"Trading one of the top draft picks for a player who likely would be less talented than Jewell Loyd on a one-year deal would be extremely foolish."
Which is why I didn't think we'd get much value back for 1 year of Loyd. I'm glad I was wrong, I think we made out like bandits! Kudos to the Storm front office.
Yeah, it's such an interesting dynamic. I put out projections of what I thought were reasonable deals in a trade for Jewell Loyd in a previous article. On the one hand, there are the negatives, Jewell's poor efficiency in recent years, the drama over this past season, and the fact Loyd's value would be lower because she wanted out and because she was only signed for one season. On the other hand, Jewell Loyd is one of the most talented Shooting Guards in the WNBA. I think there is a case to be made she is the best shooting guard in the league or right up there. I think she's better than Arike. Historically, she has been better than Kayla McBride. At least at her peak, I would put her above Kelsey Plum. She's been better than Taurasi for several years as DT got older. Jewell is one of the most elite scorers with the ability to create her own shot in the entire WNBA. I still believed she had a lot of value, especially to a team looking to win a Championship like Las Vegas or New York.
With all that said, the Storm landing the #2 overall pick, a future 1st round pick, and what is hopefully a solid bench player in Li Yueru is in the upper tier of what I thought the Storm would be able to get in a trade. The Strom's front office did a really good job here.
Respectfully disagree. Kelsey Plum stats, play making and defense are better than Loyd’s. And comparing her to DT at 37 years old plus at the end of her career doesn’t say much. She was good as the number three option behind Stewie and Sue. Although, she was still streaky and terrible in clutch moments. She was benched for Sami in the 2018 game against Phoenix. And thank goodness Dan Hughes had the balls to do it, because we would have lost that game and series. She might do well with the Aces as she will not be the number one or two option. And if she can stand in the corner for catch and shoot threes, she should shoot better. It will be interesting to see.
Don't forget Li Yueru. I don't think we've seen her full potential yet and at 6'7" and 25 years old, she could be a valuable addition for the future as well.
You are correct Sonja. I didn't include her just because 1) We don't know for certain she is playing on the Storm this season. She will have to sign her contract and agree to come to camp. 2) The other players I mentioned, I believe all have All-Star caliber potential but I still need to watch more of Li and see how she does moving forward in the WNBA.
Highly unlikely we go for Bonner. She will retire or have a PHO homecoming. Best bet for us would be an AC reunion or an attempt at Hayes (like you mentioned)… A lot of the truly available free agents aren’t wowing me fit wise….Nurse & Turner have not had great years lately, but both had a good season with Sky in PHO—-are they toast? Or could they have a rebound year…not saying I’d make that choice but I’d maybe consider it. Are they talking to Vivians & Holmes—or were they part of the inquiry?
Jeff—-I keep seeing Monique Billings as a free agent of the Valkyries, um, I really don’t understand the expansion draft then…*Is* she available? Because if yes, I would be looking at her for sure.
These ATL signings are crazy—-definitely NoT on my bingo card….And while I like Jacey Sheldon quite a bit, that trade for DiJonai was a steal.
The draft is going to be 🔥. I had a chat with someone who said that Flaujae could declare for the draft which I had not seen or heard anything about…all I’ve seen is Paige & Miles still technically could stay another year…
I'd be shocked if Bonner retired. I think she'll most likely go to Phoenix but I believe the Storm tried to recruit her last season. She would be relatively close to Phoenix and AT if she decided to sign with Seattle. Even though Seattle has Gabby Williams (assuming she signs the core tag) and Jordan Horston, I feel they could slide Gabby down to the SG spot and bring Bonner in as the starting SF. Then Jordan remains the 6th player.
I am curious to see what the Storm do in Free Agency besides Nneka and Gabby. It's funny you mention Kia Nurse because I was thinking about her just the other day. Mostly because Seattle needs to find more three-point shooting. That was a big weakness last season. Right now the team's best three-point shooter is probably Skylar which isn't even her strong suit. Do they try to bring Sami back and hope last season was just a really down year (sub 30% from 3)?
I think Alysha Clark makes a lot of sense if she's willing to come back. I always like Brianna Turner coming out of college, she is very limited offensively but could be a decent defensive backup. Is Elena Delle Donne officially retired now or does she want to come back and play basketball?
The report is Monique Billings is signing her core tag offer with the Valkyries. I expect her to play and start for GSV.
Flau'jae is a draft-eligible junior just as Jewell Loyd was. She can declare early for the draft if she is ready to move to the next level. I think Jewell came out early because she wanted more of a challenge and she wanted to be #1 overall. She wasn't going to be if she came out in 2016 because of Stewie. I don't think Flau'jae would be #1 if she came out this year. Plus with the CBA changing, and rookies in 2026 and beyond will likely have higher paychecks, I think there is a low chance of any college juniors coming out early this season.
If I had to guess, it would affect Olivia Miles more because Paige Bueckers will make most of her money through sponsorship deals. Even if the CBA changes and rookies now make let's say $250,000 per season starting in 2026, Paige will make way more than that through all of her endorsements.
I think one concern and this might be why the LA Sparks were willing to trade away the #2 pick, is what happens if Paige doesn't want to go to Dallas but Dallas refuses to trade the pick. Then Paige goes back to UConn for another year. And Olivia Miles also decides to stay at Notre Dame either because of the CBA or because she also doesn't want to go to Dallas.
Now the top two prospects both go back to college and Dallas is now probably taking Kiki Iriafen or Dominique Malonga. Then the Storm would be left with whichever one Dallas didn't take (or Sonia Citron).
So DB to Indiana…when Steph White was signed I figured she would snag someone from CT….I actually thought she would get both AT & DB but that core tag would have come at too high cost. I was surprised she didn’t go to PHO, but I really didn’t see DB donning a Storm jersey.
Yeah, I was thinking the sponsorship deals re:Paige…to your point, Flaujae is ranked #2 in NIL and Miles is either @ 65 or not even in the 100 depending on source research. I could see Miles in Dallas to play with Arike (I could also see her wanting to play with Skylar).
Agree 100 percent with everything you wrote. The Storm made an excellent trade. I believe the team will be much better and more fun going forward. Glad Jewell is gone. She was an inefficient ball hog that made bad decisions in crunch time. So glad the Storm and fans can move on from all the toxic drama.
"Trading one of the top draft picks for a player who likely would be less talented than Jewell Loyd on a one-year deal would be extremely foolish."
Which is why I didn't think we'd get much value back for 1 year of Loyd. I'm glad I was wrong, I think we made out like bandits! Kudos to the Storm front office.
Yeah, it's such an interesting dynamic. I put out projections of what I thought were reasonable deals in a trade for Jewell Loyd in a previous article. On the one hand, there are the negatives, Jewell's poor efficiency in recent years, the drama over this past season, and the fact Loyd's value would be lower because she wanted out and because she was only signed for one season. On the other hand, Jewell Loyd is one of the most talented Shooting Guards in the WNBA. I think there is a case to be made she is the best shooting guard in the league or right up there. I think she's better than Arike. Historically, she has been better than Kayla McBride. At least at her peak, I would put her above Kelsey Plum. She's been better than Taurasi for several years as DT got older. Jewell is one of the most elite scorers with the ability to create her own shot in the entire WNBA. I still believed she had a lot of value, especially to a team looking to win a Championship like Las Vegas or New York.
With all that said, the Storm landing the #2 overall pick, a future 1st round pick, and what is hopefully a solid bench player in Li Yueru is in the upper tier of what I thought the Storm would be able to get in a trade. The Strom's front office did a really good job here.
Respectfully disagree. Kelsey Plum stats, play making and defense are better than Loyd’s. And comparing her to DT at 37 years old plus at the end of her career doesn’t say much. She was good as the number three option behind Stewie and Sue. Although, she was still streaky and terrible in clutch moments. She was benched for Sami in the 2018 game against Phoenix. And thank goodness Dan Hughes had the balls to do it, because we would have lost that game and series. She might do well with the Aces as she will not be the number one or two option. And if she can stand in the corner for catch and shoot threes, she should shoot better. It will be interesting to see.
Don't forget Li Yueru. I don't think we've seen her full potential yet and at 6'7" and 25 years old, she could be a valuable addition for the future as well.
You are correct Sonja. I didn't include her just because 1) We don't know for certain she is playing on the Storm this season. She will have to sign her contract and agree to come to camp. 2) The other players I mentioned, I believe all have All-Star caliber potential but I still need to watch more of Li and see how she does moving forward in the WNBA.
Highly unlikely we go for Bonner. She will retire or have a PHO homecoming. Best bet for us would be an AC reunion or an attempt at Hayes (like you mentioned)… A lot of the truly available free agents aren’t wowing me fit wise….Nurse & Turner have not had great years lately, but both had a good season with Sky in PHO—-are they toast? Or could they have a rebound year…not saying I’d make that choice but I’d maybe consider it. Are they talking to Vivians & Holmes—or were they part of the inquiry?
Jeff—-I keep seeing Monique Billings as a free agent of the Valkyries, um, I really don’t understand the expansion draft then…*Is* she available? Because if yes, I would be looking at her for sure.
These ATL signings are crazy—-definitely NoT on my bingo card….And while I like Jacey Sheldon quite a bit, that trade for DiJonai was a steal.
The draft is going to be 🔥. I had a chat with someone who said that Flaujae could declare for the draft which I had not seen or heard anything about…all I’ve seen is Paige & Miles still technically could stay another year…
I'd be shocked if Bonner retired. I think she'll most likely go to Phoenix but I believe the Storm tried to recruit her last season. She would be relatively close to Phoenix and AT if she decided to sign with Seattle. Even though Seattle has Gabby Williams (assuming she signs the core tag) and Jordan Horston, I feel they could slide Gabby down to the SG spot and bring Bonner in as the starting SF. Then Jordan remains the 6th player.
I am curious to see what the Storm do in Free Agency besides Nneka and Gabby. It's funny you mention Kia Nurse because I was thinking about her just the other day. Mostly because Seattle needs to find more three-point shooting. That was a big weakness last season. Right now the team's best three-point shooter is probably Skylar which isn't even her strong suit. Do they try to bring Sami back and hope last season was just a really down year (sub 30% from 3)?
I think Alysha Clark makes a lot of sense if she's willing to come back. I always like Brianna Turner coming out of college, she is very limited offensively but could be a decent defensive backup. Is Elena Delle Donne officially retired now or does she want to come back and play basketball?
The report is Monique Billings is signing her core tag offer with the Valkyries. I expect her to play and start for GSV.
Flau'jae is a draft-eligible junior just as Jewell Loyd was. She can declare early for the draft if she is ready to move to the next level. I think Jewell came out early because she wanted more of a challenge and she wanted to be #1 overall. She wasn't going to be if she came out in 2016 because of Stewie. I don't think Flau'jae would be #1 if she came out this year. Plus with the CBA changing, and rookies in 2026 and beyond will likely have higher paychecks, I think there is a low chance of any college juniors coming out early this season.
Thanks for clarifying the Billings’ thing. So confusing.
Oh wow, did not even think about the rookie package being better!!! That could impact both Paige & OM’s decision too right??
If I had to guess, it would affect Olivia Miles more because Paige Bueckers will make most of her money through sponsorship deals. Even if the CBA changes and rookies now make let's say $250,000 per season starting in 2026, Paige will make way more than that through all of her endorsements.
I think one concern and this might be why the LA Sparks were willing to trade away the #2 pick, is what happens if Paige doesn't want to go to Dallas but Dallas refuses to trade the pick. Then Paige goes back to UConn for another year. And Olivia Miles also decides to stay at Notre Dame either because of the CBA or because she also doesn't want to go to Dallas.
Now the top two prospects both go back to college and Dallas is now probably taking Kiki Iriafen or Dominique Malonga. Then the Storm would be left with whichever one Dallas didn't take (or Sonia Citron).
So DB to Indiana…when Steph White was signed I figured she would snag someone from CT….I actually thought she would get both AT & DB but that core tag would have come at too high cost. I was surprised she didn’t go to PHO, but I really didn’t see DB donning a Storm jersey.
Yeah, I was thinking the sponsorship deals re:Paige…to your point, Flaujae is ranked #2 in NIL and Miles is either @ 65 or not even in the 100 depending on source research. I could see Miles in Dallas to play with Arike (I could also see her wanting to play with Skylar).
Agree 100 percent with everything you wrote. The Storm made an excellent trade. I believe the team will be much better and more fun going forward. Glad Jewell is gone. She was an inefficient ball hog that made bad decisions in crunch time. So glad the Storm and fans can move on from all the toxic drama.
Yadda, yadda, yadda. I don't think Quinn has what it takes to get us to a championship.