I just caught up on the Kasumi news and man now I'm even more confused about her then before.
I think it's clear from the files that they were at some point trying to make her work as an alt, but based on her sword, I don't think she'd even work as an echo.
Jab, F-tilt, U-tilt, Nair, Bair, Dair, F-Smash, D-Smash, and U-Smash would all need significant hitbox changes to accommodate the sword length, and that would completely shake up Joker's balance in a way you don't really see with most echoes. Its not the same as removing a tipper but keeping all hitboxes/frame data the same.
So were they planning on just replacing her sword with a dagger? Or was she going to get special treatment as an Echo, potentially with even more differences then Ken?