The Las Vegas Aces have waived rookie guard Dyaisha Fair, the team announced Sunday. Fair, the third-leading scorer in NCAA Division I women's basketball history with 3,403 points, was selected No. 16 overall in the 2024 WNBA Draft last month.
Fair impressed enough during training camp to earn a spot on the Aces' roster, but she saw extremely limited action in the first two weeks of the season. She made her professional debut Saturday in the team's blowout win over the Indiana Fever and did not score, though she did hand out two assists.
The 5-foot-5 Fair is undersized, even for a point guard, and was always going to face an uphill battle to carve out a spot in the WNBA. That the Aces decided to move on is ultimately not all that surprising, though the timing is a bit strange considering they were impressed enough to keep her out of camp.
Ultimately, Fair may have been done in by forces outside her control.
The Aces have a serious depth issue at the moment due to Candace Parker's retirement and Chelsea Gray's injury. Through their first four games, A'ja Wilson, Jackie Young and Kelsey Plum have scored over 75% of their points, and the other eight players who have checked into a game have combined for 90 total points.
They are in win-now mode and desperately need to find someone who can help off the bench, especially until Gray returns. If there's a free agent available who can provide reliable minutes, that's more valuable to their three-peat hopes than Fair's potential.
Who that free-agent addition will be remains to be seen, but a number of veteran guards are available on the free agent market, including Odyssey Sims, Sydney Wiese and Shey Peddy.
The back-to-back champion Aces are off to a 3-1 start this season and sit in a tie for second place.
