To say the 2026 WNBA season has been a whirlwind for Los Angeles Sparks wing Aaliyah Nye would be a bit of an understatement. She was selected by the Toronto Tempo in the expansion draft, cut during training camp, claimed by the Atlanta Dream off waivers, cut by the Dream right before the FIBA World Cup break and then claimed by the Sparks.
This is only year two in the WNBA for the former second round pick after spending her rookie year with the Las Vegas Aces. Coming into the league, Nye heard people constantly talk about the WNBA as a business, and now she completely understands what that means.
“I realize that this a business at the end of the day, and teams have to make business decisions. It’s just understanding that,” Nye told ClutchPoints in an exclusive interview. “I always heard it’s like a business and now I’m a part of the business. It is, it’s a business at the end of the day. But I think just having a great support system around me and trusting God’s plan and what he has for me has been helping me. And I’m pretty optimistic. I try to stay positive about a lot of things.”
Coming to terms with the situation doesn’t mean that it makes it any easier. The constant shuffle kept Nye on a heightened state of alert. She hasn’t been able to get comfortable at all this season, and she laments the fact that she hasn’t been able to really showcase her game.
She didn’t get much of an opportunity with the Tempo before they cut her and in the 19 games she played for the Dream, she cracked over five minutes per game just twice. It wasn’t until she came to the Sparks that she began to see more of a crystal-clear image for what her role on the team would be.
“I‘ve kind of got garbage minutes this season. It’s been hard to really showcase that. You try and practice, but practices during the season are not like a training camp situation where you’re scrimmaging all the time. This is the most I’ve scrimmaged since the season started,” Nye said. “So I think it’s just been hard to get comfortable and get going, but I’ve been trying to work on that part of it. I try to showcase as much as I can in practice or when I’m out there getting those few minutes and trying to handle that.”
Aaliyah Nye finds role with Sparks
Before the season ended for the Sparks, there was a pressing need on the roster for consistent 3-point shooting. That’s where team brass envisioned Nye stepping in and contributing. She was a sharpshooter in college, putting up three seasons of shooting over 40 percent from distance, and never shooting under 35 percent across five years at Illinois and Alabama.
As a rookie with the Aces, she shot 31.4 percent on 2.4 attempts per game. During her Dream tenure, she shot 33.3 percent albeit a small sample size of nine attempts. And in her first game with the Sparks, she knocked down her first two 3-point shots before going 2-of-4 overall.
Before Lynne Roberts was let go as Sparks head coach, she acknowledged that Nye was on the team’s draft board in 2025 before they ultimately selected her Alabama teammate Sarah Ashlee Barker. Roberts gave Nye a glowing review in the little time she had with her in Los Angeles, and that potentially bodes well for whoever the next Sparks head coach is.
Article Continues Below“She can shoot, a really quick trigger, good size, she’s young. She’s got a lot of basketball in front of her,” Roberts had said back on Sept. 14. “I think she can play the one or the two. She’s a little undersized to play the three. I think she can do it in emergency situations. She’s a good person, she’s easy to coach, she’s fit in seamlessly, she’s easy-going.”
Unfortunately for Nye, she suffered an ankle injury following her Sparks debut on Sept. 17 against the Dallas Wings. The injury kept her out for the team’s last three games of the season. The Sparks still essentially control her future, however.
When the Tempo selected her in the expansion draft, they were on the hook for the rookie scale contract she signed with the Aces last season. When the Dream claimed her off waivers, and then later the Sparks, they too picked up the tab on her deal. She is under contract with the Sparks for the 2027 season before coming up on a team option for 2028.
And if she stays on the roster for the duration of her rookie deal, she’s already identified the ways in which she can make an impact on the court. And she’s also learned quite a bit about what her Sparks teammates are like behind closed doors.
“They’re very competitive and they like to trash talk is what I’ve noticed. They just like to hoop and they like to have fun … practices have been competitive, we’ve scrimmaged a lot,” Nye said. “I feel like me shooting the ball, being a shooting guard, shooting that three, setting good screens, playing defense, doing the little things, getting the 50-50 balls, trying to get those hustle plays, I feel like that’s kind of where I can help the team.”
But aside from just getting out on the court and wanting to make an impact, there is one thing in particular that Nye wants to get back to, and that is simply having fun. Being shuffled around from team to team has kind of sapped that joy a little bit and made her feel business-like in going through the motions.
Basketball is her passion, her lifeblood. The game she grew up loving as a child. And that’s the feeling that she wants to get back, even if her future may not be on the Sparks. She hopes it will be, but no matter what, her number one goal is to enjoy the game again.
“I’ve kind of thought about that, but I haven’t really sat down and really analyzed it. But I feel like something that would just make me feel good about ending the season is just going out there, being confident, playing and not timid, being comfortable … just having fun at the end of the day,” Nye said. “This is something I grew up doing and I had fun and I loved it. I feel like the past year or so, I realized my fun has become like a business. So just going out there and enjoying it again. Being more comfortable, being confident, knowing what I’m capable of doing no matter what team I’m on.”