2025-26 WNBA Offseason Guides: Las Vegas Aces
Our team-by-team guides finally reach the top of the tree, looking at where the 2025 champs stand heading into next season
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Previously published 2025-26 Offseason Guides:
Chicago Sky
Connecticut Sun
Dallas Wings
Washington Mystics
Los Angeles Sparks
Golden State Valkyries
Seattle Storm
New York Liberty
Atlanta Dream
Minnesota Lynx
Indiana Fever
Phoenix Mercury
2025 record: 30-14. 5th in offensive rating, 8th in defensive rating. Finished 2nd in the standings, beat Seattle 2-1 in the first round, beat Indiana 3-2 in the semifinals, swept Phoenix 4-0 in the WNBA Finals.
2026 draft picks: The Aces gave up their 2026 first-rounder as part of the deal that brought Jewell Loyd to Las Vegas, so their only picks next year are their own second- and third-rounders.
Free agents: Jewell Loyd (uncoreable unrestricted free agent), A’ja Wilson, Chelsea Gray, Jackie Young, Kiah Stokes, Megan Gustafson, Dana Evans, Cheyenne Parker-Tyus (all unrestricted free agents), NaLyssa Smith, Kierstan Bell (both restricted free agents).
Under contract: Aaliyah Nye.
2025 performance: Simply one of the most remarkable seasons in WNBA history. When this team was losing by 53 on August 2 to Minnesota, and I took this screenshot of their three leaders and head coach having an animated but miserable-looking discussion on the sidelines, they were dead in the water. It wasn’t just that they were .500 and barely clinging on to a playoff spot. It was that there had been so few signs of a turnaround. They weren’t cohesive on defense, Chelsea Gray’s highlight-reel passes were ending up in the stands as often as they found teammates’ hands, and A’ja Wilson had been great but not as great as we’d seen before. It didn’t feel like they had the same desire anymore, the same spark and genuine desperation to beat everybody and chase another ring. Many of us essentially wrote them off. There was still every chance they’d make the playoffs, but any kind of run once they got there seemed wildly optimistic. How was this mess going to beat teams like Phoenix, Atlanta or New York, never mind compete with the Lynx team that just annihilated them?
Then came Wilson’s infamous text, a 16-game win streak to close the regular season, and a playoff run that only added to the storybook. They still couldn’t possibly do things the easy way. They needed a Jackie Young putback with 12 seconds left to sneak past Seattle in a first-round decider. They needed overtime in a deciding Game 5 against a heavily depleted Indiana team to make it through the semis. Only in the Finals did they manage to dominate a series, although if Phoenix had managed to cling on to their lead in Game 1, who knows how that might’ve changed things. This was a very different path to a championship than their previous two, and in some ways all the sweeter for it. There was no established, regulated dominance. They had to search for answers, struggle to find them, and scrape over the line when necessary. Statistically, this wasn’t even close to one of the best WNBA teams of all time, because all those games before the wins kicked in still have to count. But it’s one that will live long in the memory because of how they got there.
Offseason finances: As with the rest of the league, lots of free agents and lots of cap space. They only have one player on a rookie-scale contract (Aaliyah Nye) because they don’t tend to hang on to their picks. As I mentioned with New York, if the new CBA opens up the cap system a little bit, Mark Davis’s money and established willingness to spend it could give the Aces an advantage over many other teams. On the other hand, with salaries likely to rise significantly, things like those bonuses from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority could be less meaningful. The Aces have also managed to build their championship rosters in part thanks to their stars happily taking discounts that made the cap maths possible. We don’t know how willing players will be to take meaningful discounts when the numbers involved are a lot higher, and how much more difficult that will make it to keep ‘superteams’ together.
Offseason priorities: The only free agent from the 2025 roster that the Aces can’t legally core under the current rules is Jewell Loyd, due to previous seasons played under core contracts. Taking a lesson from Loyd’s former team in Seattle (who lost Breanna Stewart for nothing back in 2023), the Aces will surely core Wilson just in case. However happy she is with the franchise after three championships in four years, you just never know for 100% certain. The problem with that is it means all their other UFAs will become true unrestricted free agents, starting with Jackie Young. Still only 28 and an elite guard at both ends of the floor who could fit on any team in any system, Young will be at the top of the wishlist for virtually every team in the league. So keeping her will obviously be top of Las Vegas’s priorities as well (after Wilson).
After that they’ll want to keep Gray to maintain their core, and then it’ll be a case of picking and choosing, and trying to keep people at the right price. Loyd, NaLyssa Smith and Dana Evans were all important pieces in the playoff run that they’d probably like to re-sign, but only if they’re willing to negotiate something sensible. Loyd settled well into her role on this squad eventually, but isn’t a supermax player anymore — especially on a team where she’s a fourth option at best. Instead of trying to keep too many people from this squad beyond their lead trio, this could be a good time to reload. All those banners in the rafters obviously make the franchise appealing to free agents, as does Davis’s willingness to spend money on the team and the facilities that have come with that. Wilson and Young are still in their primes and will hope to chase more rings, but they could use a little more help to carry the scoring load than they had for much of this year. Enough depth to avoid filling a starting spot with someone Hammon barely wants to see on the floor would be nice, too. A couple of years ago it was Candace Parker who saw the appeal. Don’t be surprised if other free agents decide to follow suit in 2026.
Future assets: Las Vegas gave up their 2027 first-rounder to bring in NaLyssa Smith during the 2025 season (and it was an important part of their turnaround, so proved entirely justified). As a result, they only have their second- and third-round picks in 2027. They also don’t have any rights to international draftees or suspended players like a lot of other franchises. Expanding their scouting overseas is another element that might help fill out the bench a little more with options Hammon might actually be willing to use.
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To me, the big question is Chelsea Gray, both in terms of salary and position. She'll be 33 next year though she showed no decline last year, especially late. She played all 44 games, but you have to wonder at what point the inevitable decline begins.
Dana Evans is serviceable, and maybe more, so it's possible she could step in, but it would seem they have to pay Gray. And A'ja. And Jackie. And Jewell, who will get big money offers from expansion teams, if no one else. And I don't see a CBA/max salary combo that's going to allow four max or near-max contracts.
They have to keep Wilson and Young. But can they keep any kind of team around that duo if they also keep Gray?
The increasing NBA-ization of the league suggests the salary cap formula will be designed to promote parity and make it hard to pay for a dynasty. If so, then the Aces could well be the first casualty.