Williams Dealt to StingRays

The trade bringing Natalie Williams to the Long Beach StingRays was completed Wednesday, but not in a way many had anticipated.

Williams, the ABL’s most valuable player, leading scorer and rebounder last season, moves from the Portland Power to Long Beach, as predicted. But Long Beach’s 6-4 all-star, Yolanda Griffith, goes to Chicago, not Portland.

Williams forced the trade April 1 when she exercised a contract clause that compelled the league to trade her to Long Beach. She owns a home in nearby Seal Beach.

Griffith initially resisted going to Portland but as recently as Tuesday had softened, and had agreed, somewhat unhappily, to go to Portland, her agent said.

But the trade changed during Wednesday’s day-long series of conference calls.

Here’s how the deal, the biggest in the brief two-year history of U.S. women’s pro basketball, played out:

* Williams, after two seasons at Portland, is a StingRay.

* Griffith goes to her hometown, joining Chicago’s expansion team.

* And instead of Griffith, Portland gets Chicago’s first overall draft pick, the first pick of the third round, and 6-foot-3 Tracy Henderson from the defunct Atlanta Glory. The Power already had its own No. 8 first-round pick.

Williams, playing now for the U.S. team that will compete in the World Championships in Germany in June, averaged 21.9 points and 11.6 rebounds last season. She led Portland on a last-to-first drive, the Power winning the ABL Western Conference title after finishing last in 1997.

Griffith, 28, and Williams, 27, were the only ABL players with double-digit rebound averages last season. Griffith finished fourth in scoring and second to Williams in rebounding.

Tuesday night, it looked like a straight-up deal, Williams for Griffith.

“She’s agreed to go to Portland, but she’s not happy about it,” said Griffith’s agent, Ernest Ruffin.

“She looked at every conceivable option where she could stay in Long Beach, but we all finally concluded there were none.”

Griffith is from Florida Atlantic University and played three pro seasons in Germany. Williams was a basketball-volleyball All-American at UCLA.

Long Beach General Manager Bill McGillis said the deal may prompt more changes in his and Coach Maura McHugh’s roster. ‘

“We now have two true centers in Natalie and Venus Lacy,” he said. “We haven’t talked about anymore moves now and we have no offers on the table to move any of our players. But over the next couple of weeks I expect to field some offers for some of our players.

“We’re extremely disappointed to be losing Yolanda Griffith, obviously. But we’re getting a franchise player who, like Yo, is a class act. Those two, you’re talking about two of the best three or four players in the world.”

Griffith wasn’t talking Wednesday, but league CEO Gary Cavalli tried to speak for her.

“She’d probably still want to remain in Long Beach, but Yolanda is a consummate team player, she believes in the ABL and she knows pros get traded,” he said.

Ruffin, Griffith’s agent, said she was adamant about wanting to remain in Long Beach, where her daughter, Candace, was happy in school.

For Portland, Henderson falls far short of adequate compensation for Williams. An Atlanta rookie last season, she averaged 9.9 points and 4.2 rebounds in playing 24 minutes a game for a 15-29 team.

And don’t look for other ABL players to get contract clauses that allow them to force trades.

“A year ago, after Natalie had completed her first ABL contract, the WNBA was making a strong run at her,” Cavalli said.

“She decided to remain in the ABL but wanted the Long Beach clause in there. If we had to do it over, we’d probably not do it. But that’s hindsight.”