Former Indiana Fever Player Reunites With Team USA as WNBA Return Possibility Emerges After 2026 Absence

The WNBA has actually seen numerous skilled gamers take their skills overseas, and Aerial Powers is amongst those who just recently picked that path. After years at the greatest level of ladies’s basketball, the previous Indiana Fever gamer invested the 2025-26 winter in Turkey. She did not play in the WNBA in 2026, and she kept playing in other places, consisting of a stint in Athletes Unlimited Pro Basketball, where she balanced 9.3 points in 12 video games. Her most current profession advancement reveals she is still discovering methods to complete on significant phases.

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The 2019 WNBA champ has actually been called to the Team USA lineup for the 2026 FIBA 3 × 3 AmeriCup. The choice follows 3 FIBA 3 × 3 Women’s Series occasions in August, where the U.S. group did not win a title and reached the semifinals at finest. It provides the ten-year veteran another global platform after her WNBA lack, and it raises the concern of what follows for her in the league.

Aerial Powers got in the WNBA as the 5th general choice in the 2016 WNBA Draft by the Dallas Wings. She balanced 10.4 points per video game in her launching season, arrived at the 2016 All-Rookie Team, and completed second in Sixth Player of the Year ballot. Injuries restricted her to simply 12 video games in 2017, and midway through the 2018 season, after 59 overall video games in Dallas, she was traded to the Washington Mystics.

In overall, she wound up having a 10-year WNBA profession, appearing in 200 profession video games, and representing the Dallas Wings, Washington Mystics, Minnesota Lynx, Atlanta Dream, Golden State Valkyries, and Indiana Fever.

Her time in Washington showed especially remarkable, as she played an essential function in the Mystics’ 2019 championship-winning project. Powers provided a strong season, balancing 11.4 points per video game and as soon as again ending up 2nd in Sixth Player of the Year ballot, getting 2 votes behind winner Dearica Hamby and developing herself as an important factor to the group’s title run.

Her 2020 season in Washington was far much shorter, as she appeared in simply 6 video games while balancing 16.3 points before a hamstring injury ended her year. She then proceeded to the Minnesota Lynx from 2021 to 2023, the Atlanta Dream in 2024, and quickly the Golden State Valkyries in 2025 before the Indiana Fever signed her after the Valkyries waived her.

With the Fever, Powers appeared in 8 video games and balanced 9.0 points per video game. Following that 2025 WNBA season, she signed with Çanakkale Belediyespor in Turkey.

The numbers from that stint were loud, even in a little sample. Powers balanced 17.6 points per video game in about 31 minutes throughout 5 video games, which reveals her capability to score at a high level stays undamaged outside the WNBA structure.

Her course with USA Basketball’s 3 × 3 program started in August, when she signed up with the nationwide lineup for the group’s Tokyo stop along with Madison Scott, Mikayla Blakes, and Taylor Bigby. The AmeriCup choice constructs on that stretch. She will represent the United States at the FIBA 3 × 3 AmeriCup in San Salvador, El Salvador, arranged for October 28 to November 1. According to Athlon Sports, Aziaha James, Sydney Taylor, and Flau’jae Johnson complete the U.S. lineup, a group that blends experience with emerging skill. The U.S. ladies get in as protecting champs, although in 2015’s title was won by a various foursome.

Powers seems completely preparation mode. According to Athlon Sports, she published a brief clip to her Instagram story revealing her and her colleagues at practice in what appears like a Georgetown University center, with the caption “Back at it.”

A WNBA return has actually not been reported, and any lineup area would depend upon a group including her. What the AmeriCup does offer is a noticeable phase for a veteran who has actually bet 6 franchises and is still producing overseas. A strong proving in El Salvador would keep her name in front of front workplaces heading into the offseason.