The WNBA gave us one of the funniest moments of the season Wednesday night, and Kelsey Plum was at the center of it.
With just under eight minutes left in the fourth quarter of the Phoenix Mercury’s game against the Atlanta Dream, Plum sprinted along the sideline chasing a pass. The ball went out of bounds, Plum’s momentum did not, and she ran straight into the arms of Dream head coach Karl Smesko.
Smesko, to his credit, caught her. What could have been a nasty crash into the bench or worse turned into an accidental bear hug between a superstar guard and an opposing head coach. Bleacher Report captured the video, and it spread across sports Twitter in under an hour.
Nobody Got Hurt, Which Is the Actual Story
Injuries in these situations happen all the time. A player at full speed hitting a chair, a camera, or another person can end a season. Plum’s full-speed run into Smesko had all the ingredients for something ugly. Instead, the Dream coach essentially became a human airbag.
Plum is now the face of the Phoenix Mercury after a trade earlier this offseason. That is not a person the team can afford to lose to a fluky sideline collision. The fact that everyone walked away from this laughing is the best possible outcome.
Plum Is Still Adjusting to Phoenix
Wednesday’s game was only Plum’s second with the Mercury. The Los Angeles Sparks shipped her to Phoenix in a package that returned Monique Akoa Makani, a 2027 first-round pick, and a 2028 second-rounder. It was a surprising deal that reset the balance of the Western Conference.
Plum arriving in Phoenix immediately elevates the Mercury’s playoff ceiling. She is a five-time All-Star, a former WNBA champion, and one of the most complete guards in the league. Pairing her with a Mercury roster still finding its identity gives Phoenix a legitimate top-four seed floor with room to climb.
The Karl Smesko Perspective
Smesko has been building the Dream into a legitimate playoff team all season. His squad plays hard, defends the perimeter, and has one of the best young cores in the league. What he probably did not expect on Wednesday was to be part of a viral clip involving a hug from an opposing All-Star.
Coaches on the sideline are constantly at risk in the WNBA. The court is not big. Sightlines get crowded. Players sell out for loose balls. Smesko being close enough to the action to become a landing pad is a testament to how engaged he is with the game, and his reflexes probably saved Plum from a scary landing.
WNBA Rivals Week Is Coming
The league heads into its second annual WNBA Rivals Week from August 8 through August 14, which means 20 more games and 20 more chances for viral content. Plum in a new uniform, playing against high-emotion opponents in a stretch billed as rivalry games, is exactly the type of scenario that produces more of these moments.
The Mercury moved on for a win, Plum kept her ankles intact, and Smesko probably found himself in a group chat all night. Good WNBA content, and nobody got hurt. Everyone wins.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
