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2 hours ago
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The Las Vegas Aces saw Mai Yamamoto up close.
A few months later, they've chosen to sign her to a contract to see what she can really do in the WNBA.
The Aces announced Friday night that they're signing the Japanese guard to a rest-of-season contract.
She had played with Japan's national team in a preseason exhibition game against the Aces before this campaign began, and she scored 24 points while drilling seven 3-pointers.
She's a long-time member of the Japanese national team, including scoring 17 points with five assists in a loss to the United States at the 2024 Olympics.
In Japan's recent World Cup Qualifying Tournament, she averaged 15.0 points, 3.6 assists and 1.2 steals per game.
Yamamoto only has a tiny bit of WNBA experience. She played with the Dallas Wings in the 2025 preseason but was waived before the season began.
Professionally, Yamamoto has played for the Toyota Antelopes in Japan since 2017. She led them to league titles in both 2021 and 2022.
Yamamoto won't be expected to score nearly as much as she did in that preseason game when Japan needed its talented guard to lead the way.
With the Aces, she'll come off the bench and probably see limited minutes, so it'll be up to Yamamoto to figure out how to make an impact in a new role.
Aces fans who watched her in that preseason game know she can let it fly, though, and so they're excited to have Yamamoto no matter how much or how little she actually plays.
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