The Las Vegas Aces sat atop the basketball world in September after winning their first WNBA championship. Since then, the team — which was already a favorite to repeat as champions in 2023 — has found itself embroiled in multiple controversies.

The franchise is being investigated for its treatment of Dearica Hamby, who was traded to the Los Angeles Sparks last month while expecting her second child, and also reportedly for circumventing the WNBA’s salary cap. Both accusations were raised in the last few weeks.

Here is a timeline of the events leading up to this point.

January 21: Aces trade Dearica Hamby to the Sparks

Las Vegas dealt the two-time Sixth Player of the Year to L.A. along with a 2024 first-round pick in exchange for a 2024 second-round pick and the negotiating rights for forward Amanda Zahui B., who was a free agent at the time. Zahui B. ended up signing with the Mystics later on in free agency.

The San Antonio Stars, who later moved to Las Vegas and became the Aces, drafted Hamby sixth overall in 2015. With the organization, she won a WNBA championship and was an All-Star in 2021 and 2022 as a key contributor off the bench.

Hamby, 29, had signed a multi-year contract extension on June 29, seven months before the trade.

January 21: Dearica Hamby takes grievances to Instagram and WNBPA releases statement

On the same day that the trade was made public, Hamby accused the Aces of mistreating her due to her pregnancy.

If true, the Aces could be in violation of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978.

“Being traded is part of the business,” Hamby wrote on Instagram. “Being lied to, bullied, manipulated and discriminated against is not.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by dearica marie hamby (@dearicamarie)

She went on to say that the Aces organization “attacked” her character and work ethic and called into question her commitment to the team.

After Hamby’s post, the WNBA Players Association released a statement acknowledging a concern raised against the Aces but did not specify if the player in question was Hamby or if it was in relation to her post.

“A member of our Union has raised serious concerns regarding the conduct of members of Las Vegas Aces’ management,” the statement read. “We will review this matter and we will seek a comprehensive investigation to ensure that her rights under the collectively bargained provisions of the 2020 CBA, as well as her rights and protections under state and federal law, have not been violated.”

January 28: Candace Parker announces her intention to sign with Aces

After two years with the Chicago Sky, Parker opted to sign with the Aces in free agency, announcing her decision on Instagram on a Saturday afternoon.

“After evaluating the landscape together with my family, we’ve decided the Las Vegas Aces are the right organization for us at this point in our lives,” wrote the two-time WNBA champion.

Parker reportedly signed a one-year, $100,000 contract with Las Vegas, taking a steep discount to join the superteam for the 2023 season.

February 7: Aces avoid talking about Hamby

The Aces held an introductory press conference for Parker on Tuesday that included coach Becky Hammon, team president Nikki Fargas and general manager Natalie Williams.

Fargas started the press conference with an opening statement that addressed the Aces’ intentions with building their roster during the offseason and indirectly referenced the team’s decision to trade Hamby.

“We will always continue to make sure that our players and their families will always be in the forefront of who we are as a franchise,” Fargas said. “We’re going to always be supportive of our players in that regard. And we will always demonstrate that we will act accordingly when you are discussing any situation surrounding the well-being of our athletes.

“We are here to assemble the best team possible, and when putting together a team, there are times when trades will happen. But that’s for us to also remain competitive.”

Later, when a reporter raised a question to Fargas about Hamby, an Aces spokesperson interjected to tell the media in attendance that Fargas had to take another call and they would take just one more question. From there, the Zoom press conference ended abruptly.

In case folks are interested in seeing how this was handled on Candace's intro press conference...Here is the video of @ANYamashita trying to ask his question about Dearica Hamby: https://t.co/D3lMME5cAV pic.twitter.com/t4fYChCs6f

— Ben Pickman (@benpickman) February 7, 2023

February 8: News breaks alleging Aces circumvented salary cap

In addition to the Hamby investigation, the Aces also came under scrutiny this week for accusations that they circumvented the salary cap, which is set at $1,420,500 for the 2023 season.

The organization allegedly made “under-the-table” offers to players they hoped to sign in free agency, which included sponsorship offers from “pre-selected companies,” as first reported by The Next on Wednesday.

The CBA does not allow sponsorships that exceed fair market value. It also forbids teams from making deals that serve as “compensation for basketball services.”

WNBA leaders sounded off on the report on Twitter this week, with Dream owner Larry Gottesdiener, Lynx head coach and president of basketball operations Cheryl Reeve and Fever GM Lin Dunn calling for a “level playing field” when it comes to the salary cap.

February 8: Aces release statement about WNBPA investigation surrounding Hamby trade

The Aces released a statement on Feb. 8 at 5:48 PM local time (PST) addressing the investigation for the first time.

“The Las Vegas Aces are aware of the formal investigation launched today by the WNBA regarding Dearica Hamby,” the statement read.

The investigation, however, had started prior to the Aces’ statement, The Athletic confirmed this week. The WNBPA’s own investigation had also begun earlier.

The statement continued: “As an organization whose mission is to support and celebrate the tremendously talented women in our league, we take seriously our responsibility to hold ourselves to the highest professional standards.

We have been in contact with league investigators to assist with all information requested, and will continue to do so throughout the investigation. Due to the ongoing investigation, the organization will have no further comment at this time.”

The statement did not address the salary cap accusations.

The 2025 NCAA volleyball season is down to four top teams, as the Division I national championship tournament's Final Four takes the court in Kansas City on Thursday night.

No. 1 seeds Pitt and Kentucky survived a series of high-profile tournament upsets to punch their tickets to Thursday's semifinals, where No. 3 seeds Texas A&M and Wisconsin will join the Panthers and Wildcats.

"The Final Four is just so special, it is so incredible," Wisconsin head coach Kelly Sheffield said ahead of Thursday's action. "You want as many of your players that are committed, that decide to come here, you want them to experience that."

Two teams will look to make history this weekend, with Pitt and Texas A&M both in pursuit of a program-first national championship.

While the Aggies are in uncharted territory, booking their first-ever semifinals berth last weekend, the Panthers are hunting a breakthrough, hoping to claim a first-ever championship final appearance in their fifth consecutive trip to the Final Four.

As for Kentucky and Wisconsin, the Wildcats and Badgers will be looking to add a second trophy to their cases after booking their first program titles in 2020 and 2021, respectively.

How to watch the 2025 NCAA volleyball Final Four

The 2025 NCAA volleyball semifinals begin at 6:30 PM ET on Thursday, when No. 3 Texas A&M takes on No. 1 Pitt before No. 3 Wisconsin faces No. 1 Kentucky at 9 PM ET.

Both Final Four clashes will air live on ESPN.

As the 2028 LA Olympics come into focus, the FIFA Council unveiled the regional allocations for the Summer Games' first-ever 16-team women's soccer tournament this week.

According to the Council's Wednesday report, 2.5 slots will go to AFC (Asia), 2 to CAF (Africa), 3 to Concacaf (North and Central America), 2.5 to Conmebol (South America), 1 to OFC (Oceania), and 4 to UEFA (Europe), with one additional slot reserved, as always, for the host nation — the reigning Olympic gold medalist USWNT.

While the expanded competition allows for greater depth, one AFC and one Conmebol team will ostensibly have to face an inter-continental playoff to determine which region can send an additional team to the 2028 Olympics.

One the other hand, Concacaf's representation will double from 2024, growing from two to four teams given the automatic berth of the USWNT.

Similarly, after host nation France's autobid boosted UEFA'a 2024 allocation to three teams, this week's new distribution doubles the European confederation's previous non-host two-team max for the LA Games — meaning all four of the 2027 UEFA Nations League semifinalists will qualify to compete for gold in 2028.

Notably, CAF and OFC are the only confederations to not see an increase on their previous allocation from the FIFA Council.

The puck dropped on the 2025/26 PWHL Takeover Tour on Wednesday, when the No. 2 Montréal Victoire took down the No. 5 Toronto Sceptres 2-1 in an overtime shootout in front of a sold-out crowd in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Packed into Scotiabank Centre, 10,438 fans watched Team Canada and Victoire captain Marie-Philip Poulin score the shootout's lone goal, handing Montréal their third straight win.

"It was amazing to see the young girls and boys in the crowd wearing our jerseys, saying our names, and wanting our autographs," said Victoire head coach Kori Cheverie. "It's just extremely special."

The PWHL's 16-stop Takeover Tour is just beginning, with nine games planned for Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Washington DC, Denver, and more before the league pauses for the 2026 Winter Olympics.

"We hope that the impact is a positive one. Everywhere we go, that's the impression we want to leave — for little girls to know that they have a dream and that their dream can become a reality," said Sceptres captain and Nova Scotia product Blayre Turnbull following Wednesday's Tour stop.

Halifax marks the third-year league's fourth sold-out stop, joining fellow Canadian cities Edmonton, Québec City, and Vancouver.

How to attend the 2025/26 PWHL Takeover Tour

The PWHL will next pull into Chicago's Allstate Arena for a Takeover Tour stop on Sunday, when the No. 8 Ottawa Charge will take on the No. 6 Minnesota Frost on at 2 PM ET.

Tickets are currently available for purchase via Ticketmaster.

Months after Napheesa Collier set the WNBA ablaze with her viral exit interview criticizing league leadership, the Minnesota Lynx star said "nothing has changed" at the front office level as CBA negotiations stall.

"The conversation has been had now [and] people are seeing that changes need to be made," Collier said this week from Miami, where Unrivaled 3×3 is gearing up for its second campaign.

"I feel confident in the [union] and where we are internally with our players and the future," she continued.

In her October press conference, Collier publicly called the WNBA front office "the worst leadership in the world," putting commissioner Cathy Engelbert in the hot seat amid tense CBA negotiations with serious implications on next season's play.

The league and the WNBPA are currently sparring over revenue sharing, with diverging compensation expectations further distancing the two sides.

"Obviously, there's frustration in that both sides are trying to get what they want, but we still have that fire within us that we're willing to do what it takes," Collier said. "We're going to do whatever it takes to get what we think we deserve."

As talks drag on, Collier sees Unrivaled — the offseason 3×3 league she co-founded with New York Liberty star Breanna Stewart — as fueling the players' fight.

"Us being here in December and January until March, it's a crucial time in the CBA," Collier acknowledged.

"Having us all in one place is beneficial," she explained. "To have players congregate in that way, where you can have those in-person conversations and updates like that, that does help to get things moving more quickly."