The Aces, boasting a WNBA-leading six-game win streak, are hitting their stride with what reigning MVP A\u2019ja Wilson recently called a \u201cwhole new group.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the midst of all of those victories, it\u2019s easy to forget how their season started \u2014 with plenty of social media discourse criticizing the move to trade guard Kelsey Plum to the Los Angeles <\/a>Sparks<\/a>.<\/p>\n In a candid conversation on retired Seattle Storm star Sue Bird\u2019s podcast \u201cBirds Eye View\u201d published Friday, Plum opened up about parting ways with the Aces after seven seasons and two WNBA championships.<\/p>\n Plum confirmed the Las Vegas Review-Journal\u2019s reporting that she requested the trade despite being offered a contract extension, but also offered more details that led to her decision.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that every year you come back and you\u2019re playing on a great team, you\u2019re willing to sacrifice and do whatever it takes. But I think there\u2019s a point where you start to feel underappreciated,\u201d Plum said. \u201cI needed a fresh start personally, I needed a fresh start professionally. And I felt like my growth was kind of capped in Vegas.\u201d<\/p>\n She added that not feeling special on an excellent team can be a common feeling, but cited compounding factors that came into play during the Aces\u2019 2024 campaign, which ended in the semifinals of the WNBA playoffs at the hands of the New York Liberty.<\/p>\n The largest of those factors was her divorce from former Raiders tight end Darren <\/a>Waller<\/a>, which Plum told Bird hit her \u201cout of left field.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI had to deal with that in the season, which even to this day, I would say I look back now as one of my proudest things \u2014 I just played. I showed up and played and I had the best attitude I could, because that was awful to go through. \u2026 And you\u2019re dealing with it publicly.\u201d<\/p>\n Plum credited Aces coach Becky Hammon, along with former assistants Tyler Marsh and Natalie Nakase for being her \u201csafe space\u201d throughout the emotional proceedings.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m super grateful because they were not only super supportive, they were like a lockbox,\u201d Plum said. \u201cThere were a lot of things that people could have leaked about the situation that they didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n Feeling valued<\/p>\n Throughout the nearly two-hour conversation with Bird, Plum often revisited the idea of having to prove herself throughout her career.<\/p>\n She was drafted No. 1 by the San Antonio Stars in 2017, which would later move to Las Vegas and draft A\u2019ja Wilson.<\/p>\n Plum said that former coach Bill Laimbeer was blunt early in their relationship in telling her that he intended to trade her for Moriah Jefferson. But Plum persevered and stayed on the roster, winning Sixth Player of the Year for the Aces in 2021.<\/p>\n Laimbeer\u2019s daughter has since told Plum that he is proud of her, which Plum said meant a lot.<\/p>\n But Plum still had to prove herself as a starter when Hammon was hired to take over after the 2021 season, a story that Hammon also told before Plum\u2019s return to Las Vegas<\/a> on May 30.<\/p>\n As a key player on Hammon\u2019s Aces squad, Plum talked about the joy of the team\u2019s championship in 2022 and how the second a year later was \u201cway harder.\u201d<\/p>\n After that, the sacrifices started to weigh on Plum, as the Aces have famously constructed the rosters of their key players to benefit the organization.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to be here, but I have to take less (money) again,\u201d Plum said. \u201cAnd then, yeah, I\u2019ll set cross screens and back screens for (Wilson) all day. But you start to feel like, OK, am I becoming the fourth option? And we\u2019re not winning. So that also feels frustrating, and I think there\u2019s egos involved.\u201d<\/p>\n Plum was given the core designation before she was traded, which works like an NFL franchise tag and would\u2019ve guaranteed her the WNBA\u2019s supermax contract for a year.<\/p>\n She was the Aces\u2019 second-leading scorer in 2024 behind Wilson with 17.8 points per game, but it\u2019s understandable that Plum would want more touches. Even this year, Hammon has asserted that it\u2019s difficult to spread the wealth between Wilson, Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young. Plum was replaced in the trade by former Storm guard Jewell Loyd, who has played the last 10 games off the bench in order to get more shots up as the centerpiece of the second unit.<\/p>\n \u201cI know I have a lot more in the tank and I know I can lead,\u201d Plum said. \u201cThe opportunity is not here.\u201d<\/p>\n Plum is currently leading the Sparks (16-17) with 20.2 points and 6.1 assists per game. She\u2019ll meet the Aces again on Sept. 11.<\/p>\n Contact Callie Fin at cfin@reviewjournal.com.<\/a> Follow @CallieJLaw<\/a> on X.<\/p>\n Up next<\/p>\n Who: Wings at Aces<\/p>\n When: 12:30 p.m. Sunda<\/p>\n Where: Michelob Ultra Arena<\/p>\n TV: ABC<\/p>\n Radio: KWWN (1100 AM, 100.9 FM)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Aces, boasting a WNBA-leading six-game win streak, are hitting their stride with what reigning MVP A\u2019ja Wilson…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":151811,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[62,67,132,68,232],"class_list":{"0":"post-151810","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-united-states","10":"tag-unitedstates","11":"tag-us","12":"tag-wnba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151810\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}