Baylor Professional Athletes

The Injury That Changes Everything

With five games left before the playoffs and a third straight WNBA title in sight, the Las Vegas Aces lost one of their most efficient players — and Baylor's most prominent WNBA alumna — in the worst way possible.

NaLyssa Smith suffered a non-contact left leg injury at the 3:15 mark of the third quarter in Las Vegas's 88-78 win over the Toronto Tempo on Sunday, August 23. She posted 8 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals, and a block in the time she played — a reminder of exactly what the Aces are now without. The team confirmed Thursday that she is out for the remainder of the 2026 season.

The numbers underscore the loss: Smith was averaging 11.8 points and 6.4 rebounds across 37 games this season and was leading the entire WNBA in field-goal percentage at 63.8%. She was Las Vegas's fourth-leading scorer and second-leading rebounder — a foundational piece of a frontcourt built to defend a title. The Aces have won three of the last four WNBA championships, but the road to another repeat just got dramatically steeper.

Media reaction was swift and pointed. WNBA reporter Myles Ehrlich captured the general sentiment with a single word: "Awful."

Baylor to the Rescue

The Aces didn't wait long to respond. Las Vegas signed fellow Baylor Bear Kalani Brown to bolster a frontcourt now thin without Smith. Brown, a center, returns to the WNBA to help fill a void that is difficult to overstate — Smith wasn't just a scorer and rebounder, she was the most accurate field-goal shooter in the league.

Brown's signing keeps the Baylor pipeline to Las Vegas alive at a critical moment. Whether she can replicate Smith's production in a playoff push is another question entirely, but her familiarity with winning basketball — and shared roots with Smith in Waco — makes her an intuitively sensible addition.

Around the League

Elsewhere, the week had a rough complexion for Bears in blue. DiJonai Carrington and the Chicago Sky continued to struggle, with Carrington logging just four minutes in Tuesday's 87-81 loss to the Connecticut Sun before exiting with a left foot issue. She had been listed as questionable and was cleared to play, but lasted barely past the opening tip. In Sunday's 113-90 loss to Indiana, she managed 7 points, 3 rebounds, and an assist — part of a difficult stretch for a Sky team mired in one of the league's more turbulent seasons.

The week's defining story, though, belongs squarely to Smith and the Aces. A Baylor product who was playing the best basketball of her career — leading the WNBA in shooting efficiency — now watches the postseason from the sideline. Las Vegas still has the firepower to contend, but replacing a 63.8% field-goal shooter heading into the playoffs isn't a problem any roster move fully solves. Kalani Brown is a familiar face and a capable center, but the Bears' absence in the Aces' frontcourt will be felt when the games matter most.

Four Baylor alumni dominated WNBA headlines the week of Aug. 16–22 — and none of them for the same reason. From the injury report to the flagrant foul file, Bears fans had plenty to track.

Griner Watches from the Sideline Again

Brittney Griner's return to form remains elusive. The Connecticut Sun center sat out multiple games during the week, appearing on the injury report for the Sun's matchups against the Sparks and the Aces, both times listed with a lower leg issue. Griner was officially ruled out for the Sun's game against Las Vegas, a contest Connecticut lost 101–78. Her absence continues to loom large for a Sun team that needs her interior presence to compete deep into the season.

Carrington: Foot Injury and Fallout

DiJonai Carrington's week was complicated before she even hit the floor. The Chicago Sky guard was ruled out for a key game due to a foot injury, sidelining her at a stretch when the Sky can ill afford the absence. But the injury news arrived alongside an older controversy still following her: analyst Jason Whitlock publicly called for Carrington to "never play again" after a play roughly a week prior in which she struck Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham around the neck area, sending her to the floor. Fever head coach Stephanie White had already weighed in, backing the flagrant foul call by officials while making clear she disagreed with the play. In the games she did play this week, Carrington was a modest contributor — 8 points and 7 rebounds in a tight 82–80 win over Seattle on Sunday, and 4 points and 3 rebounds in a 93–86 loss to New York on Wednesday.

Smith Delivers the Week's Best Baylor Stat Line

While the headlines swirled around her teammates, NaLyssa Smith quietly put together the most productive stretch of any Baylor alum this week. The Las Vegas Aces forward opened Sunday with a standout performance against Minnesota: 17 points, 12 rebounds, and a steal — a genuine double-double that stood as the week's statistical highlight from the Bears' WNBA contingent. She added 10 points and 6 rebounds (with 3 blocks) in Wednesday's loss to Atlanta, before a quieter 7-point, 4-rebound outing in the blowout win over Connecticut on Friday. Smith finished the week as the most consistent Baylor presence on the court.

Sims at the Center of the Clark Debate

Odyssey Sims found herself in the middle of the WNBA's loudest ongoing conversation. In Thursday's Wings-Fever game, Sims fouled Indiana's Caitlin Clark in the fourth quarter, taking her to the ground knee-first from behind — a play that immediately ignited social media and drew a furious public response from tennis legend Martina Navratilova. Fever fans and commentators called it emblematic of the physicality Clark faces nightly, while others framed it as routine WNBA defense. Sims finished the game with 2 points, 3 assists, and 2 steals in a 91–85 Wings win — one of just two victories Dallas notched this week after falling to Golden State on Tuesday. Whether the foul was flagrant or incidental, the moment put a Baylor name at the center of the league's biggest recurring storyline.

The biggest story out of Baylor's WNBA alumni this week didn't require a box score to explain — it needed a press release.

The Ejection Heard Round the League

Chicago Sky guard DiJonai Carrington, a Baylor alum, had eight quick points and was a force on the floor before her afternoon imploded in the first quarter of Saturday's Fever-Sky game at the United Center. On a fast-break opportunity, Indiana's Sophie Cunningham received a pass and went up for a layup — and Carrington's left arm connected hard with Cunningham's head and neck, sending her to the floor. Officials reviewed the play and issued a Flagrant 2 foul, ejecting Carrington immediately. The Fever won 90-86.

What happened next moved the story from the sports page to something larger. Minutes after the ejection, Carrington posted two words on social media — "WHITE PRIVILEGE" — and tagged the Indiana Fever. Cunningham is white; Carrington is Black. The post ignited a national debate about physicality, officiating standards, and race in the WNBA that dominated the sports conversation heading into the weekend.

The timing was combustible. Cunningham has been at the center of several physical incidents this season, and the question of whether she draws calls at a disproportionate rate had already been simmering in WNBA circles. Carrington's post made that subtext explicit — and inescapable.

The Cruel Irony of the Timing

What makes the episode particularly sharp for Sky fans is the context Carrington was building before the ejection. Chicago had gone 3-1 since her return from a foot injury, and teammate Natasha Cloud specifically credited Carrington with transforming the team's defensive identity during that stretch. The Sky were trending upward. Saturday's loss to Indiana — which featured Kelsey Mitchell setting a WNBA single-season record with her 16th consecutive 20-point game, alongside 26 points and 11 assists from Caitlin Clark — was a meaningful setback, made worse by losing their defensive engine in the first quarter.

Carrington had also scored 16 points in a loss to the Mercury on Aug. 4 and contributed six points, two assists, and a plus-11 in a win over the Sparks on Aug. 6. The foot injury concern, at least on the court, had seemed resolved.

Around the Rest of the Alumni Landscape

The week wasn't all controversy. Baylor alum Brittney Griner turned in a timely performance for the Connecticut Sun on Friday, blocking Kelsey Plum's potential tying 3-pointer at the buzzer to seal a 75-72 win over the Phoenix Mercury. Griner finished with five points, seven rebounds, four assists, and two blocks — notable production given she had been managing a knee injury that kept her out of four consecutive games heading into the week.

NaLyssa Smith was quietly one of the steadier Baylor alumni on the stat sheet. The Las Vegas Aces forward posted 18 points, four rebounds, and a plus-9 in a blowout win over the Dream on Aug. 3, followed by 14 points and nine boards in a close win over the Fever on Aug. 6. She added another 14 points and 11 rebounds in a loss to Minnesota on Saturday — a week's worth of double-double production that deserves more attention than it received.

Odyssey Sims of the Dallas Wings chipped in nine points and two steals in a blowout win over the Sun on Aug. 2, but the Wings' week ended with a loss to the Valkyries on Saturday.

For Baylor alumni this week, the scorelines were secondary. Carrington's ejection and its aftermath will define the conversation long after the box scores are forgotten.