rewrite this content and keep HTML tags (remove this from content : rewrite this content and keep HTML tags)
Midway through the 2023 WNBA season, Aces coach Becky Hammon made a claim that male practice player Jaire Roberts had a hard time believing.
“If we win a championship, you guys are getting rings, too,” she said.
Roberts, 28, was old enough even then to know that it’s easy for people to get excited in a moment and say things they don’t mean.
But then the Aces won their second consecutive league title, and Roberts got a call asking for his ring size.
“I’m still like wow,” Roberts said, elongating his reaction for cartoonishly dramatic effect. “That’s crazy.”
Now, with the Aces leading the Phoenix Mercury 2-0 in the 2025 WNBA Finals, he’s just a few games from potentially receiving another one.
Not every WNBA team offers championship hardware to the men tasked with playing against the world’s best women’s basketball players in practice. For Hammon and the Aces, however, it’s a token of just how much they value the group — and an illustration of the expectations those practice players are expected to meet.
“They’re really part of our team. … We travel with them. I throw them in the fire,” Hammon said. “They’re here to make the women better. They do that. And they do it with a lot of grace and a lot of enthusiasm — and they love and care about our team, more importantly.”
When the New York Liberty dethroned the Aces and won the 2024 title, they didn’t give rings to their practice players. They also don’t pay them, utilizing a group of as many as 20 volunteers per year. The Aces take a different approach, paying a group of men that is often less than six.
“They have to build trust with me,” Hammon said. “It’s not just anybody that I’m just going to throw out there and let guard (A’ja Wilson) in practice.”
How male players push Aces forward
PJ Savoy Jr. is the Aces’ primary male practice matchup for Wilson, the league’s four-time MVP. Savoy, 29, is a Las Vegas native who formerly played as a 6-foot-4-inch guard at Florida State.
“He is the only person that guards me when I’m on the court,” Wilson said of Savoy. “It’s been helpful because obviously guys are stronger. They jump higher. It’s like, if I can just guard him a little bit, then I could be in good shape for the league. But at the same time, he has to guard me. So, he makes it harder, and he makes my looks tougher.”
Savoy and Rashaad Zimmerman, 29, are the only practice players who also boast official titles on the Aces’ basketball operations roster.
Savoy is listed as an assistant player development coach, while Zimmerman was recently promoted to basketball operations coordinator.
They’re the leaders of a squad that Aces players affectionately call “the Spades,” an apt title for the male practice personnel. The group of practice players also includes Tyler Murrell, 27, who joined the team after their last title run.
Murrell, not far removed from his playing days at Colorado Christian University and University of Antelope Valley, has adapted his play style in light of Hammon’s reminder that no practice player can actually “make the team.”
“It’s challenging because as men, we have to play with a sense of urgency. But obviously we’re catering towards the players, so we have to come in every day with a certain mindset,” Murrell said. “And I think it’s been paying off.”
Wilson joked that while the Spades make the Aces mad when “they’re just doing too much,” it provides a fun edge to practices and makes rougher games feel familiar.
“They are truly our brothers,” Wilson said.
Forward NaLyssa Smith used the same word to describe the Spades, each of whom she went out of her way to playfully shove as she took the court for Game 1 of the best-of-seven finals.
Smith, who made stops with the Indiana Fever and Dallas Wings before arriving in Las Vegas via a midseason trade in June, sees how the Aces’ practice players are set apart.
“The difference is they also coach you up a little bit, too. You can go to them for advice because we all trust them. I haven’t been here that long, but I think I’ve built a relationship with every single one of them,” Smith said.
How to become, stay a Spade
While some WNBA organizations hold open tryouts for practice players, the Aces rely on a network of trusted people and word-of-mouth.
For Roberts it was a text from a friend. Zimmerman, Savoy and Murrell made inroads from connections they built while volunteering with various organizations to stay close to the game.
That system has led to some funny synchronicities. Zimmerman is a South Carolina native like Wilson, and they essentially grew up together as family friends. She was shocked that his path led him from being an Air Force veteran to the Aces.
Similarly, Savoy never imagined that making good impressions in his hometown would lead to his current role, which he said he’s grateful has helped him avoid a “regular 9-to-5.”
“I was at the (2022) parade, having fun,” Savoy said. “The following year, I ended up getting to be with the staff and on the other side of the gate.”
But 2025 was different from the Aces’ previous championship runs, with the team falling out of playoff contention in the first half of the year and needing a historic 16-game win streak to close the regular season and secure the No. 2 seed.
The team was adapting to personnel changes, including the trade that exchanged guard Kelsey Plum for Jewell Loyd and the replacement of two assistant coaches. The Spades adjusted by putting in more time with the players.
“I think everyone was basically trying to relearn each other’s tendencies,” Zimmerman said. “Every morning before practice, we’re out there with them. Giving them drills, trying to keep it innovative and fresh. Trying to stay on our toes with that has been an adjustment.”
For Roberts, the key through the Aces’ growing pains was “being positive at all times.”
“You’ve got to be a good person first,” he said.
Contact Callie Fin at cfin@reviewjournal.com. Follow @CallieJLaw on Twitter.
