The Las Vegas Aces are looking to match some impressive history during the 2024 season. The back-to-back WNBA Champions are looking to become the first team since the Houston Comets to win three consecutive titles. The Comets won four years in a row from 1997-2000 at the inception of the league.
The Las Vegas Aces are the odds-on favorites to win the title this season and have shown no signs of slowing down. They are 3-1 out of the gates, but there are some concerns early on. Defensively, the team has struggled.
Despite having Aj’a Wilson anchoring their unit, the team is surrendering 85 points per game. That is well above the 80.3 they gave up per game in 2023, as they have become known as a stingy defensive team under Becky Hammon.
That could be part of the reason that the Aces made a surprising move with their roster. Over the weekend, they released rookie guard Dyaisha Fair. Fair was the team’s top draft pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft out of Syracuse, being picked No. 16 overall.
The third-leading scorer in Division 1 women’s basketball history, Fair could fill the basket up during her time at Syracuse. However, she wasn’t nearly as impactful defensively, which could have played a part in the roster move.
“The Aces likely determined they couldn’t risk giving Fair extended minutes given their struggles on defense,” Callie Lawson-Freeman of the Las Vegas Review-Journal wrote on May 26. “They’re allowing 85 points per game, third-most in the WNBA. They ranked second in points allowed per game last season.”
Listed at 5’5”, Fair could have certainly been a hindrance on the defensive end. But, when you can score as effortlessly as she can, it will be interesting to see if she can carve out a role in the pros.
Landing with a championship-caliber team with several veterans on the roster, finding playing time would have been difficult for Fair anyway. She played only two minutes against the Indiana Fever in the last game before she was released.
Another reason for Fair being released could be the emergence of Kate Martin. A star with Iowa alongside Caitlin Clark, Martin has assumed the Sixth Player role off the bench and garnered the trust of Hammon.
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