WNBA: Analyzing the 4-Team Blockbuster Trade

The blockbuster trade of the summer in the WNBA has finally gone through. A four-team trade between the Phoenix Mercury, Indiana Fever, Dallas Wings, and Connecticut Sun has officially gone through. Several notable names have had their WNBA homes changed. Several key names, including Satou Sabally, DiJonai Carrington, NaLyssa Smith, Jacy Sheldon, Sophie Cunningham, Kalani Brown, and Sevgi Uzun, all have new destinations.

Each team involved in the trade has made moves that they hope will enhance their rosters for the upcoming season. From the Wings adding versatile players with championship experience to Phoenix, Connecticut, and Indiana reshaping their lineups, this trade is set to impact all four franchises. Here’s a breakdown of the key players involved and what each team stands to gain from this high-profile swap.

Phoenix mercury have a Big 3 = instant contenders

The Phoenix Mercury are the clear winners in this trade as they received one of the best players in the game. Satou Sabally is a 26-year-old young woman who is a franchise changer, to say the least. Although she has an injury-plagued history, when healthy, she is dominant. The last time she played 30+ games, she found herself in the WNBA semifinals and made First-Team All-WNBA. The fact that they have her abilities and versatility to build around for the foreseeable future is a huge benefit to their franchise.

Adding her to a top-heavy roster that features another All-WNBA performer in Alyssa Thomas is no slouch. Thomas has been an MVP candidate, she’s one of the league leaders in defense, and she brings a wealth of playoff experience. Speaking of playoff experience, don’t forget about Kahleah Copper. The former 2021 Finals MVP is still on the roster and is still one of the best players in the game.

The fact that the Mercury only need to fill out their bench players and maybe find another starter or two is very impressive. This roster, if constructed right, should be one of the best in the league.

Indiana Fever Have No bench concerns

People last season jumped down the throat of Christie Sides when she was literally doing the best she could. The roster she had was not tailor-made to win a championship, but she did her best. Sides’ best was getting the Fever back to the playoffs. This season, under Stephanie White, the Fever are going to take another step forward.

What the Fever did was manage to add several good players to strengthen their bench. Sophie Cunningham and Lexie Hull will be competing for minutes at the small forward spot. Sophie is a capable perimeter player who can knock down outside shots. She fits the bill of what type of player would complement the Fever roster perfectly. With her ability to stretch the floor (Cunningham shot 38% from the three-point line), she will fit in seamlessly off the bench or in the starting lineup.

Additionally, the Indiana Fever also managed to get another perimeter player in Jaelyn Brown. Although Brown was injured for most of the season with the Wings, averaging 2.6 points per game, she has the ability to score in a variety of ways. Last season, Brown scored a career-high 15 points in 21 minutes in the last game of the season.

This move helps the bench, as Indiana will be able to play either Cunningham or Brown next season. Additionally, they will also have Hull, whom they can bring off the bench.

Dallas is gearing up

The Dallas Wings may not be competing for a WNBA championship this season, but they are making the right roster moves and positioning themselves to win one in the future. It’s interesting—on one hand, they are most likely going to select Paige Bueckers No. 1 in the 2025 WNBA Draft. On the other hand, they are positioning themselves to gain future draft assets. The Dallas Wings traded away their first-round selection in Jacy Sheldon and the No. 8 pick for DiJonai Carrington. This was a win for the Wings.

If the Wings offer Arike Ogunbowale, their franchise player, a contract extension, and she does not accept, they have Carrington. They can either trade Arike (which would be sad to see) and gain assets, or they could trade her for assets moving forward and have Carrington step into her role.

For obvious reasons, the goal should be to keep Arike in Dallas. She is the franchise leader in points, and she is arguably one of, if not the best player to ever play for the franchise. But it all comes down to what she wants to do moving forward in her career. As one of the best winners in college basketball and in the league, it seems like she would want to win. However, if the answers for her aren’t in Dallas, then the Wings should prepare for life without her.

Either way, the Wings are just a few years away from being a legitimate contender once again. They have been making the moves accordingly.

connecticut sun starting From Ground Zero

The Connecticut Sun have decided to go in a completely different direction with their franchise. They realized that over the course of the past few seasons that the core they had was not able to win a championship. Instead of bringing back the band to see if they could compete for another ring, they decided to move in a different direction.

The Sun picked up some notable players in this trade, but none more notable than Natasha Cloud. The point guard stayed with literally one franchise for most of her career (Washington Mystics). After leaving Washington, she ended up in Phoenix for a year, before having to relocate to Connecticut. Cloud is a former champion, and that will help ease the rebuilding process for the Sun.

Additionally, another notable player that Cloud should be learning from is none other than point guard Jacy Sheldon. As the 5th pick in the 2024 WNBA draft by the Dallas Wings, Sheldon had a good rookie year. She played with another ALL-WNBA guard in Arike Ogunbowale. Now she will be learning from Cloud.

As for now, the Sun are definitely looking to move into a rebuilding direction now that their former core is gone.

Final Thoughts

With that being said, the players involved in this trade have all reshaped the WNBA landscape. Satou Sabally has helped the Phoenix Mercury create a championship contender in Phoenix. Meanwhile, Sophie Cunningham helps the Indiana Fever take another step closer to a championship appearance. Additionally, the Dallas Wings are rebuilding and gearing up to get assets to their team to help them win. With these moves, the WNBA landscape has definitely been changed.