Las Vegas Aces eye guards with No. 1 overall pick in WNBA Draft

Las Vegas Review-Journal

6 years ago

Notre Dame guard Jackie Young (5) dribbles the ball, during the second half of the Final Four c ... — Notre Dame guard Jackie Young (5) dribbles the ball, during the second half of the Final Four championship game of the NCAA women’s college basketball tournament against Notre Dame, Sunday, April 7, 2019, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Louisville guard Asia Durr (25) passes during the second half of a regional semifinal game against Oregon State in the NCAA women’s college basketball tournament, Friday, March 29, 2019, in Albany, N.Y. Louisville defeated Oregon State 61-44. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Notre Dame guard Jackie Young speaks during a news conference at the women’s Final Four NCAA college basketball tournament Saturday, April 6, 2019, in Tampa, Fla. Notre Dame will play Baylor for the national championship on Sunday. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)

Notre Dame guard Jackie Young (5) drives to the basket as Connecticut forward Napheesa Collier (24) defends during the second half of a Final Four semifinal of the NCAA women’s college basketball tournament Friday, April 5, 2019, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Notre Dame guard Jackie Young shoots over Connecticut guard Crystal Dangerfield during the first half of a Final Four semifinal of the NCAA women’s college basketball tournament Friday, April 5, 2019, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)

Connecticut guard Crystal Dangerfield (5) defends against Louisville guard Asia Durr (25) as Connecticut guard Katie Lou Samuelson (33) runs toward the pair during the second half of a regional championship final in the NCAA women’s college basketball tournament, Sunday, March 31, 2019, in Albany, N.Y. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Louisville guard Asia Durr (25) drives trhough traffic during the second half of a regional semifinal game against Oregon State in the NCAA women’s college basketball tournament, Friday, March 29, 2019, in Albany, N.Y. Louisville defeated Oregon State 61-44. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Louisville guard Asia Durr laughs as she tells a joke during a news conference at the NCAA women’s college basketball tournament, Thursday, March 28, 2019, in Albany, N.Y. Louisville faces Oregon State in a regional semifinal game on Friday. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

A guard or a big?

That was the question for the Aces.

Until Notre Dame junior guard Jackie Young declared Monday for the WNBA Draft, which begins at 4 p.m. Wednesday in New York and will be televised on ESPN2 and ESPNU.

“She’s slid up into our conversation now,” Aces general manager Dan Padover said Tuesday. “We’ll have to really evaluate that tonight and tomorrow.”

The Aces have the No. 1 overall pick in the draft for the third consecutive season and have spent the past several weeks sifting through their options as they look to add to their talented young core.

“There’s no A’ja Wilson in this draft. We’re sitting here with the No. 1 pick looking at, OK, what is what,” said Bill Laimbeer, the Aces’ coach and president of basketball operations. “There are multiple choices at the top that can be had, depending on who’s picking.”

Young did a little bit of everything for the national runner-up Fighting Irish and provides a certain toughness on the wing that the Aces lacked in their inaugural season.

Louisville guard Asia Durr averaged 21.2 points in her senior season and is the most gifted scorer in the draft.

The Aces also have fielded trade offers for the pick and could move it for an established veteran to complement the core of Wilson, Kayla McBride and Kelsey Plum.

But that seems unlikely.

“Teams have called. Nothing has been like, ‘Oh, my god, let’s go do this,’ ” Padover said. “There’s always a chance something crazy could pop up, but as of now, I don’t see us moving down.”

The Aces had considered pairing Mississippi State center Teaira McCowan in the frontcourt with Wilson, but since have zeroed in on Durr and Young.

“The most intriguing part about her (Young) is she has a physicality on both sides of the ball that we don’t have on the perimeter,” Padover said. “She can walk in and be a solid WNBA defender that does a lot of little things.”

Padover also spoke highly of Durr and her ability to create scoring opportunities off the dribble, adding that “she’s just an all-around scorer, which you can never have too much of in our league. … Sometimes you need a player you can throw on an island and can go get a shot, and she can.”

Other top prospects include Baylor’s Kalani Brown and Connecticut’s Napheesa Collier, but they haven’t been part of the ongoing conversation regarding the No. 1 pick — the team’s only selection in the three-round draft.

“Where we’re at with the team, you think about need. But our goal is to always take the best player available,” Padover said. “I think it’ll end up being one of the two guards.”

Contact reporter Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on Twitter.