Aces to sign Candace Parker, though it's hard to be excited right now

The Las Vegas Aces just shook the league.

Months after winning their first title in franchisehistory, and with the backdrop of multiple star talents — JonquelJones, Natasha Howard, Allisha Gray — changing teamsviatradethis offseason, the Aces have made thefirst free-agency splash.

Candace Parker, one of the best basketball players toever grace the planet, announced earlier today on Instagram that she plans to join the reigningchampions instead of returning to the Chicago Sky.

Full statement from Candace Parker on herdecision to sign with the Aces. ⬇️ https://t.co/ers2dP0l3h pic.twitter.com/rG1UePbqt9

Per ESPN's Alexa Philippou, Parker'sdeal with the Aces will be for one year. The signing won't becomeofficial until February 1 (Wednesday) at the earliest, which iswhen players are allowed to formalize new agreements.

In a perfect world, it would be easy to get excitedabout the prospect of Parker and A’ja Wilson — she played a role in recruitingParker— playing together.

I don’t think there’s going to be a better defensivefrontcourt in The W, provided both stay healthy. Wilson won lastyear’s Defensive Player of the Year award due to her work as ascheme-versatile anchor. Parker, the (controversial) 2020 DPOY, isstill an elite defender in her own right. The amount of differentlooks the Aces will be able to throw at teams will beinsane.

On the other end of the floor, Parker remains a stardue to her ability to operate as a hub. She can pry folks open withhandoffs and screens, or even initiate some pick-and-rolls if youwant to have a guard screen for her. She isn't able to toast biggerdefenders off the bounce with the same regularity as her primeyears, but Parker can still get busy in the mid-post orlower.

This is a slam dunk on the court, but the on-courtstuff feels secondary right now. Frankly, it’s hard not to think ofDearica Hamby in this situation.

I don’t think trading Hamby, in what can certainly be viewed nowas a salary dump, is a bad thing on its face. Heading into theoffseason, the Aces had the least amount of cap space in the W,per Her Hoop Stats. In order toadd reinforcements of any kind to the roster, there would have tobe some sort of cap casualty — whether that was Hamby or RiqunaWilliams. Even after moving Hamby, the Aces ranked 12th out of 12teams in available cap space.