Mercury trade WNBA champion Diamond DeShields to Wings in 4-team deal with Sky, Liberty
The Dallas Wings are making a splash, as they acquired WNBA champion Diamond DeShields from the Phoenix Mercury in a four-team deal with the Chicago Sky and New York Liberty, the teams announced Saturday.
The Sky receive guard Marina Mabrey via sign-and-trade, while the Mercury receive forward Michaela Onyenwere. Also in the deal: The Wings receive draft picks from the Sky (the No. 5 overall selection in 2023, a first-rounder in 2024 and a 2025 first-round pick swap); the Sky receive a 2024 second-round pick; the Mercury receive the Sky's 2024 third-round pick and 2025 second-round pick; and the Liberty receive the rights to Leonie Fiebich, the Sky's 2024 second-round pick and a 2025 first-round pick swap with the Mercury.
Details of the four-team trade with Chicago, Phoenix and New York. pic.twitter.com/yhHMouNihh
— Dallas Wings (@DallasWings) February 11, 2023
DeShields spent last season in Phoenix after four years with the Chicago Sky, with whom she won the 2021 WNBA championship. She averages 13.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game and earned an All-Star nod for a career season in 2019.
The No. 3 overall pick in the 2018 WNBA Draft was one of three Mercury players under contract this offseason, as Phoenix had decisions to make regarding its roster.
Diana Taurasi is expected to return and play a 19th season in the desert. However, she recently said she will not take a pay cut, and she has not signed a contract for the upcoming season.
“I’m not one to take less money. I don’t know about you guys,” she said during a news conference Tuesday, per Just Women's Sports.
“As a franchise, we’re in an interesting position right now with a lot of different things going on from ownership to all the way down. So I just think it’s something that’s taking its time, and hopefully it’ll be resolved on my end and sooner than later.”
Also expected to return to the Mercury this season is Brittney Griner, who announced her intention to play in the WNBA in 2023 after her release from Russian prison late last year. Griner also has not officially signed a contract.
Mabrey averaged 10.4 points, three rebounds and 2.5 assists per game over four seasons in the WNBA (the first in Los Angeles where she was draft with a second-round pick in 2019 and the previous three with Dallas).
Onyenwere is in her third season in the league, averaging 6.6 points and 18 minutes per game with the Liberty. She was drafted with the sixth overall pick in 2021 and won Rookie of the Year in a unanimous selection after starting 29 games for New York.
