WNBA: Which newcomer must make a big difference for her new team?

When it came to high-profile moves, the WNBA transaction wire was more active than usual this season. Before the league executed three deadline week deals that saw DiJonai Carrington, Brittney Sykes, Aaliyah Edwards and Jacy Sheldon change teams, Emma Meesseman returned to the W and NaLyssa Smith found a new home.

Whether for the present or future, teams made moves for those six players because they believe they can make a difference. So, which newcomer is under the most pressure to deliver on that difference-making promise? Here’s how we see it:

Emma Meesseman (New York Liberty): Pressure-proof

When the New York Liberty’s five original starters have been in uniform this season, the defending champs have looked poised to romp to a repeat. (When one is missing, they’ve been, concerningly, average.) Emma Meesseman, a stamped winner in the W, Europe and internationally, only enhances the indomitability of the full-strength Liberty.

When they’re at their best, she’ll make them even better. As Josh Felton analyzed, Meesseman can serve as switch beater with her high-percentage post game, while her pick-and-pop actions with Liberty guards should be nearly automatic. During her integration period with New York, there have been more than a few flashes of her highly-efficient, and usually unstoppable, offensive stylings.

She’s in the enviable position where everything she brings is extra, as the challenge of carrying the Liberty to a second-straight championship is burden that will be most borne by the pre-existing star triumvirate of Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu and Jonquel Jones. If New York comes up short, those three, not Emma, will be under the most scrutiny.

Brittney Sykes (Seattle Storm): The most pressure

Josh also expertly articulated the Seattle Storm’s situation. They’re a veteran team all-in on winning a title this season, but as the deadline approached, it had become clear that they did not have enough to fulfill those high hopes. As Josh discussed, they likely needed to make multiple trades—not just a trade—to put themselves in position to realistically reach their ambition. Yet, they only executed the swing for Brittney Sykes, which puts a lot of pressure on Slim to be the difference maker for a squad that has been moving the wrong direction in the WNBA standings.

A four-time All-Defense honoree, Sykes was having the most productive offensive season of her career with the Washington Mystics, earning her first All-Star selection as she assumed a high-usage offensive load. In Seattle, she’ll be expected to scale down into a smaller role, all while still making meaningful contributions on both ends.

Establishing that avenue could be difficult, as her debut demonstrated. Not a renowned 3-point shooter, Sykes attempted her season high in triples in her first game in a Storm uniform, seemingly sacrificing her foul-drawing drive game—the most effective weapon in her offensive repertoire—in an effort to fit in and fill a need. While her second game saw her produce bigger numbers in the box score, she did so on a similar shot diet of more 3s and less freebies.

If the Storm were seeking a shooter, they needed to make a different, or an additional, move. They didn’t, instead leaving Sykes with a heavy lift.

NaLyssa Smith (Las Vegas Aces): She’s not the one under pressure

When the Las Vegas Aces traded for NaLyssa Smith, most WNBA analysts and observers understood who she was. The star upside imagined when Smith was selected No. 2 overall in the 2022 WNBA Draft had faded. Then on her second team in the Dallas Wings, “complementary role player” had become her WNBA niche.

And with the Aces, she has excelled in that role, embracing taking fewer, yet more efficient, shots while battling on the boards as A’ja Wilson’s frontcourt running mate.

Still, a first-round pick in the 2027 WNBA Draft—a draft that is projected to be absolutely stacked—is a high price to pay for even this best-case version of Smith. The next CBA could usher in a sea change that sweeps all the Aces’ familiar faces to new places, leaving lottery-bound rubble in Vegas—and JuJu Watkins on her way to Dallas.

While that scenario is on the extreme end of potentially bad outcomes from the Aces’ side, it underscores the risk the organization took in trading such a potentially-prized pick for a medium-range upside swing in Smith. Smith is doing her job for the Aces. The problem is that the lead decision makers, presumably president Nikki Fargas and head coach Becky Hammon, didn’t do theirs; hence, they bear all pressure.

DiJonai Carrington (Minnesota Lynx): Less pressure than you think

The stomachs of Minnesota Lynx fans may have turned when Beckett Harrison compared the team’s trade for DiJonai Carrington to last season’s ill-fated acquisition of Myisha Hines-Allen. As Beckett explained, Hines-Allen was excised from the Lynx rotation when it mattered most and, due to potential offensive shortcomings, the same could happen to Carrington this postseason.

Yet, Minnesota still made it to the precipice of a fifth title last year. This season, they had compiled the league’s best record before Carrington came to Minneapolis. The hope is that she’ll make them better. But if she doesn’t, the Lynx still are the title favorites, as long as Napheesa Collier returns to form after her ankle injury.

If Carrington still struggles to be efficient in Minnesota’s more fruitful offensive environment, head coach Cheryl Reeve can opt for Bridget Carleton, and the Lynx will be just fine. Carleton does not offer the elite defensive playmaking of Carrington, but she’s a do-your-job defender who has been a capable cog in Minnesota’s top-ranked unit. And pressure or not, Carrington is looking like a perfect fit thus far, embracing her role as a defensive stopper while thriving as an opportunistic mover and cutter on offense.

Minnesota is 3-0 in their DiJonai era, outscoring opponents by 28 points in her 71 minutes in a Lynx uniform.

Aaliyah Edwards (Connecticut Sun): More pressure than you think

Why would Aaliyah Edwards be under pressure to perform for the cellar-dwelling Connecticut Sun?

After the Mystics’ new management decided Edwards was not part of that organization’s future, the opportunity to explore and expand her game in Connecticut seems like a feel-good situation for the former Husky. However, that collegiate connection, in combination with the Sun’s search for any semblance of future hope, foists a not-insignificant amount of pressure on Edwards.

There’s an implicit expectation that the former UConn star will rediscover her upside back in Connecticut (before the team, likely, moves to Boston), becoming a featured player for a franchise in search of a new identity. That’s a lot! But as her star-wrecking run to the final of Unrivaled’s 1-on-1 Tournament showed, she’s up for a tough challenge.

Jacy Sheldon (Washington Mystics): The pressure could make a diamond

Even though they seemed to severely depress Edwards’ trade value, the Mystics still received a gem of a return in Jacy Sheldon, a top-five pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft who, despite now joining her third team, has shown that she has a long future as a rotation-caliber guard in this league. And with Washington, she could become more.

Surely, the Mystics will invest in her development as they have with 2025 rookies Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen. A determined defender, Sheldon has demonstrated a high work rate as she sticks to her mark, fights over screens and looks to disrupt her opponent’s dribble. Her offensive game is fast improving, as she has become more efficient as a finisher and shooter in her second season, while also increasing her comfort on the ball.

As long as Sheldon continues to put in the work, she not only could certify why she was a top-five pick, but also allow Washington to claim that they won the Edwards-Sheldon swap.