{"id":589702,"date":"2026-04-08T06:48:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T06:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/589702\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T06:48:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T06:48:11","slug":"las-vegas-aces-make-wnba-restricted-qualifying-offers-to-nalyssa-smith-kierstan-bell-aces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/589702\/","title":{"rendered":"Las Vegas Aces make WNBA restricted qualifying offers to NaLyssa Smith, Kierstan Bell | Aces"},"content":{"rendered":"

WNBA<\/a> free agency isn\u2019t off to an explosive start for the Aces<\/a>, but that doesn\u2019t mean the reigning champions won\u2019t make any moves.<\/p>\n

After months of delay due to extended negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement<\/a>, the league\u2019s timeline for a condensed free agency period started Monday with the designation period, which requires teams to issue qualifying offers if they wish to establish rights to eligible players.<\/p>\n

As the period ended on Tuesday, the Aces extended restricted qualifying offers to forwards NaLyssa Smith and Kierstan Bell but surprisingly opted not to use their core designation.<\/p>\n

The negotiation period begins Wednesday and will last until Friday. If the Aces plan to, that window is when they can make their big splashes and make new additions, although signings can\u2019t be made official until Saturday.<\/p>\n

Franchise tags<\/p>\n

A restricted qualifying offer gives a team exclusive negotiating rights to players with less than four years of experience.<\/p>\n

A core qualifying offer, which works like the NFL franchise tag, can only be used by teams for one player per offseason. It provides exclusive negotiating rights to a player who was on the team in the previous season and would otherwise become an unrestricted free agent (UFA). That player can still be traded but is granted a one-year, fully guaranteed, supermax salary ($1.4 million this year up from $249,000 in 2025).<\/p>\n

The restricted qualifying offer serves as a contract offer for a one-year, unguaranteed deal. These are often inked at the league minimum salary, which has increased significantly under the new CBA. Since the contracts are not guaranteed, players still need to make the team during training camp, which is slated to start April 19.<\/p>\n

Restricted free agents<\/p>\n

Bell and Smith were both drafted in 2022, so their rookie contracts have expired. With the restricted qualifying offers, they\u2019ll still be free to talk with any team as negotiations begin, but the Aces will have the opportunity to match whatever offers they receive. If the Aces can\u2019t or won\u2019t match all of the terms, Smith or Bell will sign with the higher offering team.<\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s situation seems simple at face value. The Aces traded a first-round pick<\/a> to acquire her from the Dallas Wings in the middle of last season, with team president Nikki Fargas describing the move as a one made with the present and future in mind.<\/p>\n

Smith was a frontcourt asset in the Aces\u2019 championship run<\/a> and said in her exit interview that she feels relieved to know that she has a home with the Aces. It seems unlikely that things have changed, but anything is possible.<\/p>\n

Bell started in 16 games for the Aces as veteran Jewell Loyd asked coach Becky Hammon to come off the bench<\/a>. She averaged 4.2 points and 1.8 rebounds over 12.2 minutes per game, all career highs for her four seasons with the Aces.<\/p>\n

In her exit interview, Bell said she planned to work out with Aces guard Jackie Young to develop more skill and fitness in the offseason.<\/p>\n

Will Young return?<\/p>\n

Young is part of the bigger question mark surrounding the Aces\u2019 offseason plans, as the team doesn\u2019t have a single player under contract after Aaliyah Nye was selected by the Toronto Tempo<\/a> in the expansion draft. Bell and Smith were the Aces\u2019 only restricted free agents, with the rest of the team unrestricted.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not uncommon around the league as most players opted not to extend their contracts beyond the 2025 season in anticipation for increased salaries under the new CBA, but it presents a unique situation for the Aces.<\/p>\n

After years of taking team-friendly deals, four-time league MVP A\u2019ja Wilson is due for the supermax, and sources told the Review-Journal last month that the Aces were expected to offer it<\/a>. Since she\u2019s spoken publicly about her desire to remain in Las Vegas, it\u2019s not surprising that the core designation wasn\u2019t used on her.<\/p>\n

But given that Young hasn\u2019t publicly expressed her free agency plans, the biggest concern is that the Aces could lose her and receive nothing in return. The Chicago Sky, which made free agency\u2019s only trade so far by dealing star Angel Reese to the Atlanta Dream on Monday, could pursue Young. The Sky are led by former Aces assistant Tyler Marsh, who had a large role in developing Young. It wouldn\u2019t be surprising if he attempted to sign her.<\/p>\n

What about Gray?<\/p>\n

Point guard Chelsea Gray also would\u2019ve been a player worth safeguarding, but it\u2019s possible the Aces already have verbal understandings with her and Young and anticipate that they\u2019ll stay put.<\/p>\n

It would be a shame for the Aces to lose either of them for nothing, which is a scenario they avoided by placing the core designation on Kelsey Plum last offseason and then granting her trade request by dealing her to the Los Angeles Sparks in the three-team deal that yielded Loyd<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Loyd expressed her happiness with the Aces in her exit interview, and could potentially re-sign with the team on a lower salary \u2014 relative to the new $7 million salary cap (up from $1.5 million in 2025) \u2014 after she earned the supermax last season.<\/p>\n

The Aces will have a lot of cap work to do. Guard Dana Evans, who joined the team via trade from the Chicago Sky last offseason, is a free agent and was key in the playoffs. Forward Cheyenne Parker-Tyus, Megan Gustafson, and Kiah Stokes are all unrestricted free agents as well.<\/p>\n

Contact Callie Fin at cfin@reviewjournal.com.<\/a> Follow @Callie__Fin on X.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WNBA free agency isn\u2019t off to an explosive start for the Aces, but that doesn\u2019t mean the reigning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":589703,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":{"0":"post-589702","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589702","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=589702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/589703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=589702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=589702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=589702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}