WNBA Dissected Special: Let's Trade Skylar Diggins-Smith Everywhere, Part Two

The Diggins-Smith dealing continues, topped off with the 12-team deal only a writer of hypotheticals could love

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We now continue our exercise from yesterday of trading Skylar Diggins-Smith to every possible destination, before this evening’s WNBA trade deadline. If you missed Part One, you can find it here. On to the deals!

Photo Credit: Phoenix Mercury

Los Angeles Sparks

Mathematically, LA are one of the easiest teams to construct deals with. They have a little cap space and contracts of a variety of sizes. However, their six most highly-paid players are all about to become unrestricted free agents at the end of the season. So unless Phoenix want to take a shot on Liz Cambage - and given how long she waited to get to Hollywood, it seems unlikely she'd be happy about that - then core her at the end of the year, none of those players make an enormous amount of sense for Phoenix.

So I think Chennedy Carter would have to be on the move again. She's been on the bench lately with a mysterious knee injury that seemed to crop up out of nowhere, after an inconsistent role all year with the Sparks. But the talent could still be tempting if you believe you're the team that can finally harness her and make the most of her abilities.

Of course, Carter's still on her rookie-scale deal. So she makes a lot less than Diggins-Smith, and therefore more would have to go to Phoenix whether either team wanted them to or not. Also, one of LA's protected contracts would have to be included because they're already at the limit of six, and Diggins-Smith would be adding another. So Kristi Toliver's involved in order to make up the numbers as much as anything, with Sam Thomas balancing things out on the opposite side from Phoenix.

It ends up looking like a bit of a steal for the Sparks, to be honest (unless you're still a real Carter believer). But LA are not asset-rich if you're looking for something that lasts beyond September, so it's hard to offer much else.

Offer: Chennedy Carter, Kristi Toliver for Diggins-Smith and Sam Thomas

Minnesota Lynx

Unlike some of these contrived deals we've been looking at, I could actually imagine Minnesota being interested in a deal here. Ever since Lindsay Whalen retired, the Lynx have been floating through point guard options without Cheryl Reeve ever seeming to be entirely happy with any of them, along with ultimately fruitless pursuits of players like Chelsea Gray and Courtney Vandersloot in free agency. Moriah Jefferson has done a decent job this year once she was plucked off the street and handed the position, but you can never be entirely sure if she's going to stay healthy. She could also play next to Diggins-Smith if that was how it worked out.

The complication, weirdly enough, might be that the Lynx have actually started playing well lately. You're much less inclined to make swing-wildly-for-the-fences deals when things are already starting to look okay with the status quo. Unless you think the Lynx's 2023 first-rounder - which could still end up in the lottery, but would presumably be less likely to do so if they added Diggins-Smith - is enough as the primary piece, it basically has to be Aerial Powers or Kayla McBride. There's no one else to build a deal around that makes any sense to Phoenix (and that Minnesota might be willing to give up - you're not getting Napheesa Collier).

They're on identical contracts that run through next year. McBride is more reliable and makes fewer mistakes, the more dangerous off-ball threat; Powers is more of a ballhandler and creator but prone to bouts of greediness and turnovers. It would probably come down to whom Phoenix wanted, but the recent string of performances by Powers might make now the perfect moment to sell high.

We're back to dealing between two teams over the salary cap so someone else would have to be included as well to make the numbers 'work' and leave Phoenix the team over the top. Bridget Carleton and Rachel Banham are your two realistic options unless Jefferson's going in the deal. I think it probably ends up being Carleton, even though both Cheryl Reeve and I (as fake-Cheryl Reeve) would be loath to do it. Phoenix then do the "we may be over the cap, but not if Player X now counts as our Griner relief player" switch we talked about with Atlanta and Chicago's scenarios.

Then you're arguing over whether there are any picks involved. Given the other offers that might be floating out there, I definitely don't think Phoenix are getting Minnesota's own 2023 first-rounder. They might manage to get Las Vegas's pick involved, which the Lynx also own.

Offer: Aerial Powers, Bridget Carleton (and maybe Las Vegas's 2023 first-round pick) for Diggins-Smith

New York Liberty

Before we worry about this year's numbers to make a deal work, New York are an interesting case in terms of whether they'd want Diggins-Smith and her 2023 supermax salary. Just as a fit, would you want her taking the ball out of Sabrina Ionescu's hands as much as she might have to in order to make the most of having Diggins-Smith on your roster? She would seem like a clear upgrade on someone like Crystal Dangerfield, but especially in midseason it could be an awkward transition. Then, unless one of New York’s big salaries was going the other way, would you want the Diggins-Smith money on the books when everyone under the sun thinks that cash is earmarked for another Breanna Stewart chase in the offseason?

The answer to that final question is pretty much made for you by the numbers - one of those big deals is going out to make the trade work anyway. You're not going to get anywhere trying to build an offer around an expiring Sami Whitcomb contract, Michaela Onyenwere and picks. Given how they've played lately, I also don't think Phoenix are prying Han Xu or Marine Johannès away from the Liberty.

So I think the first step in this deal would be exchanging an awful lot of medical paperwork. Make Betnijah Laney the centerpiece, a player who's shown she can perform at an all-star level when she's 100% and who would fit in the smallball switchy system that Phoenix have enjoyed since Tina Charles fled the coop. Laney's only on the max, so there'd have to be another player involved, which means Phoenix pretty much get to take their pick from Onyenwere, Jocelyn Willoughby or DiDi Richards. Willoughby would obviously require yet more medical information to prove she might one day stay healthy enough to play a full month of professional basketball. Any of them again requires the league approving the cap gymnastics in Phoenix around their extra cap-relief roster spot.

Laney heading outwards would be a meaningful cost for New York, but we've seen them survive and work out how to play without her this year. It wouldn't feel like losing a max player because she hasn't been on the floor - they'd just be adding an All-WNBA guard to the mix. And there'd still be a similar level of cap space to go Stewie-hunting in 2023.

Offer: Betnijah Laney, Michaela Onyenwere (or other) for Diggins-Smith

Seattle Storm

Okay, how do you find room for Diggins-Smith on a team with stars at both guard spots, neither of whom would ever be going the other way in the deal? Does Diggins-Smith get to be one of the more deluxe sixth-women in league history?

The one alternative, which might be the only way to construct an even faintly plausible Storm-Mercury deal, is to send Gabby Williams the other way. Maybe Phoenix could talk themselves into the concept of releasing her as the two-way beast we see far more frequently in Europe, almost an Alyssa Thomas-light role where her ballhandling and creation negates the lack of shooting. It's never really happened in the WNBA, but plenty of teams have believed that it could.

Epiphanny Prince is then probably also involved to make the numbers even come close to balancing, with the same theoretical cap juggling happening in Phoenix yet again. Seattle then either go small with Diggins-Smith and Jewell Loyd on the wing for the rest of this year, or Steph Talbot starts and Skylar gets to embrace her role as a backup until Sue Bird gets out of the way.

Yeah, this one isn't likely.

Offer: Gabby Williams, Epiphanny Prince (and probably Seattle's 2023 first-rounder to sweeten the pot) for Diggins-Smith

Washington Mystics

On a player-for-player level, I think this one actually almost works. The deal has to be based around Myisha Hines-Allen. She's shown how good she can be when healthy and given a significant consistent role on a team, but even after signing her big-money new contract in Washington she's still left in the "give her real minutes when Elena's back isn't feeling good" spot. Phoenix get to give her that regular starting position and see if she flourishes again like she did in the bubble in 2020, while still playing the hybrid switchy system they've enjoyed lately - just with someone who's more comfortable surviving at the 4 than Sophie Cunningham.

The problem, yet again, is trying to make the money work. Hines-Allen's $170,000 is $57,900 under what Diggins-Smith is making, and the Mystics have $24,861 of cap space left at time of writing. Adding even their smallest tradeable contract - Rui Machida's $60,471 - leaves Phoenix over the cap (and I was hoping to do this one without theoretical gymnastics). Expanding the deal to include Alysha Clark and Diamond DeShields swapping teams as well ends up an agonising $39 away from being able to fit into Washington's space (as of Monday morning, anyway - Evina Westbrook's third seven-day deal made it less close).

So I cannot find a viable mathematical way to leave both teams under the cap, except by exploiting that same hopeful possibility that the league would let Phoenix use the Griner exception spot in unusual ways. So we're doing it again and leaving the Mercury over the cap.

Phoenix would want Washington's 2023 first-round pick, especially because the swap rights they own with Los Angeles could end up being particularly valuable. Given the talent of Hines-Allen, I think Mike Thibault holds firm and doesn't give that pick up. He doesn't need Diggins-Smith, she'd just be a really nice addition to his perimeter (and could probably play in the backcourt long-term next to Natasha Cloud, with Ariel Atkins sliding to the 3).

Offer: Myisha Hines-Allen, Shatori Walker-Kimbrough (to make the numbers sort of work) for Diggins-Smith

Holy Grail Trade

Everyone has multiple pieces going multiple places here, but this listing is how it works out for each individual team:

• Atlanta trades Erica Wheeler and Kia Vaughn for Isabelle Harrison and Kiah Stokes

• Chicago trades Azura Stevens, Ruthy Hebard and Dana Evans for Emily Engstler, Iliana Rupert and Briann January

• Connecticut trades Brionna Jones, Courtney Williams and Nia Clouden for Aerial Powers, Michaela Onyenwere and Charli Collier

• Dallas trades Isabelle Harrison, Marina Mabrey and Charli Collier for Liz Cambage, Ruthy Hebard and Nia Clouden

• Indiana trades Tiffany Mitchell, Emily Engstler and Lexie Hull for Azura Stevens, Courtney Williams and Crystal Dangerfield

• Las Vegas trades Riquna Williams, Kiah Stokes and Iliana Rupert for Gabby Williams, Bridget Carleton and Megan Gustafson

• Los Angeles trades Liz Cambage, Chennedy Carter and Jasmine Walker for Skylar Diggins-Smith, Shatori-Walker-Kimbrough and Rui Machida

• Minnesota trades Aerial Powers and Bridget Carleton for Brionna Jones and Riquna Williams

• New York trades Betnijah Laney, Michaela Onyenwere and Crystal Dangerfield for Marina Mabrey, Tiffany Mitchell and Jasmine Walker

• Phoenix trades Skylar Diggins-Smith and Megan Gustafson for Myisha Hines-Allen and Kia Vaughn

• Seattle trades Gabby Williams and Briann January for Chennedy Carter and Erica Wheeler

• Washington trades Myisha Hines-Allen, Shatori Walker-Kimbrough and Rui Machida for Betnijah Laney, Lexie Hull and Dana Evans

I'm reasonably sure that this is legal, at least as of Monday morning (a couple of the latest seven-day contracts may have pushed a couple of teams over a line). In fact, several teams who are currently over the salary cap move under the cap as a result of this deal. I also hope it's not completely insane for anyone. Liz Cambage going back to Dallas may be the most absurd part, but I couldn't resist putting that in. Diggins-Smith ends up in LA, in the hope of making a playoff push and attracting some people to fill their roster next season. Lots of teams shake up their benches or take a chance on a different kind of player (Seattle hope their vets can help Chennedy Carter grow, Mabrey goes to New York as Whitcomb's successor, Connecticut turn Brionna Jones into Aerial Powers, and plenty more).

I'm sure you hate it for your team. But as long as you all hate it reasonably equally, I might've done a half-decent job. Plus it means we now have 12 Diggins-Smith trades. Let's hope this article came out before they actually moved her.

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