Valkyries Reluctant to Trade Key Contributors for Kelsey Plum

ESPN reports Golden State may push a Kelsey Plum pursuit to free agency rather than deal core depth at Sunday's deadline. Both teams ahead won Thursday, and the Valkyries are now four games out of first.

The deadline story flipped overnight

Yesterday's issue framed Kelsey Plum as the deadline's most likely mover and the Valkyries as a leading suitor (yesterday). By Thursday night the reporting had turned. ESPN's Alexa Philippou and Kendra Andrews reported that the Valkyries are "reluctant to part with multiple 'key contributors'" to land Plum, that they "have confidence in what their current group can accomplish," and that a move for Plum, or another big-name addition, "could be put off until free agency" (ESPN).

The holdup is the same identity the franchise built its 19-9 start around. Golden State has no cap space and would need to send out at least two players to match Plum's $999,000 salary, and Gabby Williams is not available in any deal, per the same report. The Sparks' asking price has been "too high" for the teams that called, sources told ESPN, and Ramona Shelburne reported on NBA Today that Los Angeles is "asking for the world" (Bleacher Report). ESPN's sources now see a "real possibility" Plum remains a Spark through Sunday's 3 p.m. ET deadline.

General manager Ohemaa Nyanin put the calculus plainly on 95.7 The Game last week, before the Phoenix loss:

We're evaluating everything. Do we need to do it now? Or are we doing it at the end of the season, going into free agency next year?

(ClutchPoints)

Plum, out since June 21 with a lower-left leg injury, said Thursday she intends to suit up for the Sparks on Sunday against Portland, 30 minutes after the deadline passes, on a minutes restriction. "The thing about professional sports is, it's business," Plum told reporters. "I'm not taking anything personal. For me, I'm going to be where my feet are" (ESPN).

That leaves Golden State's most likely deadline outcome as a quiet one, with the front office betting that the defense-first, depth-driven group that got them here is worth protecting, and that the cap flexibility to chase a star comes next offseason.

The gap grew while the Valkyries sat

Golden State was idle Thursday and the standings moved the wrong way. Minnesota hammered Toronto 104-72 for its ninth straight win, with Napheesa Collier, Olivia Miles and Courtney Williams each scoring 16 (ESPN, AP via Sportsnet). Las Vegas held off New York 104-99 behind A'ja Wilson's 33 points and 10 rebounds and Jackie Young's 27 and nine assists (CBS Sports).

The Valkyries are 19-9, four games behind the 24-6 Lynx and one game behind the 20-8 Aces. At the All-Star break they were 2.5 games out of first. Two straight losses, an eight-day break, and two nights of watching the teams ahead win have turned a close race into a chase, and the schedule does not soften right away: after Sunday's homestand opener, August brings Minnesota twice and Dallas twice.

Sunday's rematch with Toronto, on deadline day

The trade deadline falls at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday, five and a half hours before the Valkyries host the Toronto Tempo at 5:30 p.m. PT at Chase Center (KPIX+ in the Bay Area, League Pass and Prime Video nationally, 95.7 The Game on radio). Doors open at 4 p.m. (Chase Center, Valkyries broadcast schedule). The teams play again Tuesday at 7 p.m. PT.

Toronto comes in at 10-18 and has lost five straight, including Thursday's 32-point defeat in Minnesota, where Laura Juskaite led the Tempo with 19 and Marina Mabrey added 16 (AP via Sportsnet). The Tempo were 9-12 when the Valkyries beat them 83-75 on July 8 in the franchise's first-ever meeting with Toronto. They have gone 1-6 since.

The film-room takeaway from July 8 is worth revisiting because the rematch tests whether the formula holds. Golden State won it with the second unit: Janelle Salaun went for a career-high 26 on 7-of-10 shooting, 5-of-6 from three, and the bench out-scored Toronto's 52-20 (ESPN box score). The Valkyries shot 11-of-30 from deep and forced 20 turnovers while committing 14. A Toronto team on a five-game skid, blitzed 104-72 by the same Minnesota team Golden State is chasing, is either a get-right opponent or a trap.

Gabby Williams' status for Sunday is not yet set. She was ruled out Wednesday in Phoenix for "reconditioning" (not injury related), her first absence since July 10, after starting the All-Star Game healthy on July 25 (Athlon Sports). The injury report for Sunday has not been released.

Tracking

• Chicago 94, Connecticut 88: Kamilla Cardoso scored 18 of her 26 in the fourth quarter as the Sky erased a 14-point deficit. The Sun have lost four straight and fell to 7-22 (AP via CBS Sports).
• Minnesota 104, Toronto 72: The Lynx swept the three-game season series, scoring 100-plus each time, and have won nine straight. Laura Juskaite led the Tempo with 19 (StatMuse).
• Las Vegas 104, New York 99: Wilson's 33 and 10 and Young's 27 and nine assists snapped the Liberty's three-game win streak and moved the Aces a game up on Golden State (WNBA.com).