The Kansas City Current acquired USWNT midfielder Samantha Mewis via trade with the North Carolina Courage, the team announced on Tuesday. The Courage will receive defender Kiki Pickett and Kansas City's first-round pick in the upcoming 2022 NWSL Draft. In a separate transaction, North Carolina acquired the discovery rights of Malia Berkely from Kansas City in exchange for North Carolina's first-round pick in the draft.
To sum the two transactions:
Kansas City Current get:
- Sam Mewis, midfielder
- Courage's natural first-round pick in the 2022 NWSL Draft
North Carolina Courage get:
- Kiki Pickett, defender
- Discovery rights of Malia Berkely (Girondins de Bordeaux forward)
- Current's natural first-round pick in the 2022 NWSL Draft
The move is the latest in NWSL offseason trades ahead of the upcoming expansion draft where new franchises Angel City FC and San Diego Wave FC will select players from existing teams. CBS Sports Network, Paramount+ and CBS Sports HQ will carry the 2022 Expansion Draft on Thursday, Dec. 16 at 7 p.m. ET, followed by the 2022 NWSL Draft, scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 18 at 2 p.m. ET -- both events are in Los Angeles, California.
"With the upcoming expansion draft, which allows clubs to only protect one allocated player, we were put in a position to make some difficult decisions," Courage president and GM Curt Johnson said. "It was important to proactively seek trade partners as opposed to wait and lose an allocated player for little in return.
"In this particular case, proactive change was a must and with it comes three fantastic young players."
Kansas City Current rated the 22-year-old Pickett highly when she left Stanford to go pro, trading a record-setting $175,000 in allocation money to select the Stanford fullback at No. 4 overall in the 2021 draft.
With the Flash and Courage, Mewis won three NWSL Championships (2016, 2018, 2019) and appeared in four straight title matches. She was named to the NWSL Best XI and was a NWSL MVP Finalist in 2017. Mewis has 21 career goals in 92 regular season appearances, plus another four goals in eight playoff appearances. She brings winning experience with a World Cup title, three NWSL championships, a NCAA Championship and a FA Cup title, along with individual awards.
