From left: A’ja Wilson by Wade Vandervort; Kelsey Plum and Chelsea Gray by Steve Marcus
Thursday, May 9, 2024 | 2 a.m.
Repeating as WNBA champions was one thing. Now the Las Vegas Aces are tripling down.
No WNBA team has won three straight championships since 1997-2000, when the Houston Comets won four in a row in the league’s first four years of existence, but the Aces are uniquely positioned to make a run at a third crown in 2024.
Continuity is key, and the Aces’ cornerstone players need no introduction. A’ja Wilson is a two-time MVP, Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young are two-time All-Stars, and Chelsea Gray is ninth on the league’s all-time assists list. The first three on that list are former No. 1 overall picks.
That group remains unchanged from the last two seasons. Even coach Becky Hammon is back.
But no two teams are ever exactly alike, and that goes for the Aces. The supporting group has undergone some restoration, and that tinkering around the edges may end up determining whether Las Vegas is holding another championship parade in October.
Most notably, all-time great Candace Parker retired on the eve of training camp after 16 years in the WNBA. Parker signed with Las Vegas last season, and though she only managed to suit up for 18 games, her versatility, playmaking and veteran guile allowed her to make an impact, averaging 9 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.7 assists per contest.
Veteran Kiah Stokes took over for Parker and started eight of nine playoff games alongside the Aces’ core four, and she returns this year. Las Vegas tried to add some size in the draft as well, selecting 6-foot-6 Angel Jackson from Jackson State and 6-foot-5 Elizabeth Kitley from Virginia Tech.
The Aces also drafted perimeter forward Kate Martin, who made it to consecutive national championship games at Iowa.
After playing with a phenomenon like Caitlin Clark in college, Martin knows a thing or two about augmenting great players—a trait that should help in her quest to earn a spot on Las Vegas’s star-studded roster.
“They’re back-to-back world champs,” Martin said after one particularly grueling camp practice. “It has obviously been super competitive. The intensity is definitely more than college. That’s evident. The pace has been very fast. The physicality has been tremendous. I’m getting used to that.”
While Hammon works out the kinks with the remodeled roster, the rest of the WNBA doesn’t intend on sitting around and letting the Aces hoard rings like they’re some kind of Middle Earth fellowship.
Contenders and wannabe contenders alike have spent the offseason trying to catch up. The New York Liberty, last year’s WNBA Finals fodder, return all five starters and are counting on better chemistry between Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu and Courtney Vandersloot to close the gap. The Seattle Storm signed Nneka Ogwumike and have Skylar Diggins-Smith returning from maternity leave. The Dallas Wings drafted Ohio State guard Jacy Sheldon at No. 5 overall after being swept in the Western Conference finals by Las Vegas.
And don’t discount the Indiana Fever, who are building their potential contender the same way Las Vegas did—with consecutive No. 1 picks. The Fever took Aliyah Boston No. 1 overall last year, and after finishing with the league’s worst record in 2023, they added Clark, perhaps the best prospect to ever enter the WNBA.
In short, everyone wants a piece of the Aces.
Gray has won three championships in her nine years in the league—one with the Los Angeles Sparks and now two with Las Vegas—and she understands that being at the top of the mountain means fending off all challengers.
“We’re always the target, man,” Gray said. “That’s just part of it and being part of this league.”
Hammon said Gray meticulously follows roster moves around the league and takes note of how opponents are stacking up in their collective attempt to derail the Aces’ three-peat.
“She watches everything,” Hammon said. “Everything in every league. She don’t miss nothing.”
As the league changes around them, the Aces know they’ve got to adapt in order to remain on top.
“Having a core group is always great, because that chemistry, that comfortability, that knowledge of each other is there,” said veteran forward Alysha Clark. “But I think every year, you have to come in with a different mindset. Last year doesn’t count. It doesn’t matter what we did. This is a new year. Even though we have some of the same players, this is a completely different team.”
This story appeared in Las Vegas Weekly.