news for the Storm regarding Stewart. I thought that New York may have gotten word from Stewart that she was intending to re-sign with Seattle so they went out and got the next best thing (the 2021 WNBA MVP). However, after reading more details on the trade I learned that New York actually freed up even more cap space with their deal which would make it even easier for them to be able to afford to pay Stewart.
I’ve seen Stewart call Seattle her home multiple times and (to me) she really comes across as if she means it. There have been several professional athletes (from all sports) that have been drafted or signed with Seattle that fall in love with this area and ultimately choose to live here beyond their playing days. Whether that turns out to be the case for Stewart or not is something we’ll see play out.
Another X-Factor in all of this is what Marta (Stewart’s wife) wants. When you’re married and have a baby together, you have to factor in not only your wants and desires but your entire family’s. Marta is from Spain and the two of them would obviously be much closer to Spain if they lived in New York City compared to Seattle.
Stewart’s decision could be announced as early as this weekend when players can officially start talking contracts with WNBA teams. At that point, we’ll find out whether the Storm will be looking to compete for a 5th Championship or if they have to consider going into another rebuild.
Maya Moore Officially Retires
Despite the fact that Maya Moore hasn’t played in the WNBA since the 2018 season she had not officially announced her retirement until now. Moore is one of the league’s most dominant players despite playing for only eight seasons. She finished her career with four WNBA Championships (2011, 2013, 2015, and 2017). She won Finals MVP in 2013 and the WNBA League MVP in 2014. Moore was also named to the WNBA All-Star team six times.
Moore was simply one of the very best. Enjoy your retirement, Maya!
Keep an eye out for more articles as Free Agency kicks off. Especially, if any of the news directly impacts the Storm.
Notes: Credit to Across the Timeline for providing career stats and a clear list of recent WNBA transactions. Thanks for your continued support this season.
Do you think if Stewart does sign with the Liberty, Seattle would/should consider exploring the market for Jewel Loyd?