The Las Vegas Aces are set to run it back with the core group that helped them win the WNBA championship last year — the franchise's third in four seasons.
The Aces have agreed to deals with Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young, according to people familiar with the negotiations. Jewell Loyd is finalizing a deal, according to a different person familiar with the situation.
All three people spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Friday because they weren't authorized to speak publicly about the signings until the deals become official. None of the deals can be signed until Saturday.
The trio are free agents, along with four-time league MVP A'ja Wilson, who has said she planned on returning to the Aces.
ESPN was the first to report the deals.
Gray and Young have been there for the entire run of success by the Aces since they won their first championship in 2022. Gray, who has won four titles in her career — including one in Los Angeles — averaged 11.2 points, 5.4 assists and 3.9 rebounds for the Aces last year while playing in all 44 regular-season games. She was limited to 27 games a year earlier because of injuries.
Young averaged 16.5 points, 5.1 assists and 4.5 rebounds for the Aces last season. Las Vegas selected her with the No. 1 pick in the 2019 draft.
Loyd was acquired in a trade from Seattle before last season and was a key part of Las Vegas' championship run. She averaged 11.2 points and came off the bench for the first time in her career. She helped Seattle win titles in 2018 and 2020. The six-time All-Star led the league in scoring in 2023.
This has been a busy offseason since the league and the players' union signed a transformational labor deal that saw average salaries rise nearly fourfold. Players can earn over $1 million annually for the first time in league history, which is more than four times the previous maximum salary. More than 80% of players in the league are free agents.
AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball
FILE - Las Vegas Aces guard Chelsea Gray (12) and guard Jackie Young (0) look on during the second half of Game 4 of a WNBA basketball playoff semifinal against the Seattle Storm, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson, File)
The company that operates the cruise ship at the center of a hantavirus outbreak told The Associated Press Wednesday that it expects to know by the end of the week if the vessel will keep to its cruising schedule for the rest of the summer, as it previously indicated it would.
The Dutch-flagged MV Hondius is listed on Oceanwide Expeditions' website as scheduled to depart on a cruise later in May that would take it to the Arctic for a series of cruises throughout the summer.
Three cruise ship passengers have died, including a Dutch couple whom health officials believe were the first exposed to the virus while visiting South America. In all, there have been 11 cases reported in the outbreak, nine of which have been confirmed.
On Monday, after the ship reached Spain's Canary Islands where all remaining passengers were taken off, Oceanwide Expeditions said that it did not “foresee changes to our operations” — which included a new cruise beginning May 29.
But on Wednesday the company said it expects “clarity on whether the vessel will sail and the sailing schedule by the end of this week.”
More than 120 people on board during the outbreak — all passengers and some crew — disembarked on Sunday and Monday and are now quarantined in several countries. The ship then set sail for Rotterdam, the Netherlands, where it is expected to arrive on May 17 or 18, Oceanwide Expeditions says.
Twenty-five crew members, two health workers and the body of one of the passengers who died are still on board. None are showing any symptoms, the company has said.
Hantavirus usually spreads from rodent droppings and is not easily transmitted between people, though the Andes virus detected on the Hondius may be able to spread between people in rare cases. Symptoms usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure.
Becatoros reported from Athens, Greece, and Shastri reported from Milwaukee.
Passengers board a plane bound for Eindhoven, after disembarking from the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius at the airport in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Monday, May 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Arturo Rodriguez)
The hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius is seen at anchor at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Monday, May 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Arturo Rodriguez)
