Wings Trade NaLyssa Smith, Girlfriend Of Dallas Teammate DiJonai Carrington, To Vegas
Smith is on the move less than six months after being acquired from the Indiana Fever
The Dallas Wings made a pair of interesting trades during the WNBA offseason. The first was to acquire NaLyssa Smith from the Indiana Fever. The second was to acquire DiJonai Carrington from the Connecticut Sun. Why is that interesting? Smith and Carrington are in a romantic relationship stemming from their days playing together in college at Baylor.
Well, it appears that the pair are going to have to return to a long-distance relationship as the Wings shipped Smith to Las Vegas less than six months after trading for the forward.
Even more interesting, during a Wings' preseason game, GM Curt Miller indicated that trading for Smith was part of a plan to help lure Carrington to Dallas.
But the pairing didn't work out. Dallas is building a team around Paige Bueckers, the first overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft, and Smith didn't provide much value in her limited time with the team.
The Wings started the season 1-11 before winning four of its next six games. Smith, who averaged over 10 points per game in each of her three seasons in Indiana (including a career-high 15.5 in 2023), averaged just 6.7 points with Dallas.
Just a few months after acquiring NaLyssa Smith (left) from the Indiana Fever, the Dallas Wings have traded the forward, who is dating teammate DiJonai Carrington (right), to the Las Vegas Aces.
(Michael Gonzales/NBAE via Getty Images)
The former #2 overall pick in 2022 now joins her third WNBA franchise in less than a year. The Las Vegas Aces have disappointed this season after winning back-to-back WNBA titles in 2022 and 2023 and making it to the semifinals last year.
The Aces are 8-8 on the season, a down-year by their standards, as they haven't posted a losing regular season since 2018. They're obviously hoping that Smith just needs a change of scenery – again – to help get her back to her scoring ways.
We'll have to wait and see if it has any effect on the relationship with Carrington.
UPDATE: Both Smith and Carrington reacted to the trade on social media.