Storm Trade Tracker
The Seattle Storm announced that they have traded Swin Cash, Le’coe Willingham, and the 23rd pick in the 2nd round of the draft to the Chicago Sky to move up in the draft to get the overall 2nd pick.
The 2nd pick will be the highest the Storm have had since the 2001 and 2002 season when they had the top pick.
Cash was the biggest prize for the Sky, as she has won 3 WNBA titles, 2 with Detroit and 1 with Seattle, and in 4 years with the Storm she averaged 12.7 ppg, 6.2 rpg, and 2.2 assists per game. Last season she had another solid campaign averaging 13.2 ppg and 6.9 rpg.
Cash not only won the WNBA title in the 2010 season in Seattle, but she was the All Star MVP in the 2009 and 2011 seasons.
Willingham has won 2 WNBA titles, one with Phoenix and one in Seattle, and last season she averaged 6.4 ppg and 4.2 rpg.
The move also creates some salary cap space for the Storm so they can go out and sign a free agent or two.
Swin Cash Traded To Chicago
When talking about the trade Storm Head Coach and General Manager Brian Agler stated, “We’ve spent a lot of time analyzing our current needs and what it will take to win another championship.
We believe this trade positions us for short- and long-term success by adding a lottery pick and creating a substantial amount of salary cap space for free agency.”
The Storm finished 2nd in the Western Conference last season and lost to the Phoenix Mercury in the Western Conference semifinals.
The loss last season to the Mercury in the conference semis was a tough one to swallow, as they won the first game and then lost the next 2 and lost game 3 in OT.
Cash was not only valuable on offense last season, but on the boards and in my opinion Seattle needs to pick up a player that can help them on the boards in the draft or in free agency.
The L.A. Sparks have the top pick in the draft and while it assumed they will take Stanford F Nnemkadi Ogwumike, the Storm have many options with the 2nd pick such as Tennessee’s Glory Johnson and Shekinna Stricklen, G Tiffany Hayes of UCONN, Samantha Prahalis from Ohio State, and Shenise Johnson and Riquna Williams from Miami.
About Jason Green
