Los Angeles Sparks guard Kelsey Plum is a team player.
Plum signed a one-year, $999K deal with the Sparks on Sunday, per ESPN’s Shams Charania. The two-time champion was in line for a $1.4M supermax contract but opted for a deal that gave L.A. more financial flexibility.
Explaining how Kelsey Plum signing this contract helps the Sparks
Unlike the NBA, which has a soft salary cap, the WNBA operates under a hard salary cap, like the NFL. That means teams have to be much more mindful of their spending in free agency so they don’t exceed the cap, or else they could be subject to fines and other penalties (including the loss of draft picks).
Plum taking less money helps the Sparks stay under the cap, which is imperative after the team made aggressive moves early in free agency. On Saturday, L.A. re-signed star forward Dearica Hamby to a three-year, $3.5M deal. The franchise is also in the process of reuniting with fellow forward Nneka Ogwumike. She played her first 12 seasons with the Sparks but spent the last two with the Seattle Storm.