Kelsey Plum's return business as usual for Aces

LAS VEGAS – It didn’t take long for the Aces to reach one of the most anticipated games on their schedule. In their second home game of the season, the team welcomed franchise legend Kelsey Plum back to Michelob Ultra after trading her to the Los Angeles Sparks this offseason. 

The Aces put forth a largely dominant effort behind A’ja Wilson and Jackie Young’s explosive scoring performances, beating the Sparks 96-81. Wilson led the way with 35 points and 13 rebounds on 12-of-18 shooting, while Young added 26 points on 11-of-12 shooting in addition to tallying three assists. 

Plum led the Sparks with 17 points on an inefficient 6-of-19 shooting in her return, while also dishing out three assists. Another former Ace, Dearica Hamby, added 14 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the loss. 

The Aces organization drafted Plum first overall in 2017, back when they were still the San Antonio Silver Stars. At the time of her trade to Los Angeles, Plum was the lone holdover from that iteration of the franchise. She left Las Vegas as the Aces’ fourth all-time leading scorer, trailing A’ja Wilson, Sophia Young-Malcolm, and Becky Hammon. Plum’s 946 assists rank second in franchise history, trailing only Hammon for the all-time mark.

“Well, you know she's a problem to guard,” Aces center Kiah Stokes said. “That's why we liked her on our team. She brings energy. She brings the speed, the intensity. We’ve got to come ready to go.”

Most importantly, Plum was integral to the Aces’ 2022 and 2023 championship runs. Those weren’t just the franchise's first two titles, regardless of location; they were the first and third major professional sporting championships ever won in the Las Vegas Valley. This achievement made Plum not only an indelible part of Vegas’ meteoric rise as the ‘Sports Capital of the World’ but also in WNBA history as a whole. 

“For me, there are so many great moments here in Mandalay Bay,” Plum said. “These are the best fans in the W, in terms of the way that they show up consistently and how loud they are. I'm trying to tell our rookies that this is going to be the loudest place they play this season. It's just really cool. My family's here tonight, and everyone has been very supportive.”

Plum’s return to Las Vegas mostly brought reflection for her former running mates Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young.

“It's different,” Gray said. “There are experiences, trials and tribulations that we went through as a group to get those two championships. There’s never going to be another team like that. We were able to go back-to-back, that team was special. We won the first championship in Las Vegas and there will never be another first.”

“I obviously played with KP for a really long time,” Young added. “We'll talk a little bit before the game. But you know, we're both competitors. We spent a lot of time together in the gym, just working on our craft. It's just cool to see her success, both what she's doing in LA, but just her career in general.”

Still, as much as Plum’s ex-teammates enjoyed their time with her, their responses were firm when I asked whether they had Friday’s reunion with Plum circled on the calendar or if it was business as usual.

“Nah,’ Gray said. “No circles.”

Young was similarly blunt. 

“It’s always business as usual,” she said.

The Aces’ decisive handling of the Sparks evidenced that approach. Just 2:57 into Friday's festivities, the Aces took a 5-4 lead on a Wilson bucket and didn’t relinquish it. That lead stretched to as many as 24 points in the next 37:03 of game time, though a few Sparks rallies prevented the final score from getting too out of hand.