PHOENIX – The three-time WNBA Champion Phoenix Mercury today acquired All-Star wing and 2021 champion Diamond DeShields from the Chicago Sky in a sign-and-trade deal, the team announced. The deal was part of a three-team trade between the Mercury, Sky and Indiana Fever. Phoenix sent its 2023 first-round pick to the Sky, and sent guard Bria Hartley and second-round picks in 2022 and 2023 to the Fever; Indiana sent the contract of Julie Allemand to Chicago in exchange for the Sky’s 2022 and 2023 first-round picks.
Mercury General Manager Jim Pitman: “Diamond DeShields is as dynamic an athlete as we have in our league and at just 26 years old has already been a champion, an All-Star and an All-WNBA performer. She was one of our top targets this offseason because of her ability to score and defend from the wing position and how dangerous she is in the open floor. We are thrilled to add Diamond to our All-Star core.”
“We also want to thank Bria Hartley for her contributions while in a Mercury uniform and everything she did to return to the court last season following injury in the Bubble. We loved having Bria and her son Bryson in Phoenix and wish them the best in Indiana.”
In just four seasons in the WNBA, DeShields has been a champion (2021), an All-Star (2019), an All-WNBA Second Team selection (2019), and an All-Rookie Team honoree (2018). The 6-foot-1 wing owns career averages of 13.2 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.2 steals in 113 career games (89 starts). A combination of speed and size, DeShields’ ability to run the floor and slash has contributed to averaging nearly four free-throw attempts per game for her career and she has shot 82.9 percent from the line in those opportunities.
Originally the third overall pick in the 2018 WNBA Draft by Chicago, DeShields has averaged double-digit scoring in three of her four seasons, including 11.3 points a season ago, and a career-high 16.2 points in 2019. She won the All-Star Skills Challenge championship at the 2019 All-Star Game.
The daughter of former Major League Baseball player Delino DeShields and sister of current MLB player Delino DeShields, Jr., she is currently playing for Schio in Italy.
Led by the 2021 Olympic gold-medal winning trio of Diana Taurasi, Brittney Griner and Skylar Diggins-Smith, and coming off the club’s fifth WNBA Finals appearance in franchise history, the three-time WNBA Champion Phoenix Mercury return to Footprint Center this summer, tipping off the season with Fry’s Food Stores Opening Night on Friday, May 6, against the Las Vegas Aces.