Storm acquire All-Star guard Brittney Sykes in trade with Mystics
The Seattle Storm have acquired All-Star guard Brittney Sykes in a trade with the Washington Mystics, the team announced Tuesday.
The Storm sent forward Alysha Clark, guard Zia Cooke and one of their 2026 first-round draft picks to the Mystics in return for Sykes.
The trade comes just over a month before the playoffs, as the faltering sixth-ranked Storm scramble to maintain a top-eight playoff position.
Sykes, 31, who is in her ninth WNBA season, will add veteran leadership to a team highly dependent on its older players and provide lockdown defense as a four-time WNBA All-Defensive Team selection.
She led the league in steals across two seasons, 2021-22, averaging 1.8 and 2.0 per game, respectively. Sykes will join forces with Storm forward Gabby Williams, who currently leads the WNBA in steals per game with 2.6; both players were first-time All-Stars this year. Sykes was tapped as an injury replacement for Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark.
The Syracuse-product is averaging 15.4 points, 4.3 assists and 1.2 steals per game as she heads to Seattle. She is shooting 31.8% from beyond the arc.
Clark returned to the Emerald City this season for her second stint with the Storm, after playing for them across the first nine years of her career and helping to win the 2018 and 2020 WNBA titles. She played a total of 300 games, the fifth most in franchise history.
Clark was a regular starter and key contributor between the 2015 and 2020 seasons, averaging 10 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.5 steals per game at the height of her career in 2020. She was twice-named All-Defensive Team (2019-20)
The 38-year-old averaged 3.5 points, 2.4 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 0.7 steals across 18.0 minutes per game this season prior to the trade.
Cooke was in her first season with the Storm, drafted No.10 overall by the Los Angeles Sparks in 2023 and spending the past two seasons there.
The 24-year-old was averaging 3.3 points, 0.5 rebounds and 0.5 assists across 10.4 minutes per game prior to the trade. She has shot a career-high 38.2% from beyond the arc.