Alabama’s Aaliyah Nye (32) against Green Bay. / Alabama Athletics

Aaliyah Nye and Sarah Ashlee Barker were a dynamic duo as players on the Alabama women’s basketball team, and on Monday night, they were drafted to the WNBA four picks apart. Nye was chosen 13th overall, in the first pick of the second round, by the Las Vegas Aces.

“I got very nervous. I’m excited, obviously, to be picked. I’m just very blessed,” Nye said. “There’s so many people that have supported me through this whole journey.”

One of the nation’s premier outside shooters, Nye averaged 15.2 points per game last season and shot 45.5 percent from beyond the arc. In the 2023-24 season, she set a program record for made three-pointers. This past season, she broke it. She’s also the program’s career leader in that stat.

Nye, a former Illinois transfer, received Second Team All-SEC honors for her performance in the 2024-25 season. Alabama won 24 games and got a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Like Barker, who went ninth overall to the Los Angeles Sparks, Nye spent three years at Alabama.

“I just loved playing with her,” Nye said of Barker. “I also was like, wait, how far is L.A. from Vegas? Cause we’re gonna be on the West Coast. I’m just blessed to have her as a teammate and to have played with her for three years. She’s an amazing person.”

She scored 34 combined points in two games during the NCAA Tournament. The Crimson Tide was defeated by No. 4 seed Maryland in the Round of 32, ending the best season of Kristy Curry’s Alabama tenure one win short of a Sweet 16 berth.

Nye, who was picked from the audience, and Barker each took major steps forward from their first season at Alabama. The two draft picks participated in three NCAA Tournaments while with the Crimson Tide. Nye is the 10th Alabama player to be picked in the WNBA Draft.

“I would just say Alabama is growing. The coaches, what they’ve done there these past three years that I’ve been here, is amazing,” Nye said. “They recruit people with good morals and just hard workers, and I’m just proud to represent Alabama. I just hope that it continues to get more WNBA players that wanna play at Alabama and continue to grow Alabama as a program.”

The Aces have picked a player from Curry-led Alabama in the recent past. Brittany Davis was drafted by Las Vegas following the 2022-23 campaign with the final pick in the 2023 WNBA Draft. She did not make the roster.