Aces’ Chennedy Carter Decision Puts Immediate Pressure on Jewell Loyd
The Las Vegas Aces waived Chennedy Carter on Tuesday, parting ways with their leading scorer off the bench in a move that doesn’t bode well for her WNBA future. After rocky stints with the Atlanta Dream, Los Angeles Sparks, and Chicago Sky, signing with the Aces was an opportunity for Carter to prove that she could contribute to a winning team without any off-court drama.
While there have been no official reports about what led the Aces to this decision, some social media activity from Carter, which resulted in a drop in her minutes, suggests that off-court issues were a factor again.
With Carter gone, the spotlight is now on Jewell Loyd, who has gotten off to a very slow start. The Aces’ roster is very top-heavy and lacks guard depth since Dana Evans is still out with an injury. That lack of depth and Loyd’s struggles were easier to stomach when Carter could come in and score a bunch of points in a hurry. Now that that safety net is gone for good, Loyd will have to produce more.
Carter missed some time due to an injury and illness in June. Loyd had some good games over that stretch, like a 14-point performance in a 92-73 win against the Golden State Valkyries, but largely struggled. If that trend continues for the rest of the season, it could hurt the Aces’ chances of repeating as champions.
The Aces signed Justine Pissott, but she didn’t see any regular-season action with the Indiana Fever, so they shouldn’t expect her to be an immediate difference-maker off the bench.
Jewell Loyd needs to step up for the Aces
Jewell Loyd is sixteenth on the WNBA’s all-time scoring list and led the league in scoring in 2023. She’s a great scorer. There’s no doubt about that.
She has been uncharacteristically quiet this season, averaging just 8.3 points on 36.1% shooting from the field and 33.3% from deep. She has never averaged fewer points in her career—the lowest mark before this year was 10.7 points in her rookie season—and is having one of her most inefficient shooting seasons.
With A’ja Wilson sidelined with an injury and Carter gone, Loyd’s scoring is more important than ever, but even when Wilson is back, the Aces will need her to be a steady scoring presence off the bench.
The Aces rank 11th in points off the bench with 20.5 at the moment (so including the games in which Carter went off for 20 points). Loyd is the only reserve now who averages more than 11 minutes per game and puts up more than 5.2 points. That lack of bench production puts a lot of pressure on Wilson, Chelsea Gray, and Jackie Young to put up big numbers game after game. They are all very capable of that, but it makes resting them or surviving injuries more difficult.
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Elaine Blum covers women’s basketball for On SI from Europe. She has been writing about women's hoops since 2023 and holds a Bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism and a master’s degree in American Studies with a focus on women’s and gender studies. She started playing basketball when she was 10 years old and won several league and state championships at the youth and senior level.