Kate Martin one of 12 Aces remaining in WNBA Training Camp

Kate Martin seemingly came out on the right side of a busy 24 hours for the Las Vegas Aces.

After waiving two players and adding one Monday, the Aces released forward Angel Jackson on Tuesday afternoon. The move leaves Las Vegas with 12 players on the roster.

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The WNBA allows for teams to carry a minimum of 11 players and maximum of 12 players on the regular season roster. Teams must be down to at least 12 players by May 13. Last season, Las Vegas played with an 11-player roster.

Once the regular season starts, WNBA teams can still waive players and sign players under hardship contracts when the roster dips below 11 healthy players.

With the four moves in the last day, Martin, a 2018 Edwardsville High School graduate, looks primed to make the final roster barring a setback.

“If I fortunately would make the final roster, I’ve been in that position before, I know how to be a role-player. I know how to support stars,” Martin said during media day. “I’ve done that for quite a few years, so my intention is to come in and give 100 percent effort every single day, never take a rep off and just work really hard to be a good teammate.”

The two-time defending WNBA champion Aces started training camp on April 28 with 17 players, including Martin, who was selected in the second round with the 18th overall pick by Las Vegas.

Prior to Monday, the Aces had already said goodbye to three players with Candace Parker retiring on April 28 and Brea Beal and Morgan Jones being waived on May 2.

The Aces announced Monday that guards Bria Hartley and Kamaria McDaniel had been waived and they had signed forward Emma Cannon.

Martin received a ringing endorsement from Las Vegas star Kelsey Plum on Monday.

“I’m excited. Kate Martin is awesome. She picks up things pretty quickly. Becky nicknamed her Kate ‘Money’ Martin, so I think that’s going to stick,” Plum said. “She’s in the right place at the right time which is what makes it better. That’s what the coaches value and that’s why she’s going to be a great asset for the team.”

Another endorsement for Martin came from her former college teammate Caitlin Clark, who was the No. 1 pick by the Indiana Fever.

“She’s a pro player. She brings every asset that you could possibly want — whether it’s shooting, defense or leadership. In my eyes she’s one of the best leaders I’ve been around in my entire life,” Clark said. “She’s somebody I can always lean on and rely on, whether she’s my teammate, whether she’s just my friend — I wish she was still my teammate. I’m just really happy and excited for her.”

It was less than two months ago that Martin and Clark finished their careers at Iowa. Martin ended her college run with 1,299 points, 756 rebounds, 473 assists, 148 steals and 70 blocks in 163 games. She is the only player in program history with at least 900 points, 500 rebounds, 400 assists, 120 steals and 60 blocks.

Matt Kamp is the sports editor for The Edwardsville Intelligencer. A graduate of Edwardsville High School and the University of Illinois, Matt has been writing for the paper since he was a junior in high school in 2001 and on a full-time basis since 2010.

HOT NEWS: 

CAITLIN CLARK ADMITS WHERE SHE IS WEAK IN THE WNBA AND WHY SHE NEEDS TO IMPROVE

She will make her preseason debut on Friday night at Dallas.

Caitlin Clark speaks about adjusting to the WNBA, spacing, fitting in and being herself. WNBA teams have started making moves to capitalize on the popularity of Caitlin Clark.

Some are booking bigger venues for when Clark and the Indiana Fever come to town. The Las Vegas Aces and Washington Mystics have moved their games against the Fever to bigger arenas. The numbers Clark generated in college indicates it’s a smart move.

Clark will make her preseason debut on Friday night at Dallas – a game that is already sold out.

Caitlin Clark: “I’ll have to get stronger”

“I think the physicality is probably going to be one of the biggest things for myself. Like, it reminds me of the international game in a way.

The international game is very, very physical. Obviously, the college game, it was physical to an extent, but the people I’m going to be playing in this league are full-grown, very strong women.

You’re going to get hit. You’re going to get bumped. People are going to defend you hard when you’re driving the ball to court. And I think just getting used to that physicality of the game will probably be one of the biggest things for myself to overcome is just mentally, but also physically is like, I’ll have to get stronger.

Obviously that’s hard to do coming from college to like starting a whole another season. There’s only so much you can do in the weight room. But, I think as my career kind of unfolds, you know, just getting physically stronger and, you know, being able to hold my own.”

“It will definitely be an adjustment, but, you know, it is what it is. I think the CBA is up for renegotiation after the season, we can opt out of it, and certainly the new media rights deal will have a big impact on that too.

So, at this point of my career, and across the WNBA, it is what it is. I’m sure certainly everybody would say they would love to be flying charter all the time.

It would definitely help a lot of problems, but I think the Fever organization has done a really good job of getting out ahead of things; there’s gonna be a lot of security traveling with us. It’s not like we’re the odd man out here.

Everybody has to navigate it. And I think it’s gonna, you know, cause some problems, maybe, because the popularity of our league is continuing to grow.

Having to navigate travel with that, but at the same time, as you know, that’s a positive thing; you want people to be excited about our game. So, hopefully it changes in the near future, but for now, it’s just what it is.”

HOT NEWS: 

UCONN’S GENO AURIEMMA EXPLAINS WHY HE DIDN’T RECRUIT CAITLIN CLARK

Just about every college basketball team would be ecstactic to have Caitlin Clark playing for them.

The Iowa Hawkeyes star is the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer, but predicting that when she was in high school would have been pretty bold.

Three other players were ranked higher than her in her high school class — Paige Bueckers, Angel Reese and Cameron Brink.

Head coach Geno Auriemma of the UConn Huskies speaks with Caitlin Clark of the Iowa Hawkeyes after the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament at the Alamodome March 27, 2021, in San Antonio. (Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)

Reese and Brink committed to Maryland and Stanford, respectively, and while Clark stayed home to play with the Hawkeyes, UConn landed Bueckers, the top player of the class.

UConn head coach Geno Auriemma said he didn’t recruit Clark, and he had his reasons.

“I committed to Paige Bueckers very, very early, and it would have been silly for me to say to Paige, ‘Hey listen, we’re going to put you in the backcourt, and then I’m going to try really hard to recruit Caitlin Clark.’ I don’t do it that way,” Auriemma said earlier this week, via CT Insider.

Hindsight is 20/20.

Bueckers missed a season with a torn ACL, while Clark’s resume speaks for itself. The two will face each other in the Final Four Friday night.

Despite Clark raving about UConn, saying it’s the “coolest place on earth,” Auriemma made it seem like Clark wasn’t seriously eyeing the Huskies.

Head coach Geno Auriemma of the UConn Huskies reacts during the first half against the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament at Climate Pledge Arena on March 25, 2023 in Seattle, Washington. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

“Caitlin is obviously a tremendous player, a generational player. But if Caitlin really wanted to come to UConn, she would have called me and said, ‘Coach, I really want to come to UConn,’” he said.

“Neither of us lost out. She made the best decision for her, and it’s worked out great. We made the decision we thought we needed to make.

“There are a lot of great players we see coming through high school, thousands of them. You’re only going to recruit some. You’re not going to recruit all of them. Some people do recruit all of them, I don’t. I try to lock in on who fits us,” Auriemma added.

“We try to lock in on them early, and that’s what happened to us and Paige. We felt really, really comfortable with that, and we went with it. Those are decisions that are made every day, every year, by every coach.”

Caitlin Clark of the Iowa Hawkeyes cuts down the net after beating the LSU Tigers 94-87 in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament at MVP Arena April 1, 2024, in Albany, N.Y. (Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

The top-seeded Hawkeyes lost the national championship to LSU last year, but they got their revenge in the Elite Eight. UConn, meanwhile, is in its 23rd Final Four and its 15th in the last 16 tournaments and looking for its 13th national title.

The Huskies haven’t won since their fourpeat from 2013 to 2016.