Twelve weeks is all it took for Chennedy Carter’s stint with the Las Vegas to last. She went from one of the best bench starts in league history to a release. However, WNBA legend Lisa Leslie doesn’t see it as just another transaction. The Hall of Famer sees it as a real missed opportunity for a player she believes has All-Star-caliber talent still sitting on the table.
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“Chennedy Carter, this is, I believe, her third team,” Leslie said in an interview with CBS Sports. “She’s going to be let go again. I’m not sure what the details are behind the scenes, but wow, what an unfortunate miss here, because I believe she also could have been an All-Star, a reserve possibly.”
“You don’t get these moments back. One, the opportunity to be an All-Star, the opportunity to win Sixth Woman of the Year or a player of the year or most improved player of the year, and an opportunity to possibly win a championship. All those things gone, unfortunately. But I want to give her flowers anyway. God bless you.”
Leslie’s frustration makes sense given how the season actually started. Carter signed a non-guaranteed training camp deal with the three-time champion Aces in April. For a moment, it looked like the best decision, in her own words. She scored 97 points across her first five games, the best bench start to a season in WNBA history, and was averaging around 19 points a game through her opening stretch.
That hot start is exactly why the ending feels so jarring. Head coach Becky Hammon had defined Carter’s role clearly from day one, telling reporters in May she’d be used as a “spark plug off the bench” behind a starting group of A’ja Wilson, Jackie Young, Chelsea Gray, and Jewell Loyd. Carter appeared to embrace it early on. But the cracks started showing almost as fast as the production did.
By late May, Carter was publicly pushing back on that same role she had once welcomed. She told reporters in person she didn’t see herself as a “sixth woman.” After a May 28 loss to the Dallas Wings, she also fired back at criticism of her defense on social media.
“Y’all can holler at me when my leash is off, too. It’s completely unfair, even though statistically, it’s not even close,” she said, reacting to the criticism.
That tension coincided with a physical decline in her availability. Carter played all eight Aces games in May, then just four in June, missing time first to a left leg injury and later an unspecified illness. By the time the Aces waived her on July 7, ahead of the league’s midseason deadline that would have guaranteed her full salary, she had already appeared in only 13 of the team’s 21 games, averaging 12.2 points. This was a steep fall from where the season began.
On paper, this partnership made obvious sense. The Aces needed someone who could take scoring pressure off A’ja Wilson, cover for an injured Dana Evans at guard, and add rotational depth behind Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young. Carter fit every one of those needs on the stat sheet. Whatever happened behind closed doors clearly mattered more.
Can Carter Find A New Team This Season?
This isn’t the first time Carter’s talent and her team fit have parted way on rocky terms. Atlanta suspended her indefinitely in July 2021 for conduct detrimental to the team. Later, she was traded to the Sparks the following year. She stuck around Los Angeles longer, but was waived before the 2023 season and sat out the year that followed entirely, playing overseas in Turkey and China instead.
The pattern hasn’t shaken the leagues belief in her scoring ability. Only it’s patience for whatever comes with it. Carter, for her part, isn’t shying away from that reputation.
“Let’s be honest, I’m one of the most talented scorers in the world, and everything that I’ve had, I’ve had to work for. I’m accepting it.” Carter said in an interview with USA Today on July 8.
Whether that talent finds a new home this season is now an open question, one made harder by a track record that keeps repeating the same ending. As Leslie put it, it would be a shame to see a player of Carter’s caliber sit out the rest of the year when, in a different version of this season, she could have been on her way to an All-Star reserve nod instead. For now, her next move is anyone’s guess.