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WNBA Free Agency Day 3: Skylar Diggins-Smith traded from Dallas Wings to Phoenix Mercury

Photo Credit: Jon Lopez/NBAE/Getty Images

The 2020 episode of WNBA Free Agency is the gift that simply keeps on giving.

As if the first couple of days were not eventful enough with headline signings and blockbuster trades, a deal that had been rumored for a day or two finally became official on Wednesday when it was announced that Skylar Diggins-Smith, now formerly of the Dallas Wings was traded to the Phoenix Mercury.

If we may have thought that the Mercury were seeing its window for a championship close after the DeWanna Bonner trade, we thought wrong. The philosophy of the Mercury now appears to be to give one more try at a championship before Diana Taurasi retires.

The deal sends the fifth and seventh picks in the 2020 draft plus a 2021 first round pick to the Wings. In the first round of this year’s draft, the Wings hold the 2nd, 5th, 7th and 9th overall selections – a third of all first-round selections.

Dallas may not have won the draft lottery (that honor went to the New York Liberty), but with all of the wheeling and dealing Greg Bibb has done the last two offseasons, the Wings have done the next best thing. Dallas has now turned the trades of Liz Cambage and Skylar Diggins-Smith between this offseason and last offseason into three draft picks along with coming second in the draft lottery.

As for the Mercury … Diggins-Smith plus Taurasi in the backcourt plus the presence of Griner in the paint? Look out X-Factor … some scintillating basketball is coming the way of the Madhouse in 2020.

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