Dallas Wings Trade NaLyssa Smith to Las Vegas Aces: A Smart Move on the Court, but a Hit to Team Chemistry

Landing a 2027 first-round pick gives Dallas long-term value, but loses a beloved teammate in the locker room.

The Dallas Wings have traded forward NaLyssa Smith to the Las Vegas Aces for a 2027 WNBA Draft First Round pick. In order to complete the trade, Dallas released Kaila Charles. The decision to trade Smith to the Aces for a first-round pick may have raised eyebrows among fans, given the great locker room dynamic throughout the struggling team record, but the move makes a lot of basketball sense with Smith’s on-court production in 2025.

Over 18 games with the Wings, Smith has averaged 6.7 points and 4.9 rebounds while shooting 42.5 from the field. Smith spent her first three WNBA seasons with the Indiana Fever, who selected her No. 2 overall in the 20222 WNBA Draft. Smith was acquired by Dallas via a four-team trade this past February.

Smith’s numbers this season have failed to match expectations for a former top pick and frontcourt centerpiece early in her WNBA career. In May, she averaged 9.0 points and 3.6 rebounds over seven games while shooting 48.9% from the field and 68% from the free throw line. Rather than trending upward, her performance declined the following month. Across 11 games in June, her scoring dropped to 5.3 points per game and she shot 37.7% from the floor. While her rebounding improved to 5.8 per game, her inefficiency and limited defense didn’t impact the team.

Smith does well when she has her back to the basket in the post, using multiple moves to back down a defender and soft touch at the rim but Wings didn’t explore it enough while she was on the court as she was mostly was used as a screener and rebounder for the team. Smith doesn’t stretch the floor (just 0.6 three-point attempts per game) and provides little rim protection (0.9 blocks per game), despite playing a position where both are vital in the modern era of bigs who can shoot, defend and pass. Smith averaged more turnovers (0.9) than assists (0.8) this season.

Smith’s offense this season relied heavily on assisted paint touches, 80% of shots made were assisted and 66.1% of Smith’s points were in the paint. The skillset is overloaded on the team with Myisha Hines-Allen and Teaira McCowan on the roster. The difference between them and Smith are the contracts. Hines-Allen and McCowan are at the top of the roster as two of the highest paid, it would much more difficult to trade during the season and both are expiring contracts.

The most eye-popping stat from smith’s time with the Wings lies in the plus-minus numbers. The Wings are +1.54 per 100 possessions when Smith is off the court, and -11.09 when she’s on. That swing of over 12 points is massive and hard to ignore. With Luisa Geiselsöder back with the team from EuroBasket, Smith found herself on the outside looking in. Geiselsöder spaces the floor, can distribute the ball and defend.

Getting a first-round pick for Smith is a smart move for the Dallas Wings as they look to reset and build a roster around Bueckers. Smith struggled to find consistent impact this season and the Wings capitalized while opening up cap space and playing time for better-fitting pieces like Geiselsöder. The 2027 first-round pick gives Dallas a valuable asset in a future draft or be leveraged in a trade to expedite their rebuild.

Smith was a well-liked player in the locker room, evident in her strong bonds with teammates. In a season where the Wings are searching for an identity amid injuries and constant lineup changes, team chemistry has been a steady strength. While the trade may make sense on paper, losing Smith could take a toll on a close-knit group while the team is trying to collect wins.

It’s a tough move that signals Dallas is committed to move forward with a clearer identity and a valuable draft pick, even if it means parting with a popular player in the locker room.