With the 2017 WNBA Draft just a few hours away, the intrigue surrounding where presumed number one pick Kelsey Plum will play her professional career is roiling the league.
The San Antonio Stars currently hold the top overall pick, but The Summitt has learned that no final decision has been communicated as to whether to draft Plum or accept the trade offers on the table from multiple other WNBA teams.
“Who knows,” one WNBA talent evaluator put it. “Lot of indecision going around.”
While the Stars understand that Plum is the best available talent in the draft, a roster already featuring a backcourt of Moriah Jefferson and Kayla McBride would leave them with two options for Plum: either start her in a three-guard set, which would be hard to defend but leave them small on the defensive end, or utilize one of their three most valuable players off the bench.
Both Seattle and Minnesota have rosters with veteran point guards in Sue Bird and Lindsay Whalen, respectively, and no clear succession plan at the position. Plum could start at the off guard position in the meantime for either team, and Jewell Loyd’s name has come up in talks, though it is unclear what it would take to convince Seattle to deal Loyd.
Without Loyd in any deal, it is hard to see how Seattle can make the trade, and Loyd’s presence might well require a third team, since Loyd presents San Antonio with the same roster crunch.
For her part, Plum did not shy away from expressing a fondness for Seattle, should a deal between the Stars and Storm get consummated.
I would be so excited to stay home #APWNBA
— Kelsey Plum (@Kelseyplum10) April 13, 2017
Meanwhile, the league remains in a holding pattern, eager to see whether the Stars accept one of the offers on the table for Kelsey Plum. In her first WNBA Draft, Ruth Riley truly is… on the clock.