3 Aces veterans not retiring, open to return

General manager Natalie Williams is looking to retool the two-time champions’ bench by tackling free agency when it begins in January.

It will be a different approach than the one the Aces took last offseason, as the front office operated under the impression that WNBA legend Candace Parker was returning for a second campaign with the team. Instead, Parker retired, which left the Aces with slim pickings to replace her.

The Aces are likely safe from retirement impacting their 2025 roster – although that’s not the only variable that could affect the returns of Tiffany Hayes, Alysha Clark and Sydney Colson.

Here are the current plans and postseason reflections of each veteran, all of whom are 35 or older and unrestricted free agents:

Hayes set on Aces

Hayes, the 2024 Sixth Player of the Year, joined the Aces in May after announcing her retirement six months prior. She averaged 9.5 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game.

This year marked Hayes’ 12th WNBA campaign, and there’s nothing stopping the 35-year-old from parting ways with the league again. There’s also the looming expansion draft, which will allow the Golden State Valkyries and newly appointed coach Natalie Nakase – who left as an Aces assistant for the new gig – to select a player from each team.

That said, Hayes sounded set on the Aces when she spoke about her plans from a coffee shop in Las Vegas.

“It’s a hard type of thing, because I know there’s this new team, and things could happen. I don’t know if I would want to go to another team if they choose me,” she said via Zoom. “So, yeah, if I were to come back, definitely would be with the Aces.”

She’s one of four Aces players confirmed as participants in the new Miami-based offseason league Unrivaled, joining Kesley Plum, Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young.

“Right now I feel like I would and could come back, especially since I’m not playing overseas,” Hayes said, adding that she’s already started some workouts.

She’s barely a week removed from the Aces’ season-ending WNBA semifinals loss to the New York Liberty on Oct. 6.

Game 3 of that series left Hayes with a nagging elbow injury that required an injection before the Aces were eliminated in Game 4, she said, and now she feels there’s plenty of time for it to heal.

“I was kind of hurt,” Hayes said of the Game 4 loss. “Obviously I had high hopes for this season, but also because I was having such a good time.”

That culture fit was obvious when the Aces showed up at Barclays Center in A’ja Wilson No. 22 jerseys paired with designs from Hayes’ fashion line Seyah Renara and Timberland boots.

The Liberty took the Timberland boots as some kind of message, later placing a pair of the New York style staples on the Aces’ logo following Game 4. Hayes said it was a misunderstanding.

Clark not retiring

Clark, the 2023 Sixth Player of the Year, has goals to return to the Aces and come back even better. She averaged 6.0 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists this season.

“I’m not retiring next year,” Clark said. “I have every intention of playing, and that’s what excites me. … I know there’s still so much more room for improvement.”

Clark, 37, was the second-oldest player in the WNBA this season behind Diana Taurasi.

“But I’m also the only player on a roster that played all 46 games,” Clark noted. “The way athletics has been moving, with recovery and all the science behind it, you can’t use (age) as a factor for real.”

Clark said she and the Aces lingered in the locker room after Game 4, long after the coaches left.

“At the end of the day, we were chasing history. And that comes with an extreme amount of pressure,” Clark said.

That’s why Clark was so excited to leave town and go to Mexico “last minute” with a small group of teammates, including Gray and Kierstan Bell.

“We booked our flights and stuff Monday, and we were gone Tuesday,” Clark said. “For me, it was just a time to get away and decompress from the season.”

Colson trusting God

Colson, 35, said returning to the Aces is what “makes sense” for her career, but she doesn’t know it’s a sure thing.

“I’ve never been in a situation where it’s guaranteed that I’m going to be back the following season,” Colson said. “So I just put confidence in God, but absolutely, like, I want to be back with the Aces.”

Colson, who considered retiring in 2022, averaged eight minutes per game this season, double the amount of time on the court she saw last season. She averaged 2.5 points, 0.5 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game.

She said she feels like she gained more of coach Becky Hammon’s trust this year, which should bode well for her potential return.

“I’m a young vet,” she said, alluding to the fact that she missed the 2012 through 2014 seasons and played overseas after having been cut from WNBA teams.

Although she was a second-round draft pick in 2011, this was just her 10th season in the league.

Her biggest takeaway from the campaign is that the Aces didn’t necessarily deserve to win a championship. They showed flashes, but ultimately weren’t consistent enough, she said.

“Yeah, you were sad after you lost, but you also saw it coming in some ways, and then just, you got to move on and focus on how you can be better individually and collectively,” she said. “But I love the fact that our team, even with the hardships, we care about each other.”

Colson is committed to playing for Athletes Unlimited in February, another offseason league. Play will be based in Nashville, Tennessee, and last a month.

Contact Callie Fin at clawsonfreeman@reviewjournal.com. Follow @CallieJLaw on X