Final roster cuts for WNBA teams took place on Thursday, bringing good news for two draft picks from Alabama women’s basketball: Guards Sarah Ashlee Barker and Aaliyah Nye will be rostered for the 2025 season.
The duo were two of the biggest pieces on a Crimson Tide team that made it to the round of 32 in consecutive seasons, as they were the top two leading scorers in both campaigns.
Barker was selected ninth overall by the Los Angeles Sparks after a remarkable career at Alabama, capping it off with a school-record 45 points in the NCAA tournament against Maryland.
Sparks head coach Lynne Roberts praised the guard, citing her skill, toughness and leadership that were well on display during her time in Tuscaloosa.
“Sarah Ashlee is just a competitor at heart. She can shoot the three, she can shoot the pull-up and put the ball on the floor,” Roberts said. “She just checks all the boxes in terms of what we really need.”
In Los Angeles’s lone preseason game, Barker had 5 points, three rebounds and three assists in 13 minutes. In two regular season games thus far, she is averaging 4 points, 2.5 rebounds and an assist in 19 minutes per game.
Nye was drafted 13th overall by the Las Vegas Aces and was known during her time at Alabama as a sharpshooter, holding the school record for 3-pointers made in a season and a career. Aces head coach Becky Hammon called Nye one of the best shooters she’s ever seen.
“That’s why we went and got her,” Hammon said. “She fits a need for us, and even just her presence and that shooting threat creates spacing for other people on the court.”
Nye turned heads in her first preseason game with the Aces, scoring a team-high 17 points on 5-8 shooting from 3-point range. She played four scoreless minutes in her first regular-season game.
Barker and Nye weren’t the only two Crimson Tide draftees, as guard Zaay Green was also selected but did not make the final roster and will now be a free agent.
Green was drafted 32nd overall by the Washington Mystics after a seven-year college career that finished at Alabama. She averaged 15.7 points per game for the Crimson Tide last season.
She played in both of Washington’s preseason games, averaging 4 points on 13.5 minutes per game. Most third-round picks in the WNBA don’t make the final roster, and Green was no exception, as now she will look to potentially catch on somewhere else.
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