---
title: "Kelsey Plum joins Phoenix Mercury in Chicago; 106-101 win boosts playoff push"
sdDatePublished: "2026-08-06T09:18:00Z"
source: "https://www.olympics.com/en/news/kelsey-plum-phoenix-mercury-48-hour-turnaround-20-points-debut-21-minutes"
topics:
  - name: "basketball"
    identifier: "medtop:20000851"
  - name: "sport"
    identifier: "medtop:15000000"
locations:
  - "Los Angeles"
  - "Chicago"
  - "Phoenix"
  - "Portland"
---


Kelsey Plum joins Phoenix Mercury in Chicago; 106-101 win boosts playoff push

Basketball: Kelsey Plum joins Phoenix Mercury in 48-hour turnaround to score 20 points in debut 21 minutes

Basketball: Kelsey Plum joins Phoenix Mercury in 48-hour turnaround to score 20 points in debut 21 minutes

After a "multiverse" of midseason deadline trades, return from injury, and a quick debut turnaround, Kelsey Plum has arrived as a Phoenix Mercury player.

Kelsey Plum woke up last weekend on the Los Angeles Sparks roster and went back to work on Monday as a Mercury Pheonix player.

Emerging from a 24-hour Spider-man-esque “ multiverse ” of a midseason trade deadline, Plum made her Phoenix debut a day after travelling with the Sparks to play the Portland Fire.

Instead, within her first 21 minutes in a Pheonix jersey against the Chicago Sky on Monday (4 August), she had scored 20 points in her new side’s 106-101 win.

"I was overwhelmed. All of this happened very fast, very unexpected," Plum said.

"It's been a crazy 48 hours but to be received like that by my teammates, from the staff, from the organization, I'm just super grateful. I can't say how thankful I am to go out there and compete tonight."

It was the first game she has played for any team since 21 June, when she suffered a lower leg injury.

Before the injury this season, the two-time WNBA champion and five-time All-Star has averaged nearly 24 points per game.

The trade saw Monique Akoa Makani go the other way, as well as a 2027 first-round pick, and a 2028 second-round pick to the Sparks.

The Phoenix are looking for a playoff push, sitting three spots outside of the postseason places. Plum, who is on a one-year contract and will become a free agent in the offseason, will be a key figure for the Mercury over the next two months.

Already, Plum has shown promising signs of integrating into Pheonix's core star lineup of Kahleah Copper and Alyssa Thomas . The trio were all part of Team USA’s Paris 2024 gold medal-winning team, along with Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts .

"I'm coming in being very adaptable, having a level of humility," Plum said. "[Copper and Thomas] are great players and they play with great players. So I'm trying to learn fast. I have to trust my instincts. I've played with a lot of great players before so it's just being decisive. It'll come easier than people expect."