Trades were the far more common method for player movement among stars until roughly 2021, primarily due to more anti-labor CBAs than the current deal. The first in-their-prime elite player to change teams was Katie Smith in the middle of the 2005 season, followed by Becky Hammon prior to the 2007 season. The 2008 offseason marked the first time star players chose to join new teams in free agency, with both Katie Douglas and Swin Cash moving through sign-and-trades on the same day.
Alana Beard‘s departure from Washington to Los Angeles marked the first outright signing with a new team by this caliber of player. Still, it wouldn’t be until 2017 that Kristi Toliver became the second star to do so, and not until Angel McCoughtry did so in 2020 did it become a perennial trend.
Satou Sabally is almost certain to become the next player to join this tradition of stars moving through sign-and-trades after telling reporters this week that she will not be playing for Dallas again. Since she is still eligible for the core qualifying offer and the exclusive negotiating rights that come with it, the Wings can ensure she doesn’t walk for nothing.
What a return for Dallas would look like is tough to project, given the aforementioned spotty history of players of Sabally’s caliber exercising their right to choose their employer. But generally, such trades fall into five categories:
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Star asks out while under contract, asks for one destination
Jonquel Jones from Connecticut to New York for Rebecca Allen, Tyasha Harris and the No. 6 overall pick in 2023
When Jones wanted out of Connecticut, she wanted to go somewhere she could not only be a star on the court but receive star-level recognition off the court — so she asked for New York. Opinions varied on the quality of return the Sun received — given Jones was likely the second-best player to ever ask for a trade (behind Elena Delle Donne, listed later here) combined with Connecticut’s lack of leverage in the deal. They received two higher-end role players and a mid-first-rounder in a draft class whose depth did not stretch very far. Jones had one year remaining on her deal at a salary between the standard max and supermax. The listed return of this three-team trade is only from Connecticut’s perspective.
Star asks out while under contract, no preferred destination
Allisha Gray from Dallas to Atlanta for the No. 3 pick and a future first-rounder in 2023
Gray wanted out of Dallas just a few years before Sabally asked for the same. In addition to Gray’s eventual landing spot in Atlanta, three other teams were also engaged in negotiations, per reporting at the time. The return was the third-overall pick in a one-player draft with two clear second-tier prospects and a future first-rounder in a deep draft class. Gray was on a sub-max salary with two years remaining on her deal.
Liz Camabge from Dallas to Las Vegas for Moriah Jefferson, Isabelle Harrison, a future first-rounder and a future second-rounder in 2019
Negotiations on this deal took an incredibly long time, per reporting at the time, with one team’s offer falling through and another’s having to be reworked. The return could have been astounding if a couple of things broke differently, with Las Vegas nearly sending Jackie Young in this deal. Instead, Dallas ended up with an oft-injured player who continued to be oft-injured, an okay role player, and two later picks in a shallow draft class. Cambage had one year remaining at a max salary.
Star asks out during offseason, asks for one destination
Tina Charles from New York to Washington for Shatori Walker-Kimbrough, the No. 12 pick, a future first-rounder, a future second-rounder and a future third-rounder in 2020
Reporting at the time had Charles asking for Washington specifically, with the return being unexceptional: an okay role player, a late first-rounder in an extremely shallow draft class, and three future picks in arguably the worst draft in league history. Other teams were engaged in negotiations but did not get particularly close.
Elena Delle Donne from Chicago to Washington for Kahleah Copper, Stefanie Dolson and the No. 2 pick in 2017
Due to personal and family health, Delle Donne asked to go as close as possible to her home state of Delaware. The return was a somewhat interesting rookie (who turned into a Finals MVP), a decent starting center and the second-overall pick in a one-player draft. Evaluating each draft package only at the moment of the trade, this was likely the best return of any of these trades, rivaled only by the first Charles trade that will be discussed later.
Sylvia Fowles from Chicago to Minnesota for Érika de Souza and a future second-rounder* in 2015
The Fowles trade is a case study in leverage. According to reports at the time, with details filled in after the midseason deal, Fowles requested a trade to Minnesota in the offseason, but Chicago didn’t like the Lynx’s offer over the winter and decided to wait it out. The return didn’t get much better, with the Sky getting only a past-her-prime role player and a second-round pick for an in-her-prime top-10 all-time player. The three-team nature of this trade complicates the complete package, and the listed return is only from Chicago’s perspective.
Tina Charles and a future third-rounder from Connecticut to New York for Alyssa Thomas, Kelsey Bone and a…
Katie Douglas from Connecticut to Indiana for Tamika Whitmore, Jessica Foley and the No. 12 pick in 2008
Douglas had specifically asked to go home to Indiana for the latter half of her career. The return was a solid role player, a draft-and-stash Aussie who was not coming stateside and a late first-rounder in a draft where such a pick was more interesting than usual.
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Star asks out during offseason, no preferred destination
Natasha Howard from Seattle to New York for the No. 1 pick, a future first-rounder and a future second-rounder in 2021
Howard is a bit of an outlier here, given that her peak was extremely short, but there was some belief at the time of this trade in 2021 that her First Team All-WNBA selection two years prior was indicative of what she could continue to do in a starring role. The weak trade return — the top pick in arguably the worst draft class in league history and a future first in a draft light on depth — perhaps gives us an answer to that theory.
Skylar Diggins-Smith from Dallas to Phoenix for the Nos. 5 and 7 picks and a future first-rounder in 2020
Oh hey, another star asking out from the Wings. The return for Diggins-Smith was fairly light, given the league’s dearth of impact point guards at the time, though her development in Phoenix under Sandy Brondello made this deal seem even more lopsided in hindsight. The Mercury’s package was two mid-first-rounders in a class light on depth and a future first in arguably the worst draft in W history.
DeWanna Bonner from Phoenix to Connecticut for the Nos. 7 and 10 picks and a future first-rounder in 2020
The return for Bonner was somehow even worse than the return for Diggins-Smith, with Connecticut giving up a mid- and late first-rounder in a draft whose depth barely extended through the mid-first, plus a future pick in arguably the worst draft in league history.
Swin Cash from Detroit to Seattle for the No. 4 pick in 2008
Reporting at the time suggested Cash’s move was just about moving on from Bill Laimbeer’s Shock rather than getting to Seattle. With the returning lottery pick being the fourth-overall selection in a three-player draft class with interesting but not standout depth, the return was solid but below.
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Star doesn’t ask out
The leverage for the stars’ original employers varies so greatly between trades where the players ask out and where they don’t that it’s not worth diving into each and every one of the latter. Similarly, the returns also vary wildly.
The 2010 trade that sent Lindsay Whalen to Minnesota was the result of Whalen telling Connecticut general manager/head coach Mike Thibault that she was willing to go to the Lynx if their perennial trade offers were worth his time; she ended up getting packaged with the No. 2 pick for a startable but not star-level point guard in Renee Montgomery and the No. 1 pick in a one-player draft.
Taj McWilliams-Franklin was on the tail end of her prime when Washington traded her to Detroit in August of 2008, but she still had a few years of quality starting play left. Yet, the return for her was completely gone just one year later. By contrast, the deal that sent her to the Mystics in the first place just four months prior netted Los Angeles DeLisha Milton-Jones, who was still extremely good at the time.
The Hammon trade essentially just shuffled deck chairs around on the Liberty’s Titanic while she moved to the Southwest. And the Minnesota-to-Detroit Katie Smith deal gave the Lynx an almost useful mid-first-round pick and a vaguely interesting second-year player.
The biggest takeaway here is that contract details and trade leverage don’t seem to be consistent factors in star trades. The most important thing is just how good the star is and whether there are enough suitors to drive the cost up — or, if the player only wants to play for one team in particular, whether that team has enough assets for the player’s soon-to-be former employer to wring some value out of the deal.
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