The biggest trade in NBA history just happened. What’s the WNBA equivalent?

In WNBA terms … well, there really isn’t a WNBA equivalent for this. Because there’s a lot going on for the Mavs: there’s likely overweighted but serious concern about Doncic’s seriousness about maintaining peak performance; there’s reluctance to negotiate on another supermax; there’s how light the return was for a player of his age and caliber.

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It’s the equivalent of Liz Cambage getting traded from Dallas not because she asked out but because showing up to training camp in shape became an issue sooner than it actually did.

It’s the equivalent of Kelly Loeffler spending too much money on Donald Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign and needing to trade Angel McCoughtry because she couldn’t afford to give McCoughtry a supermax.

It’s the equivalent of the Lindsay Whalen trade if Connecticut didn’t get the ability to draft Tina Charles in exchange.

The impossibility of crafting a WNBA equivalent of how shocking this trade is isn’t just because star trades in league history almost always involve a protracted period after the star directly asks out. The only players of even comparable ability to Doncic at the time of their trade were Jonquel Jones, Elena Delle Donne, Sylvia Fowles and Lindsay Whalen. The Fowles trade was the only one of those four which did not return impact veteran talent and a quality upcoming first-round pick; in Fowles’ case, it was because she held out for an entire offseason and half of a season to get to a team with next to no moveable assets.

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Theoretically, some examples of what truly comparable trades would look like:

• The exact same Fowles trade except before she even asks out of Chicago
• The exact same Becky Hammon trade except she finishes top three in MVP voting in 2005 and 2006
• Courtney Vandersloot is traded in 2019 for Morgan Tuck and a future second-round pick
• The Comets don’t win any titles and Tina Thompson is traded in 2001 for a package headlined by Eva Nemcova
• Liz Cambage and Kaela Davis are traded in 2018 for Chiney Ogwumike, Shekinna Stricklen and a second-round pick

None are perfect fits for this NBA stunner. But check back with me in six months if the Fever trade Caitlin Clark and Damiris Dantas for Shakira Austin, Sika Koné and a bad first-round pick.

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Howard Megdal, founder and editor of The Next and The IX, just announced his latest book. It captures both the historic nature of Caitlin Clark’s rise and the critical context over the previous century that helped make it possible. Interviews with Clark, Lisa Bluder, C. Vivian Stringer, Jan Jensen, Molly Kazmer and so many others were vital to the process.

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Order ‘Becoming Caitlin Clark’ and save 30%

Howard Megdal, founder and editor of The Next and The IX, just announced his latest book. It captures both the historic nature of Caitlin Clark’s rise and the critical context over the previous century that helped make it possible. Interviews with Clark, Lisa Bluder, C. Vivian Stringer, Jan Jensen, Molly Kazmer and so many others were vital to the process.

If you enjoy his coverage of women’s basketball every Wednesday at The IX, you will love “Becoming Caitlin Clark: The Unknown Origin Story of a Modern Basketball Superstar.” Click the link below to preorder and enter MEGDAL30 at checkout.