Former Buffalo and Syracuse standout guard Dyaisha Fair was waived by the Las Vegas Aces late last month after the back-to-back champs drafted the Rochester, NY native with the 16th pick in the 2024 draft.
It’s unfathomable to think that the third all-time leading scorer in women’s college basketball, trailing only Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Plum, is currently not on a roster. But that could change, especially with two new expansion teams coming to the league in 2025 and 2026.
“I’m most proud of being on the all-time scoring list at just 5’5,” Fair told ESPN on draft night.
In the most recent NCAA Women’s Tournament, players like Caitlin Clark, Juju Watkins, and Angel Reese received most of the attention, leaving Fair in the cold despite the amazing season she put together.
“[Dyaisha Fair] didn’t get the publicity this year,” said former LSU Forward Angel Reese during the 2024 NCAA Tournament. “I don’t know what the reason was…but I think she deserved that [referring to publicity].”
Fair had multiple standout performances this past season, most notably a 38-point performance on 52% shooting in a win over Boston College.
But it’s in the postseason where players cement their legacy.
In the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Fair scored an impressive 32 points on 50 percent shooting in a win over the Arizona Wildcats. The Orange were trailing late in the game before Fair ran off 13 straight points in the fourth quarter. In the next round against UConn, she scored 18 second-half points but it was too little, too late and the Orange fell to the mighty Huskies.
Could her size be deterring her future?
While Fair is akin to other undersized point guards like the Atlanta Dream’s Crystal Dangerfield and the Chicago Sky’s Dana Evans, both second-round draft picks as well, she plays above her height.
Maybe it was where Fair was drafted?
As a second-round pick on a team aiming for a threepeat, Fair’s opportunities were limited, especially with the surprise emergence of former Iowa Guard Kate Martin who was drafted by the Aces two picks after Fair.
Head Coach Becky Hammon would agree that Fair is extremely talented offensively, but the team’s struggles have been on defense, allowing the sixth most points per game in the league. That should have created an opportunity for Fair, who earned ACC All-Defensive honors in the 2023-24 season.
But, according to Hammon, those defensive abilities didn’t quite translate in her rookie season.
After an opening night win over the Phoenix Mercury, Hammon spoke about Fair in a post-game interview. “[Dyaisha Fair] just has a whole lot to learn and she’s playing the hardest position on the floor,” Hammon told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Martin found a role on this high-powered roster as a defender and 3-point shooter off the bench. Fair initially made the final roster but was waived five games into the season. Soon after, the Aces signed 2018 second-team all-defensive player, Tiffany Hayes, out of retirement.
More than 60 players were waived between May and June, most not even making an opening day roster. But this season, Fair was an anomaly.
She was the highest-drafted rookie to be waived after making the final 12-player roster at the start of the season. As a prolific, generational scorer, it’s hard to believe that Fair would be unemployed if there were more teams in the league.
With the addition of the Golden State Valkyries in 2025 and the soon-to-be-named Toronto team a year later, expansion is on the horizon. League commissioner Cathy Engelbert said that she expects the league to have 16 total franchises by 2028, with cities like Denver, Philadelphia, Portland, and South Florida in the mix.
The WNBA is also negotiating a new media rights deal that will have long-term implications for its growth, which includes player salaries and expansion. Viewership was already growing before the 2024 draft, but with the additions of Clark, Reese, and the recently injured Cameron Brink, viewership, attendance and merchandise sales are all experiencing tremendous growth.
And with UConn Guard Paige Bueckers and USC Guard Juju Watkins soon to arrive, Englebert has great leverage in media rights negotiations.
By 2026, the WNBA will still be half the size of its parent company, the NBA.
But, as the league continues to grow, there will be more opportunities for talents like Dyaisha Fair.
