WNBA free agency hasn\u2019t started yet, but the Las Vegas Aces\u2019 2025 championship-winning roster has already changed.<\/p>\n
Aaliyah Nye was selected in Friday\u2019s expansion draft by the Toronto Tempo, which will join the Portland Fire as the league\u2019s incoming teams next season.<\/p>\n
Nye was the Aces\u2019 No. 13 pick in the 2025 WNBA draft out of Alabama. She averaged 3.8 points and 1.5 rebounds in 15.3 minutes during her debut season last year.<\/p>\n
She earned praise from Aces coach Becky Hammon for her sharp 3-point shooting. Four-time MVP A\u2019ja Wilson also often expressed fondness for Nye, quickly nicknaming the rookie \u201cBama\u201d and \u201cRoll Tide.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Las Vegas Aces want to thank Aaliyah Nye for everything she did to help the Aces lift the 2025 WNBA Championship trophy,\u201d the team said in a statement. \u201cWe are sad to see her go, but we wish her all the best as she continues her career with Toronto. As with anyone who has been a member of this historic franchise, once an Ace, always an Ace.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nye\u2019s selection likely feels a bit like deja vu for some fans, as the Aces have now lost a rookie in an expansion draft twice in the last two years.<\/p>\n
Iowa alum Kate Martin was selected in the Golden State Valkyries\u2019 2024 expansion draft after a rookie season that showed flashes of key 3-point shooting similar to Nye\u2019s. After that selection, the Aces also lost 2024 Sixth Player of the Year Tiffany Hayes to the Valkyries in free agency after they\u2019d presumably protected Hayes from the expansion draft.<\/p>\n
Martin, Hayes and the Valkyries, led by former Aces assistant coach Natalie Nakase, made it to the playoffs last year.<\/p>\n
Nye will play under Coach Sandy Brondell with the Tempo. When the Aces and New York Liberty\u2019s rivalry was at its peak with the Aces beating the Liberty for the 2023 title and then getting eliminated by the Liberty in the second round of the playoffs in 2024, Brondello was the Liberty\u2019s head coach.<\/p>\n
In a statement following the draft, Tempo general manager Monica Rogers said the new organization\u2019s goal was to assemble a roster \u201cbuilt on versatility, depth, and competitiveness.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here are all of the Tempo\u2019s selections other than Nye, who was the eighth overall pick on Friday:<\/p>\n
Julie Allemand (Los Angeles Sparks)<\/p>\n
Nyara Sabally (New York Liberty)<\/p>\n
Marina Mabrey (Connecticut Sun)<\/p>\n
Lexi Held (Phoenix Mercury)<\/p>\n
Maria Conde (Golden State Valkyries\/EuroLeague)<\/p>\n
Maria Kliundikova (Minnesota Lynx)<\/p>\n
Adja Kane (New York Liberty)<\/p>\n
Nikolina Mili\u0107 (Minnesota Lynx)<\/p>\n
Kitija Laksa (Phoenix Mercury)<\/p>\n
Kristy Wallace (Indiana Fever)<\/p>\n
\u201cThis group brings leadership, defensive edge, and scoring across the floor, and every player was selected with a clear expectation to compete at a high level, hold the standard, and help define the culture we\u2019re setting in Toronto,\u201d Rogers said.<\/p>\n
The Fire selected Bridget Carleton from the Minnesota Lynx with the first selection in the first round. The Fire and Tempo alternated selections in each round, with the right to acquire the contract of, or the negotiating rights to, one player listed on the unprotected list of each of the existing 13 teams.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s are all of the Fire\u2019s other selections:<\/p>\n
Luisa Geiselsoder (Dallas Wings)<\/p>\n
Emily Engstler (Washington Mystics)<\/p>\n
Maya Caldwell (Atlanta Dream)<\/p>\n
Chloe Bibby (Indiana Fever)<\/p>\n
Haley Jones (Dallas Wings)<\/p>\n
Nyadiew Puoch (Atlanta Dream)<\/p>\n
Sug Sutton (Washington Mystics)<\/p>\n
Nika Muhl (Seattle Storm)<\/p>\n
The Aces fared better than other teams in the expansion draft as they stood to lose up to two players but only saw one get selected. Now, the team enters free agency without a single contracted player. Over 80 percent of the league are free agents this offseason as players intentionally avoided signing beyond 2025 in anticipation for increased salaries under the league\u2019s new collective bargaining agreement.<\/p>\n
The new CBA was agreed upon last month, but since the full legal document has yet to be signed, teams have not yet been informed when free agency can begin.<\/p>\n
Contact Callie Fin at cfin@reviewjournal.com.<\/a> Follow @CallieJLaw<\/a> on X.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WNBA free agency hasn\u2019t started yet, but the Las Vegas Aces\u2019 2025 championship-winning roster has already changed. Aaliyah…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":583459,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":["post-583458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=583458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/583459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=583458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=583458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=583458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}