Former Hopewell star Shatori Walker-Kimbrough acquired by WNBA's Liberty

NEW YORK — For the first time in her WNBA career, Shatori Walker-Kimbrough will wear a different uniform.

The New York Liberty traded seven-time All-Star Tina Charles in a three-team deal Wednesday that involved Walker-Kimbrough. Charles will go to the Washington Mystics in exchange for Walker-Kimbrough, the No. 12 pick in Friday’s WNBA Draft and a 2021 first-, second- and third-rounder. The Liberty traded that 2021 first-round pick and their own 2021 second-rounder to the Dallas Wings for guard Tayler Hill and Dallas’ 2020 Nos. 9 and 15 picks.

Walker-Kimbrough, who was a standout three-sport athlete at Hopewell before going on to play basketball at Maryland, is a three-year WNBA veteran. In three seasons with the Mystics, the guard averaged 5.2 points, shot 41.3% from the field and 90.9% from the free-throw line.

Last season, her 6.7 points per game were a career best. She scored a career-high 17 points in a June game against Los Angeles.

The trade has answered a few key questions with what the Liberty, Mystics and Wings plan to do with their rosters for the upcoming season.

The Wings, until Wednesday, controlled the first round of this year’s draft. Dallas held four picks but already had a full roster and leaders in Arike Ogunbowale and Katie Lou Samuelson looking to rebound from last season. And the Mystics, who won their first WNBA championship in 2019 — and are still waiting to have their championship parade thanks to the coronavirus pandemic — re-signed reigning MVP Elena Delle Donne and Finals MVP Emma Meesseman.

Liberty coach Walt Hopkins said Monday that “Tina Charles is with the Liberty … Anybody else you haven’t heard of … we’ll just keep our options open.”

But the first-year coach never committed to Charles or any of the other players when asked for updates of the 2019 roster. When Hopkins inked his deal with the Liberty, general manager Jonathan Kolb said the plan for the coming season would be to outfit the team to put Hopkins and the Liberty in the best position.

Charles’ name mostly had been left out of the conversation — save for rumors the famed center would be heading to the Phoenix Mercury — until Monday. But as Hopkins also said: “We’re really trying to feel out any possibility to make our team better.”

The 10-year veteran had been with the team since 2014 and had been named to four All-WNBA teams and earned All-Defensive honors twice during her time in New York. Charles, a Queens native, who attended Christ the King High School before starring at UConn, entered the league as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 draft by the Connecticut Sun.

The two-time Olympic gold medalist, 31, made 200 starts for the Liberty during which she joined fellow Christ the King star and WNBA legend Chamique Holdsclaw in an exclusive category — leading the league in points and rebounds in the same season (2016 for Charles, 2002 for Holdsclaw).

“Tina Charles is a name that will forever be synonymous with New York basketball,” Kolb said in a statement. “Over the past six seasons, Tina has cemented herself not only in the Liberty record books, but in the hearts of New Yorkers everywhere due to her tireless and selfless work in the community. On behalf of the New York Liberty organization I thank Tina and wish her well in Washington.”

The Liberty now control six picks in the 2020 draft — three in the first round (1, 9 and 12), two second-round picks (13 and 15) and a third-rounder (26) — the most picks the franchise has ever held in a single draft.

Hopkins had reviewed all the prospects in this year’s pool, including standouts from Oregon, South Carolina and Baylor. Each powerhouse program has at least two players expected to go early in the draft, headlined by Ducks star Sabrina Ionescu.

Hopkins referred to each of the prospects he was interested in as “a cornerstone depending how you use them,” “a player to build around,” and “someone who would fit the system well.”

Ionescu is the presumed No. 1 pick, so it is safe to conclude not only are Hopkins and Kolb looking to build around her, they also are looking to rebuild their roster starting with Friday’s draft.

Barring a shocking move on Friday night, Ionescu will join All-Star Kia Nurse, 2019 No. 2 pick Asia Durr, French guard Marine Johannes and veteran point guard Layshia Clarendon as the foundation of the franchise as it moves to the Barclays Center under new owner Joe Tsai. But the rebirth of the franchise will take place without Charles.