Storm Trade for Brittney Sykes

Seattle makes a big move before the deadline.

Today, the Seattle Storm have announced that they have acquired Brittney Sykes from the Washington Mystics in exchange for the team’s own first-round pick in 2026, Alysha Clark, and Zia Cooke. Clark and another player had to be moved for the Storm to be able to afford Syke’s $195,000 contract. The real prize heading back to Washington is the Storm’s first-round pick. That’s currently slotted as 10th overall in the upcoming 2026 WNBA Draft.

While Seattle moves one of their first-round picks, it still holds onto two additional first-round picks in 2026. They own both the LA Sparks’ and Las Vegas Aces’ first-round picks. Those are currently projected as 3rd and 9th overall. However, the Sparks are making a big playoff push. If the season ended today, LA would miss the playoffs, and combined with their record of 8-32 last season, it would give the Storm a lottery pick. Unfortunately, if trends continue and the Sparks make the playoffs, that pick is more likely to be 8th or 9th overall.

To make matters worse, the Mystics are one of the teams trying to make the playoffs instead of the Sparks. By making this trade, Seattle is helping Los Angeles by decreasing the talent on the Mystics’ roster and decreasing the chances that Washington will make the postseason. That, in turn, hurts the Storm for their future draft pick. It’s convoluted and complicated.

But let’s take a look at the counterargument. As we sit today, the Mystics are only 1/2 game ahead of Los Angeles in the standings. Washington has lost the first two games against LA already in their head-to-head matchup. The Mystics are 5-5 over their last 10 games. The Sparks are 7-3, and they’ve also won six out of their last seven games. Even if the Mystics didn’t trade away Sykes, there is a high chance that the Sparks were going to overtake them in the standings either way.

The Storm’s Front Office and ownership may also be looking at this season with the hope that they can still compete for a Championship. Adding Brittney Sykes should help them in that regard. While the team has been headed in the wrong direction over the past month (playing as the fourth-worst team in the league), they are still just 2.5 games out of having the second-best record in the WNBA with 15 games to play. If they can turn things around, they could still finish in the Top 4, which makes the pick they gave away less valuable and increases their chances of contending in the playoffs.

Seattle might also have looked at both the Napheesa Collier ankle injury in Minnesota and the Breanna Stewart knee injury in New York, and decided to put all their chips in to try and win the whole thing this season. I wrote just the other day that if I had to bet, those two teams will still rematch in the WNBA Finals, but I wouldn’t be shocked if we had a season where an unexpected Champion happened. Similar to when the Chicago Sky, who finished the regular season 16-16, won the WNBA title in 2021. This year, we could see the Indiana Fever, Atlanta Dream, Phoenix Mercury, or possibly the Seattle Storm win it all.

I have no doubt that the addition of Brittney Sykes should improve the Storm for this final push, even if she doesn’t fit 100% of what they need. Sykes was named as an All-Star replacement this season and is having one of the best seasons of her WNBA career. She’s averaging 15.2 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 4.4 APG, and 1.2 SPG. Maybe just as important is that she’s an elite perimeter defender. She’s been named All-WNBA First or Second Defensive Team four times over the past handful of years. The combination of having both Sykes and Gabby Williams defending the perimeter should improve the Storm’s already talented defense. That could also be critical in a playoff series, if they’re having to defend players like Kayla McBride, Courtney Williams, Jackie Young, Chelsea Gray, Jewell Loyd, Caitlin Clark, Kelsey Mitchell, Rhyne Howard, Allisha Gray, etc. Pairing Sykes up with Gabby should be similar to what the team envisioned before this season started, with Williams and Jordan Horston together.

By trading away Alysha Clark and Zia Cooke, the team has freed up around $56,000 in salary cap space. It is possible, they could sign an unrestricted free agent to go along with this move. They can’t trade for another player unless they package either Lexie Brown or Katie Lou Samuelson in a second trade because teams have to take on the full-year’s salary in a trade versus signing a free agent for a pro-rated salary (what they did with both Mackenzie Holmes and Tiffany Mitchell).

Sykes was practicing with the Mystics just before the trade was announced. She might be at the game tonight, but I wouldn’t expect to see her suit up until their road game against Las Vegas on Friday.

Let me know your thoughts on the trade in the comments section! Are you excited for the trade? Do you think this will help the Storm get back on track and compete for a championship? Or do you think they gave up too much for a “rental” player?

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