2024-25 WNBA Offseason Guides: Las Vegas Aces
Our breakdowns of where WNBA teams stand heading into the offseason continue with the latest team to be eliminated from the playoffs, the former back-to-back champs
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Previously published 2024-25 Offseason Guides:
Los Angeles Sparks
Dallas Wings
Chicago Sky
Washington Mystics
Atlanta Dream
Seattle Storm
Indiana Fever
Phoenix Mercury
2024 record: 27-13, No. 4 seed, beat Seattle 2-0 in the first round, lost 3-1 to New York in the semifinals.
2025 draft picks: The Aces don't have a first-round pick in 2025 after the WNBA rescinded it for violating league rules regarding impermissible player benefits after the Dearica Hamby investigation. They do still have their own second and third-round picks, plus an extra second-rounder from Washington via the Amanda Zahui B trade in 2023.
Free agents: Kelsey Plum (unrestricted free agent), Alysha Clark (unrestricted free agent), Tiffany Hayes (unrestricted free agent), Sydney Colson (unrestricted free agent), Queen Egbo (reserved).
Under contract for 2025: A'ja Wilson, Chelsea Gray, Jackie Young, Kiah Stokes, Megan Gustafson, Kierstan Bell, Kate Martin.
2024 performance: Last year, the Aces did something that hadn't been accomplished in the WNBA in over 20 years when they repeated as champions. This year illustrated that while twice in a row is really, really hard, three times is on yet another level. Individually, A'ja Wilson had a season for the ages, but everything else felt just fractionally off all season. They weren't quite as healthy as they'd been in the previous two years, with Chelsea Gray still recovering from her foot injury to start the season and Jackie Young clearly fighting through something ever since the Olympics. The three star guards weren't quite as efficient or consistent offensively as in the championship years. The team defense never clicked at the same levels as last season, and Becky Hammon constantly chopped and changed her lineups to find an answer she liked in their fifth starter spot without ever really hitting on anyone.
With everyone else in the league having spent two years working out ways to beat them and build rosters for that purpose, the accumulation of little ticks below their former levels was enough. They were still a good team for most of the year, but always vulnerable and less consistent than before. So it proved in the playoffs, where they had enough to put a scare into the Liberty, but not to flip a switch that would suddenly make them once again the better team. Now the question is what changes are necessary to get back to the mountaintop again?
Offseason finances: The Aces have most of their core signed for 2025, but with a couple of crucial exceptions. They have seven players already under contract, leaving $587,925 in cap space. Using their core designation on Kelsey Plum to ensure she can't leave for nothing would swallow $249,244 of that, leaving $338,681. Plum could agree to a deal for less (or cause greater upheaval if she wants out), but if she signs that core qualifying offer for the supermax and they add two players at the base minimum, there would be $206,523 left for the final spot (assuming an 11-player roster). That's around $8,000 under the regular max, but close enough that a star player who wanted to come probably wouldn't mind the small discount.
However, that's without considering a return for Alysha Clark or Tiffany Hayes, who were vital cogs for the team this year. Both Kiah Stokes and Megan Gustafson are on unguaranteed deals, which gives the team some extra flexibility, but if they want to bring all the important pieces back and make additions (and everyone wants to return), it could require some concessions from the players involved. Of course, it would hardly be the first time that we've seen someone sign in Las Vegas for less money than they might be worth on the open market.
Offseason priorities: The first question that jumps off the page is what's going to happen with Kelsey Plum. Throughout this successful period for Las Vegas, they've been able to sign their stars to favorable deals, usually extend their contracts before they reach free agency, and avoid ever even having to make a decision about core designations. For whatever reason, this time Plum hasn't extended alongside the other key players. It could be a sign of something meaningful, like a desire to play elsewhere. It could just be that she wants to force them to use their core designation on her, so that she can use up her cored seasons and become a true free agent later in her career. We probably won't find out for a while. Either way, she's too valuable to allow to become a free agent and walk away for nothing when they can prevent that from occurring. So I would expect them to core her, and then if she really wants to move you at least demand a haul in a trade.
Then it's about what changes need to be made to help this team rise back up again. I don't expect them to change the star core unless forced to, but the supporting players can always be readdressed. Gustafson didn't really work because she never gained Hammon's trust, but the base idea of someone who can play alongside Wilson but not be ignored offensively was sound. Clark is getting older and Stokes's weaknesses aren't going to change, so they still need alternatives in that spot. Maybe they can't find someone on the Candace Parker level again, but they're still going to be an attractive option to any veteran interested in chasing a ring.
Future assets: The Aces still have all their own picks in 2026 and no extras. They also have the draft rights to Elizabeth Kitley after taking her in the second round this year despite her knee injury. They'll be hoping she can help replace their lack of a first-rounder in 2025.
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It was fun while it lasted, but this run is over. Typically, though, franchises try to keep the band together even after the hits have stopped coming.
Resign Plum. Kitley, if healthy, answer major inside concerns. Therefore, Stokes, Gustafson, and Hayes must stay. The backcourt, outside shooting and backup point guard. Lastly, a rebounder, unless, Wilson is going to play more inside next season. Is Jackie Young or Gray trade bait? One or the other...trade Young.