Liberty acquire Vaughn, Hartley, send Swords to Storm in 3-team deal

As per the WNBA website, the New York Liberty, Seattle Storm, and Washington Mystics have completed a three-team, six-player trade last Monday.

Here's a quick recap of who's going where:

Liberty receive: Kia Vaughn, Bria Hartley

Storm receive: Carolyn Swords, Mystics' 15th pick in the 2017 WNBA draft

Mystics receive: Storm's 6th and 18th picks in the 2017 WNBA draft


The Mystics have obviously been very active in the offseason so far. Though not officially announced yet, it has been widely reported that Washington will be landing superstar Elena Delle Donne in exchange for Stefanie Dolson, Kahleah Copper, and a pick.

After those two deals, the Mystics will have many roster spots to fill. They will Leilani Mitchell, Tayler Hill, Ivory Latta, Tiera Ruffin-Pratt, and Natasha Cloud in their backcourt while Emma Meesseman, LaToya Sanders, Ally Malott, and Delle Donne.

They will have a bunch of draft picks in return, and here are a handful of good names potentially available in the 2017 draft, like Alaina Coates, Diamond DeShields, Kelsey Plum, and Alexis Jones, to name a few.

Washington will also lose their two best centers--Dolson and Vaughn. It would be interesting to see how they fill those spots and if they will activate Sara Krnjic and Jelena Milovanovic. The Mystics still own the rights to those two Serbians.


For the Storm, landing Swords bolsters their frontcourt rotation. Aside from Crystal Langhorne and Breanna Stewart, the Storm do not have a solid interior presence. Swords can fill that absence right away and be an effective regular rotation player. While certainly not the best center in the WNBA right now, Swords can definitely help with rebounding, rim protection, and providing a post option. That will also help Stewart focus on the four spot, though she has what it takes to play center for certain stretches.


New York, meanwhile, just got even deeper with this deal. The Liberty have a loaded guard rotation which includes Sugar Rodgers, Brittany Boyd, Tanisha Wright, Epiphanny Prince, and Schoni Schimmel. Rebecca Allen will likely step up for Swin Cash.

Having Vaughn in the middle will make life a bit easier for Tina Charles as well. Though Vaughn isn't getting any younger anymore, she can still contribute with her post game, rebounding, and even spacing up to the mid-range. Having her to mentor younger bigs like Kiah Stokes and Amanda Zahui B will also be beneficial for the Liberty.

Henry, Gray swap places

Earlier in January, the Atlanta Dream welcomed Aneika Henry back into their line-up in a trade which sent Reshanda Gray to the Connecticut Sun.

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