Las Vegas Aces roster is counting on star power and continuity to power a repeat

While the Las Vegas Aces’ 2025 season may have started a little slow, it ended in the ultimate victory, their third WNBA Championship in four years. A’ja Wilson had yet another MVP season, paired with Co-Defensive Player of the Year honors. Their duo of elite guards, Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young, yet again proved why they’re some of the best in the league.

As this wild WNBA offseason comes to a close, how are the Aces planning to keep that success going? Could we see them go for four rings in five years and win back-to-back titles yet again? It looks like the odds are on their side as they’ve made it through free agency fairly unscathed, only adding more star power.

Las Vegas Aces current roster

Again, the Aces fared well in free agency — you’ll notice there’s not much change here. A’ja Wilson, Chelsea Gray, Jewell Loyd, Jackie Young and Dana Evans were all unrestricted free agents heading into this offseason. They all decided to re-sign with Las Vegas. With that, the Aces are one of only two 2025 playoff teams to keep every one of their starters from the postseason. We can expect Las Vegas to continue to lean into its core players from last season in 2026.

Key departures

They lost only three players during the expansion draft and free agency: Kiah Stokes, Aaliyah Nye and Megan Gustafson. Stokes, who joined the Golden State Valkyries, started 18 games last season, averaging 12.9 minutes and 1.1 points per game. Gustafson averaged 11.3 minutes and 3.0 points per game. She will spend 2026 with the Portland Fire. Nye was the biggest contributor that Las Vegas lost. She averaged 15.3 minutes and 3.8 points per game and was selected by the Toronto Tempo in the expansion draft.

Key additions

If the Aces didn’t look scary enough heading into the 2026 season with all their star power from last season, they also signed some intriguing pieces this offseason. Stephanie Talbot spent time with both Golden State and New York last year, finishing the season averaging 2.9 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists. Talbot will bring a strong veteran presence to the Aces’ bench this season — she is a good defensive player who can shoot well. Las Vegas also signed Brianna Turner, who spent last season with the Indiana Fever. She didn’t have the most productive season, but she is another veteran player who brings experience.

Possibly the most shocking signing, and the biggest in my opinion, was guard Chennedy Carter’s return to the WNBA for the 2026 season. She spent the 2024 season with the Chicago Sky. Carter averaged 17.5 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game, while shooting 48.7 percent from the floor.

Carter spent 2025 playing overseas after not being picked up in WNBA free agency. There are a lot of different conversations that have been had surrounding exactly why Carter wasn’t signed, including locker room controversy and behavioral issues. After the Aces first day of training camp, Carter told reporters, “I feel like I’ve grown, matured and I’ve took time to myself to find out what really matters to me and where I need to be… So far, it was the best decision I’ve ever made in my life.”

Aces hope for repeat, despite early 2025 struggles

It might be easy to look at the Aces great offseason and think, “Oh, they’re a shoo-in to win it all again this season.” Well, I wouldn’t be so quick to think so. The 2025 Aces had their issues during the first half of the season. In early August, Las Vegas was sitting at 14-14, leaving their playoff hopes up in the air — if not for their 16-game winning streak to end the regular season, their year may have ended early.

I believe the addition of Chennedy Carter will help a lot with the lack of depth the Aces struggled with last season. Of course, we know Jackie Young and Chelsea Gray are reliable guards — and Jewell Loyd was fairly solid off the bench, averaging 28.3 minutes per game. But besides them, the next guard off the bench last season was Dana Evans. She finished the season averaging 17.7 minutes and 6.6 points per game. The squad struggled to get guards to the basket and could only pull so many off the bench. With Carter’s addition, that will change. Hammon described her as the “downhill player” they wanted in free agency.

While Carter will most likely come off the bench, she will bring the energy this Aces squad needs. She adds more star power to a Las Vegas team already full of it, hopeful to run it back. Until we actually see this team on the court, I expect they will try to emulate how they finished last season. If they can do that, avoiding falling into the slump they started 2025 with, the 2026 Aces could be an incredibly scary opponent.

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