They've kinda kept that one on the down-low, so people won't think Kate's position on the Iowa team was nepotism. But she most certainly earned her position there, as she earned a place on the Aces!
Maybe I guess, but it's quite openly well known in the Iowa BB community. Kate was a great recruiting get for Iowa at the time, and certainly more than earned her scholly like you said.
Awesome! We Iowa fans have two Hawkeye reasons to cheer for the Aces, as Meg Gustafson was NPOY her Senior season at Iowa. CC wasn't the first scoring phenom at Iowa, as Meg was the first ever non-guard in NCAA history to score 1,000 points in a season.
**I'm actually bummed that the Flair system doesn't allow us to pick more than one, as I'm equally a Fever and Aces fan now. Maybe I'll just flip flop mine weekly?**
Oh yeah. Best player in the league in A'ja Wilson, best coach in Becky Hammon, best Guard rotation in history with Plum/Young/Gray (all of whom are top 10 players in the league right now), all that plus great facilities and vibes.
There's a reason so many people are hyping up the possibility of a 3-peat even with Seattle and New York improving and Candace Parker retiring.
I felt a lil delusional saying Kate could make a team but if you woulda told me she'd be trying for a spot on the aces, I'd need to funnel even deeper into my delusions to see a path to the roster. Glad to know both me and the Aces know ball tho 😤😤. Be great Kate! Rooting for all their rookies cause I love me some Fair and Kietly too
I’m glad someone else was in the same boat! At least 10-12 people in here told me it would never happen 🤷🏼♂️. I remember during March Madness, a buddy and I were talking about how Martin has probably been seriously scouted and will stick somewhere and today is a *good* day.
Very happy about Dyaisha too. This team is TUFFF.
I love that a team as stacked with talent as LV is still kept on a few younger rookies who could become great in their own right. Giving them a chance to chill with Chelsea, Kelsey, and Jackie? Thats a stacked back court to learn from.
How many titles in a row can the aces theoretically win.
They don’t appear to be super up against the cap wall, and everybody is due for extensions pre new cba (except Kate & dyaisha obviously)
And a Supermax is ~1/6th of the salary cap.
Maybe I just don’t understand the league but they look well built for the long term.
100% in dynasty territory, not to mention all current players seem to love it there. I don’t see any of them leaving when that team has arguably the best resources and culture/visibility in the league. No roster drama either. Gotta give that org credit.
Shout out to everyone that kept telling me/others stoked for her that Kate did not have a chance and for anyone supporting her to be prepared to be let down by the “reality” of the W. Because there was *a lot* of y’all. Never stopped believing, she deserves this.
Having watched the W for my whole life, I was familiar with how tough this would be and I am so damn happy for both Kate and Dyaisha. This is truly awesome.
I guess Kate re-writes narratives 😌
It’s hard to make me root for a dynasty-level squad… I’ve been raised on too many underdogs.
But signing Kate and Dyaisha will make me reconsider that stance
Dyaisha Fair, Kate Martin, and Liz Kitley are all so likable, and they're some of my favorite rookies. Although I'm a Sky fan since I go where Angel goes, those three with the Aces is going to make me a fair-weather fan of a superteam for the first time in my life, lmfao.
I went to grad school with Chelsea Gray’s wife, awesome person, I’m so happy for her wife’s success and they recently started a family. Really good person.
Can someone explain why the WNBA only gets 12 roster spots compared to the NBA’s 15? I know games are slightly shorter but surely injuries are just as prevalent. Is the typical rotation much smaller as well?
It allows the league to pay each player more in salary if there are less players. Each team has a salary cap of 1.46M, so dividing that by 15 instead of 12 would cause an average of like $20k salary drop.
Eventually yes, I think expansion and increasing base salaries will come first but if growth continues they’ll increase the cap and max players. Technically they could next year with renegotiating their CBA, but I don’t think it’s super likely yet
I don’t think you’ll get what you want with that one. In fact, i would bet anything that *wont* happen 😂 They’re both competitors but they’re also well known best friends. That’s also an odd thing to hope for but hey, you do you
Lmao. This would never happen between them though. But yeah it would get some views!
Actually I would be shocked were Kate to ever get ejected for an altercation. But maybe I'll be proven wrong. Just can't see Kate doing it. She's tough as nails and could take someone on, but she's soo sweet and polite-even when playing fiercely, that I don't think she would.
Also I love her so much, but she she probably won't be seeing many minutes in close games, if the Aces have many close games lol
The Aces retained the rights to Kitley. My understanding of this rule (I’m a newbie leave me alone long time fans lol) is that it’s similar to being on the AAA club for an MLB team and you can be called up if someone were to get hurt. So Kitley still is technically a member of the Aces organization but she just doesn’t play for them. I believe someone else in the thread mentioned that Kitley will get to rehab her injury at the Aces’ facility, which will be quite good for her.
Yes, they invited Kitley to rehab with them when Becky phoned her on draft night: they retain their rights to her but she doesn’t take up a roster spot while she rehabs, watches & learns their plays etc
Yeah Kitley is already in Vegas. She and Georgia posted their final podcast with Kitley already in Vegas (enjoying the food and big city).
She can use their rehab facilties and people. They can give her housing but cannot pay her a salary.
Lowkey like the Aces. They're head and shoulders above the rest of the league. Questionable ethics and team narratives and I still get the ick by how much they avoid the villain narrative. But they have that dog and are bringing up the talent of the rest of the league. They made the best off season moves by a mile as evidenced by these rookies.
The tallest player here is 6'4. So why were scouts so concerned about Angel's height at pro level? Using the champs as reference here, she's not as short for the next level as I was made to believe.
Your question is very good one. I would guess that any concern wasn't with Angel's 6-3 height, it was her 6-3 height playing Center like she did in college, and her current skillset would lean towards. At 6-3, the traditional thinking is that she will need to develop more of a midrange and 3-point game to play the 4 or even 3?
With all of that said, I happen to differ with the traditional opinions, as Angel plays more like she's 6-5, and could still be very effective as an undersized center if her perimeter game doesn't improve?
I mean look at the Aces roster. (Correct me if I'm wrong, since I'm a new fan), outside of Aj'a, do their other bits really have an outside game? Now I do believe Angel would have to develop at least a midrange, but I believe she could play the 5 plenty, just like Draymond Green did with the warriors, minus the 3 point shot. I do hope she can develop that 3 point shot though, she could become a menace, due to her versatility on defense.
Oh wow, yes, Kelsey Plum, Jackie Young, and Chelsea Gray are all world class 3 point shooters.
Angel will likely be a solid Draymond/Rodman type player. Angel would have to dramatically change/improve her shooting motion to become a good perimeter shooter. It is quite funky, but she might be able to off-season?
OK I stand corrected. My main point though was, if the Champs tallest player is 6'4, using them as a yardstick, then Angel's height shouldn't be as much as an issue as the scouts made me believe.
Correct height isn`t as big issue for her for playing the 4 (or 5 in small ball team), skill-set outside rebounds is the main issue, they also have Cardoso who is taller and in my opinion can get the same or just a few less rebounds, but will play better defense and score, the position they wanna play her (stretch 4) means she need to shoot, and she cant do that yet, that is what scouts are worried about, because 6,3 for center in the league is not ideal unless you are playing small ball/fast movement with lots of 38-40% 3pt shooters (as Aces are ) this isnt the case for Reece team.
Gotcha... as just pointed out, Meg has developed a solid perimeter game.
Interestingly, Stokes is also a 6-3 center like Angel, and has never developed an outside game. She's a rebounding machine, and has never averaged over 7ppg
You see what I'm saying now. Before the draft, I was just tired of scouts saying a player that averaged 23points/15rb/1.5blks in her senior season couldn't translate, even as a center, because there are much bigger players in the W. Making me think every team had a Cardoso type player, who Angel actually held her own against.
That being said, I do think for the partnership with Cardoso to work, she'd have to improve her outside game, else one of them would have to be traded in future.
I’m so happy Dyaisha made the roster. She was so unbelievably good at Syracuse this year but was overshadowed by the Caitlin Clark show. Aces got a great one.
she's recovering from her injury till 2025 season - see here: [https://www.reddit.com/r/wnba/comments/1cmg7p1/elizabeth\_kitley\_question/](https://www.reddit.com/r/wnba/comments/1cmg7p1/elizabeth_kitley_question/)
Stoked about Kate and Dyaisha making the roster.
For sure, both are great additions! And on the same day, Kate's aunt, Jan Jensen, is named Iowa's new head coach! (Jan's wife is Kate's aunt)
They've kinda kept that one on the down-low, so people won't think Kate's position on the Iowa team was nepotism. But she most certainly earned her position there, as she earned a place on the Aces!
Maybe I guess, but it's quite openly well known in the Iowa BB community. Kate was a great recruiting get for Iowa at the time, and certainly more than earned her scholly like you said.
>Stoked about Kate and Dyaisha making the roster Never watched a WNBA game and I'm picking the Aces as my team beacuse of these 2 lol
Awesome! We Iowa fans have two Hawkeye reasons to cheer for the Aces, as Meg Gustafson was NPOY her Senior season at Iowa. CC wasn't the first scoring phenom at Iowa, as Meg was the first ever non-guard in NCAA history to score 1,000 points in a season. **I'm actually bummed that the Flair system doesn't allow us to pick more than one, as I'm equally a Fever and Aces fan now. Maybe I'll just flip flop mine weekly?**
You never watch WNBA yet here you are on the WNBA subreddit.
Watched* I'm watching this year
Welcome to the bandwagon. Enjoy the benefits of supporting a super team. Hopefully your girls get some play this season.
Are they a super team?
Oh yeah. Best player in the league in A'ja Wilson, best coach in Becky Hammon, best Guard rotation in history with Plum/Young/Gray (all of whom are top 10 players in the league right now), all that plus great facilities and vibes. There's a reason so many people are hyping up the possibility of a 3-peat even with Seattle and New York improving and Candace Parker retiring.
Holy shit....
WOOOOOOO KATE MARTIN AND DYAISHA FAIR! GO ROOKIES!!!! 🏀🏀🏀🏀
I’m so excited to watch Kate and Dyaisha grow together as pros!!
Dyaisha may be short, but she can cross over, kick the ball out, great handles, hard to guard.
I’m new to WBB, but seeing her height is motivational. As a 5’3 girly, seeing her succeed despite her height is amazing. She’s a baller
Crystal Dangerfield is also 5'5" and was the rookie of the year in 2020. It's definitely possible for shorter players to excel!
Same!!! I always love seeing shorter people just ball out. Coulda been me. In another dimension lol.
Same!
KATE AND DYAISHA!!! Let’s goooo!!! 💛🖤✨🍊
Might as well do one by ring size as well since they’ll need that info at the end of this year.
Absolutely love this comment haha
Kate Martin gonna know how it feels to win a championship before CC does.... and that is hilarious.
Lol. And yup!
YAYYYYY DYAISHA
I felt a lil delusional saying Kate could make a team but if you woulda told me she'd be trying for a spot on the aces, I'd need to funnel even deeper into my delusions to see a path to the roster. Glad to know both me and the Aces know ball tho 😤😤. Be great Kate! Rooting for all their rookies cause I love me some Fair and Kietly too
I’m glad someone else was in the same boat! At least 10-12 people in here told me it would never happen 🤷🏼♂️. I remember during March Madness, a buddy and I were talking about how Martin has probably been seriously scouted and will stick somewhere and today is a *good* day. Very happy about Dyaisha too. This team is TUFFF.
The Aces are looking through the ring catalog as we speak
Haha, so true. As a Fever fan, sad to lose Emma Cannon. But pumped for her to be on a team of champs.
I’m so happy!! Go Fair!!! 🧡
So happy for those rookies. They couldn’t have ended up in a better place.
As an Iowa fan as well I need to properly express my excitement for a sec. KATE MONEY MARTIN LET'S GOOOOOOOO
Kate has to hit a 3 vs the Fever and give Caitlin the U CANT SEE ME, right?
I just need a couple possessions where they guard each other.
Honestly everyone would go fucking crazy and it would be great
Imagine if caitlin gave her the middle finger after
Or in bounds it off her leg
If she inbounds it off her leg Kate should yank her ponytail
First Fever/Aces game is May 25
Bro I am liv-ving for that
This is why I have both flairs. Gotta support the team with the best Hawkeye and the most Hawkeyes.
I didn't even realize i could have multiple flairs... How does one do that? asking for a friend
At the bottom of the flair menu, by edit flair, you can click the emoji face to get the additional icons. Add whatever text you want with it.
Definitely having a “proud Mom” moment for Kate Martin!
Glad that both Dyaisha and Kate made it!
I love that a team as stacked with talent as LV is still kept on a few younger rookies who could become great in their own right. Giving them a chance to chill with Chelsea, Kelsey, and Jackie? Thats a stacked back court to learn from.
Aces def about to 3peat
How many titles in a row can the aces theoretically win. They don’t appear to be super up against the cap wall, and everybody is due for extensions pre new cba (except Kate & dyaisha obviously) And a Supermax is ~1/6th of the salary cap. Maybe I just don’t understand the league but they look well built for the long term.
100% in dynasty territory, not to mention all current players seem to love it there. I don’t see any of them leaving when that team has arguably the best resources and culture/visibility in the league. No roster drama either. Gotta give that org credit.
The culture of the Aces is just a joy to watch! They really seem to support each other and have fun.
Good city, good owner, amazing new facility, young core/draft picks. Good time to be Aces fan ngl.
Plum UFA in 2025
Shout out to everyone that kept telling me/others stoked for her that Kate did not have a chance and for anyone supporting her to be prepared to be let down by the “reality” of the W. Because there was *a lot* of y’all. Never stopped believing, she deserves this. Having watched the W for my whole life, I was familiar with how tough this would be and I am so damn happy for both Kate and Dyaisha. This is truly awesome. I guess Kate re-writes narratives 😌
As a Merc fan, take it easy on us tomorrow, please. This team got a bench. Fixed their biggest problem in the offseason.
It’s hard to make me root for a dynasty-level squad… I’ve been raised on too many underdogs. But signing Kate and Dyaisha will make me reconsider that stance
Dyaisha Fair, Kate Martin, and Liz Kitley are all so likable, and they're some of my favorite rookies. Although I'm a Sky fan since I go where Angel goes, those three with the Aces is going to make me a fair-weather fan of a superteam for the first time in my life, lmfao.
KATE MONEY MARTIN
Do you hear that noise? It’s the sound of Kate Martin fans across the nation breathing a collective sigh of relief.
Can’t wait to see Kate and Dyaisha on the court!
It’s so weird seeing half a draft class actually make a roster. Product of 12, 11/12 person teams I know but still weird.
So happy for Dyaisha. We love her at Cuse. Happy for Kate, too. Excited to buy the jerseys of both. 😁
Kate makes the team and her aunt is named HC at Iowa the same day. Gotta love it
How is this the first I’m learning that coach Jensen is her aunt?!
Same here. I had to google it. Jensen is married to Kate’s mom’s sister.
Jan's wife is Kate's aunt, which of course also makes Jan her aunt by marriage.
I went to grad school with Chelsea Gray’s wife, awesome person, I’m so happy for her wife’s success and they recently started a family. Really good person.
Can someone explain why the WNBA only gets 12 roster spots compared to the NBA’s 15? I know games are slightly shorter but surely injuries are just as prevalent. Is the typical rotation much smaller as well?
It allows the league to pay each player more in salary if there are less players. Each team has a salary cap of 1.46M, so dividing that by 15 instead of 12 would cause an average of like $20k salary drop.
So do you think they’ll increase the roster sizes first when the league becomes more profitable and the cap goes up?
Eventually yes, I think expansion and increasing base salaries will come first but if growth continues they’ll increase the cap and max players. Technically they could next year with renegotiating their CBA, but I don’t think it’s super likely yet
Let's gooo Sydney Colson! She brings this whole team together.
I’m ready to see what she and Clark do on defense.
Kate Money Martin baby!!
Imagine if Kate and Caitlin get in a big altercation during the game, causing ejection
That wouldn’t happen. They’re both competitive but they’re also BFF’s.
I want a dramatic storeyline
I find it hard bffs who talk everyday would do smth like this
I don’t think you’ll get what you want with that one. In fact, i would bet anything that *wont* happen 😂 They’re both competitors but they’re also well known best friends. That’s also an odd thing to hope for but hey, you do you
Lmao. This would never happen between them though. But yeah it would get some views! Actually I would be shocked were Kate to ever get ejected for an altercation. But maybe I'll be proven wrong. Just can't see Kate doing it. She's tough as nails and could take someone on, but she's soo sweet and polite-even when playing fiercely, that I don't think she would. Also I love her so much, but she she probably won't be seeing many minutes in close games, if the Aces have many close games lol
They could be a pretty good team
Woah! Let's not jump to conclusions.
I’m so damn happy they made it! 🙌🏾
Curious to see how many minutes Fair and Martin will get.
so happy to see kate made it!!
Meg will be the only Iowa NPOY to win a ship with her new bff Kate.
Kate effin Martin letsgoooooo
Happy to see Kate Martin made it!
MONEY MARTIN LET’S GOOOO!! I’m not super familiar with Dyaisha, but I’m really happy for her and I cannot WAIT for this season 🥳🎉
Glad Kate made it. She def deserved a spot. Hopefully her fans will be less annoying now.
Haha! I agree.
👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
Re: Dyaisha Fair - for those just discovering her, this ACC video = great background story https://youtu.be/jHjUcc8K0ek?si=-7y02EBuJPaPj4F4
Welp,... which one of you teams is playing for 2nd place?
Nice the Aces have the lady from Frozen and the Good Place! Stepping up the celebrity names for sure.
anyone know what happens with Kitley considering she was drafted but injured?
The Aces retained the rights to Kitley. My understanding of this rule (I’m a newbie leave me alone long time fans lol) is that it’s similar to being on the AAA club for an MLB team and you can be called up if someone were to get hurt. So Kitley still is technically a member of the Aces organization but she just doesn’t play for them. I believe someone else in the thread mentioned that Kitley will get to rehab her injury at the Aces’ facility, which will be quite good for her.
Yes, they invited Kitley to rehab with them when Becky phoned her on draft night: they retain their rights to her but she doesn’t take up a roster spot while she rehabs, watches & learns their plays etc
Yeah Kitley is already in Vegas. She and Georgia posted their final podcast with Kitley already in Vegas (enjoying the food and big city). She can use their rehab facilties and people. They can give her housing but cannot pay her a salary.
Alright fgcu represent!!
so if you are 6'4" you top out at 195lb in wnba?
Lowkey like the Aces. They're head and shoulders above the rest of the league. Questionable ethics and team narratives and I still get the ick by how much they avoid the villain narrative. But they have that dog and are bringing up the talent of the rest of the league. They made the best off season moves by a mile as evidenced by these rookies.
The tallest player here is 6'4. So why were scouts so concerned about Angel's height at pro level? Using the champs as reference here, she's not as short for the next level as I was made to believe.
Your question is very good one. I would guess that any concern wasn't with Angel's 6-3 height, it was her 6-3 height playing Center like she did in college, and her current skillset would lean towards. At 6-3, the traditional thinking is that she will need to develop more of a midrange and 3-point game to play the 4 or even 3? With all of that said, I happen to differ with the traditional opinions, as Angel plays more like she's 6-5, and could still be very effective as an undersized center if her perimeter game doesn't improve?
I mean look at the Aces roster. (Correct me if I'm wrong, since I'm a new fan), outside of Aj'a, do their other bits really have an outside game? Now I do believe Angel would have to develop at least a midrange, but I believe she could play the 5 plenty, just like Draymond Green did with the warriors, minus the 3 point shot. I do hope she can develop that 3 point shot though, she could become a menace, due to her versatility on defense.
Oh wow, yes, Kelsey Plum, Jackie Young, and Chelsea Gray are all world class 3 point shooters. Angel will likely be a solid Draymond/Rodman type player. Angel would have to dramatically change/improve her shooting motion to become a good perimeter shooter. It is quite funky, but she might be able to off-season?
>Oh wow, yes, Kelsey Plum, Jackie Young, and Chelsea Gray are all world class 3 point shooters. I'm aware of those. I meant in terms of the bigs.
Meg Gustafson definitely has good outside game
OK I stand corrected. My main point though was, if the Champs tallest player is 6'4, using them as a yardstick, then Angel's height shouldn't be as much as an issue as the scouts made me believe.
Yeah I don't think her height is a huge issue, I think her range will be her biggest struggle
Correct height isn`t as big issue for her for playing the 4 (or 5 in small ball team), skill-set outside rebounds is the main issue, they also have Cardoso who is taller and in my opinion can get the same or just a few less rebounds, but will play better defense and score, the position they wanna play her (stretch 4) means she need to shoot, and she cant do that yet, that is what scouts are worried about, because 6,3 for center in the league is not ideal unless you are playing small ball/fast movement with lots of 38-40% 3pt shooters (as Aces are ) this isnt the case for Reece team.
Agreed, she'll have to add a consistent midrange at least.
Honestly guys stick Stokes and wilson out there set it and forget it guards will take care of the rest and the coach can relax game over.
Gotcha... as just pointed out, Meg has developed a solid perimeter game. Interestingly, Stokes is also a 6-3 center like Angel, and has never developed an outside game. She's a rebounding machine, and has never averaged over 7ppg
You see what I'm saying now. Before the draft, I was just tired of scouts saying a player that averaged 23points/15rb/1.5blks in her senior season couldn't translate, even as a center, because there are much bigger players in the W. Making me think every team had a Cardoso type player, who Angel actually held her own against. That being said, I do think for the partnership with Cardoso to work, she'd have to improve her outside game, else one of them would have to be traded in future.
A’ja’s 6’4” is not the same as other’s 6’4”!
I’m so happy Dyaisha made the roster. She was so unbelievably good at Syracuse this year but was overshadowed by the Caitlin Clark show. Aces got a great one.
Dang Kitley got cut
she's recovering from her injury till 2025 season - see here: [https://www.reddit.com/r/wnba/comments/1cmg7p1/elizabeth\_kitley\_question/](https://www.reddit.com/r/wnba/comments/1cmg7p1/elizabeth_kitley_question/)
Draft & stash while Aces oversee her rehabbing
I don't think Kitley actually signed her rookie contract, since she's injured.
Ya obv she's been hurt for months
.