The Sky traded Gabby Williams to the Los Angeles Sparks in exchange for rookie Stephanie Watts and the rights to Leonie Fiebich, the team confirmed to the Chicago Sun-Times on Sunday.
Williams will remain on the suspended list for the 2021 season to honor her French national team commitments, the Sparks said.
“We’re excited to bring Gabby Williams into the L.A. Sparks organization,” general manager and coach Derek Fisher said. “At just 24 years old, Gabby is a versatile player who still has the potential to make a major impact in this league. She fits into what we’re building in Los Angeles and we look forward to the future with her in a Sparks uniform.”
This trade has been in the works since draft night.
A league source told the Sun-Times that the Sky were looking to include Williams in a trade package, and the Sparks were one of the teams being targeted. Ultimately, coach and general manager James Wade selected Shyla Heal with the eighth overall pick as planned.
The Sky put Williams on the full-season suspended list Thursday. Williams did not publicly respond to the decision immediately but expressed displeasure on her social media accounts, liking various tweets that said, “Free Gabby.”
On Saturday evening, Williams tweeted, “Wait... is this my villain origin story...” further developing the narrative that this was not a mutually agreed parting.
Wade dismissed that idea.
“We have a goal in mind,” Wade said before the Sky’s preaseaon game against the Fever Sunday morning. “We needed our group of 11. We have players like [Stefanie Dolson and Astou Ndour] who are going to leave for the national team. They made it a priority to be here. We didn’t want to put our players behind the eight-ball because we start the season with only eight or nine when we didn’t have to.”
Williams was drafted by former Sky coach Amber Stocks with the fourth overall pick in the 2018 draft. In three seasons with the Sky she averaged 6.8 points, 3.4 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.2 steals in 20.8 minutes per game. She started 30 games her rookie season before becoming a key contributor off the bench in her final two seasons with the Sky. She had a standout season with Sopron in Hungary earning Defensive Player of the Year and being named to the All-EuroLeague Women First Team in 2021.
As a player on the full-season suspended list, Williams will not get paid and her salary will not be on the Sparks’ cap sheet. Williams had an unprotected $70,040 salary with the Sky, according to HerHoopStats.
Watts was the No. 10 overall pick in the 2021 WNBA Draft from North Carolina and Fiebich is a guard from Germany selected No. 22 overall in the 2020 draft.
The Sky lost to the Fever, 82-65 in their first preseason game. The team will play its final preseason game on Tuesday, May 11 at 3:30 p.m. at Wintrust Arena against the Fever.
“Our offense will come,” Dolson said. “Defensively we played hard. We got some steals, pressured the ball really hard and rebounded ok. A lot of good things that we can improve upon.”
