WNBA: Li Yueru’s trade request reveals an emerging WNBA reality

Drama, apparently, remains in the forecast for the Seattle Storm.

At the end of last season, a complaint filed by former Storm star Jewell Loyd initiated an investigation into the Seattle coaching staff that did not find any violations, but resulted in Loyd’s trade to the Las Vegas Aces, a situation she recently elaborated on during an episode of her podcast. After a game between the Storm and Aces on Sunday, June 1, a Storm assistant allegedly cursed at an Aces player. The WNBA followed up on the allegation but did not initiate an investigation.

Just as news of that situation spilled out, so did reporting, first from Khristina Williams of iHeart Women’s Sports, that Li Yueru had requested a trade from the Storm. On the Locked on Women’s Basketball Podcast, The Next’s Jackie Powell provided additional context, strongly suggesting that the Chinese National Team, dissatisfied with Yueru’s limited playing time, was behind the request. Acquired as part of the trade the sent Loyd to Vegas, Yueru, who played for the Los Angeles Sparks last season, has appeared in all nine of the Storm’s games, but, part of a stacked Seattle frontcourt, is playing less than 10 minutes per game.

Yueru subsequently spoke about her situation, sharing:

I came to America only for one reason, to play basketball. This team is really perfect. (This) is the best team I’ve ever (been on)…We have the best post player in the world, we have four post players, and I don’t feel I have enough time.

On the micro level, it appears Yueru’s trade request is a product of the complicated, clashing priorities of the Chinese National Team, which wants one of their most promising talents to see significant time on the court, and the Storm, a team with a crowded, talented frontcourt. That’s true. But on the macro level, Yueru’s request is illustrative of a larger reality of today’s WNBA.

The league is no place for traditional bigs.

Give every WNBA team a 13th roster spot and it’s highly unlikely any decision maker would choose to fill it with a center. Guards and wings are at premium, bigs are not. This is the modern WNBA, where the best teams—see last season’s WNBA finalists in the New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx—are all in on lineups that feature five players who can competently shoot, handle and pass on offense and operate proficiently in different alignments on defense. In this reality, size often impedes, rather than enhances, a lineup’s effectiveness.

Yueru, in fact, is a bit less traditional than expected for a 6-foot-7 center. A career 91.6 percent free throw shooter across her 63 career WNBA games, she has begun to take that touch behind the arc. After taking 15 3-pointers with the Sparks last season, she’s already taken four with the Storm, with her two makes coming in her 2-for-2 performance in the six minutes she saw in the first half of Storm’s win over the Dallas Wings on June 3.

Surely such a successful stint earned her another opportunity? Not quite. Yueru did not see the court in the second half. And it wasn’t an unwise decision from head coach Noelle Quinn, as the Storm sprinted away from the Wings for a comfortable win. Quinn only deployed Yueru when her counterpart turned to their 6-foot-7 center, Teaira McCowan. Yueru’s and McCowan’s minutes nearly perfectly matched, with both coaches opting for lineups that prioritized two-way versatility for much of the contest.

Unfortunately for Yueru, her ability to hit the 3 could actually reduce her prized playing time, as her draining a triple or two will likely cause the other coach to pull their traditional big who is failing to effectively guard her, which, in turn, will prompt Quinn to take out Yueru to match the opponent’s now smaller lineup. That’s what happened against the Wings. When the Storm defeated the Mercury on Saturday, Yueru again played just five minutes, scoring two points from the foul line. Phoenix, a team committed to modern lineups, currently has one, healthy traditional big in Kalani Brown, who played just 13 minutes.

To survive in today’s WNBA, traditional bigs can’t simply be really good, as Yueru is. They must be elite, introducing a nearly unstoppable advantage, whether that be rim protection or low post scoring, that outweighs their weaknesses that are more likely to be exposed in this modernized WNBA. Even Brittney Griner, one of league’s most elite bigs, has struggled to start the season, adjusting unevenly to what is expected of her in a new offensive system with the Atlanta Dream. Seattle, in particular, is not forced to make the kind of tradeoffs that Yueru and other more traditional bigs demand, as their other bigs—Nneka Ogwumike, Ezi Magbegor and Dominique Malonga—are blessed with skills that make them well suited to a spacier, speedier WNBA.

The situation in Seattle, as such, is not an indictment of the Storm, Yueru or the Chinese National Team. It’s reflective of changing league, one where finding a home for Yueru to receive the consistent playing time she desires could be difficult, on top of all of the roster, salary cap and asset stipulations that make in-season trades rare in the WNBA.