Chennedy Carter has returned to the WNBA with the Las Vegas Aces and, through five games, has scored 97 points off the bench — a league record for a player in the first five games of a season.
The numbers are stark: Carter is averaging 19.4 points per game while shooting 67.2% from the field, ranking No. 11 in the WNBA in scoring through five games, and she has added 2.0 assists, 2.8 rebounds and 1.6 steals. She has made three 3-pointers on 3-for-8 shooting (37.5%) so far in 2026 after hitting nine 3s in 33 games in 2024.
Her coming-out night in this stretch came in an 85-84 Aces win over the Atlanta Dream, when Carter poured in 20 points — her third 20-point game of the season. Even after that performance she was not satisfied: "I'm still going through it, I'm a little bit disappointed. Happy we won," she said, adding, "Obviously I want to help the team close in the fourth quarter if possible."
Las Vegas signed Carter in free agency after re-signing A'ja Wilson, Jackie Young, Chelsea Gray and Jewell Loyd, and led its WNBA newcomer impact rankings by putting her at the top. Coaches and teammates have watched what had been a stalled career revive quickly; Carter had been out of the league for two of the past three years and had spent time playing in China and Mexico prior to returning to Las Vegas.
Becky Hammon, the Aces' coach, has given a short, revealing assessment of how Carter is being used: "She just continues to grow in our system," Hammon said. "The points, you can't get past the points. She's a bucket.... I don't give her a lot of structure offensively." Hammon added that Carter has expanded her range: "I know she can score the ball. She's added a 3-ball to her game, which makes her about unguardable if she hits one or two of those. It gets real scary for opponents. We're just letting her be her. As well as we're going to continue to coach her up on the defensive end."
Carter, who was the No. 4 pick in the 2020 draft by the Atlanta Dream, has framed her revival simply: "I'm just having fun," she said, and, more pointedly about her fit in Las Vegas, "I'm just thankful that I have a team that has embraced me and allowed me to be me. It's felt comfortable. It doesn't feel forced. It just feels right." She has also been candid about where she believes she stands in her own arc: "I haven't done the things that I want to do," she said, and, "I'm OK with being at the bottom and climbing my way back up to the top. I feel like I'm one of the best scorers in the world and I'm just accepting the process."
The tension in Las Vegas' plan is plain. Offensively, Hammon is giving Carter latitude to create and score off the bench; defensively and in late-game situations the coaching staff is still shaping how she fits. Carter's own disappointment about not closing the fourth quarter against Atlanta highlights the gap between a bench role that produces points and a role that finishes games. It is a real-time negotiation: the Aces are maximizing immediate scoring while deciding whether and how to hand Carter the keys in crunch time.
What matters now is whether this hot start is sustainable and how the Aces will calibrate Carter's minutes and responsibilities as the season unfolds. Through five games she has an efficiency few reserves have matched; the next steps will be matchup planning, defensive buy-in and how often Hammon trusts her with the ball in the final minutes. If Carter continues to score at this clip while adding consistent 3-point shooting — Hammon's belief that "it gets real scary for opponents" — opponents will have to adjust lineups and schemes to account for a bench scorer who can change the game.
For Carter, the immediate story is less about stats and more about momentum. She has already led a narrative of comeback — from a player who missed much of the past three years in the WNBA to a newcomer impact leader — and she insists the environment in Las Vegas has helped. "I'm just thankful that I have a team that has embraced me and allowed me to be me," she said. If she keeps climbing, that embrace could turn into a permanent place at the center of the Aces' offense.
