The San Antonio Stars traded Monique Currie to the Phoenix Mercury for Shay Murphy and Sophie Brunner.

What does the trade of Mo Currie mean for the San Antonio Stars? Where does it mean they are in progression towards the top of the WNBA ladder? What does the trade mean for the chances of the Phoenix Mercury?

San Antonio Stars

This move smacks of a rebuild on top of a rebuild. Coach Vickie Johnson never really wanted Kelsey Plum, she is more of a Moriah Jefferson fan. Even though the Stars drafted Plum, she is not being utilized anywhere near her full potential.

Trading away Mo Currie, who was keeping the team competitive, is a sure fire sign the Stars are paving the way the younger players to develop into a cohesive unit, in the same way of the Connecticut Sun this season.

Adding Sophie Brunner, a 6-foot-1 rookie forward, means their core is going to be young with Jefferson, Kaya McBribe and Brunner being able to develop together.

Notice Plum is not on the list above. I do not believe she is in Coach Johnson’s plans. It is the inclusion of Shay Murphy in the trade which gives me this idea. Murphy is a competent back-up point guard who was part of the 2014 Mercury Championship team.

As Murphy was part of the trade, either Jefferson or Plum is going to get shipped out. My money is Plum due to the lack of playing time she is receiving. She got four minutes against Minnesota last time they met, all in the first half.

Sequoia Holmes was also cut by the Stars to make room on their roster for the in-coming players. Watch this space for the next Stars trade.

Phoenix Mercury

The Mercury are still on he cusp of being a top tier team.To get to the next level they need support for Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner. They do currently have Sixth Woman Of The Year candidate Leilani Mitchell but she is not enough.

Currie is playing at a level where Phoenix will probably start her over Australian Stephanie Talbot. Currie is such a threat, she is averaging over 10.0 points per game. In games where she is playing more than 25 minutes, she is averaging 17.0 points.

This is a move to help Taurasi hopefully get another Championship before she retires. No one is sure when this will be but at 35, it might be in a year or two.

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