Jackie Young is heading back to the Las Vegas Aces, with reporting Thursday that the team is finalizing a one-year deal worth $1.19 million to keep the guard in Vegas. Young did not end up taking meetings with other teams and instead focused her negotiations with the Aces.
The move keeps one of Las Vegas' core pieces in place after a season in which Young averaged 16.5 points, 5.1 assists and a career-high 4.5 rebounds per game in 2025. She has been with the Aces since they drafted her No. 1 overall in 2019, and she has helped the franchise win three championships.
The deal matters because Las Vegas is trying to hold together the roster that won the 2025 title. A'ja Wilson has already given a verbal commitment to sign back with the Aces, the team sent qualifying offers to NaLyssa Smith and Kierstan Bell, and it is still working to bring back Chelsea Gray. Aaliyah Nye was also selected by the Toronto Tempo in the WNBA expansion draft, making the Aces' offseason more complicated even as they try to keep their championship core intact.
That is the tension for Las Vegas now: the champions have one of their biggest players coming back, but the rest of the roster is still in flux. Wilson said last week that she knows exactly where she is and is not looking anywhere else, a line that fits the Aces' effort to keep the group together while the market around them keeps moving.
For Young, the return is another turn in a Vegas run that started on draft night and has already produced three titles. For the Aces, it is a clear sign they are not treating the 2025 championship as the end of something. They are trying to make it the start of another one.
