The visiting Las Vegas Aces put forth a competitive effort after A'ja Wilson suffered a wrist injury late in the second quarter, but they didn't have enough firepower to overcome the defending champion New York Liberty in an 87-78 setback on Tuesday.
Wilson suffered the injury with 4:13 remaining in the second quarter and proceeded to play for nearly the next two minutes before being subbed out with the Aces down 38-37 with 2:22 remaining. The three-time MVP was officially ruled out for the game near the start of the third quarter, emerging from the locker room in a white T-shirt with a wrapped-up wrist while her team fought to the best of their ability without her.
Breaking: A'ja Wilson is out for the remainder of the game with a wrist injury, @sportsiren reports. pic.twitter.com/bMgYfQbq8Y
— ESPN (@espn) July 9, 2025
Aces coach Becky Hammon wasn't able to provide a proper update postgame, but did say that Wilson would be getting an MRI on her right wrist Wednesday and indicated that the team was erring on the side of caution with any injury scare when it comes to their franchise player.
"She didn't want us to foul to get her out," Hammon said. It would essentially put them in the bonus on the next foul. She really didn't want us to have to play defense without being able to hit anybody for four and a half minutes. So that's what she was thinking. She said when the play naturally stops, then get me out and we'll go look at it. So that's what we did.
"She stays in because she's a competitor. She absolutely does not want to sit out or go out of the game, but there's a reality of what happens out there. We just wanted to be precautious tonight, err on the side of safety with her (and think) big picture. The season is bigger than just this one game. We want to make sure she's good to go and not put her at any risk for injuring anything or damaging anything further."
Vegas held a 72-70 lead with five minutes to play, but a subsequent 10-0 run for New York put the Liberty back ahead 80-72 just two and a half minutes of game time later. When it was all said and done, the Liberty closed the game on a 17-8 run after the end-of-game fouling saga concluded.
On the day her third signature shoe was unveiled, Sabrina Ionescu led New York with 28 points on 9-of-23 shooting (1 of 9 from 3-point range) in the nationally televised contest. Breanna Stewart added 15 points on 4-of-14 shooting while also grabbing seven rebounds and dishing out five assists.
Jackie Young paced the Aces with 19 points, making 5 of 15 attempts from the field overall and 2 of 7 from 3-point range. Young also scored her 3,000th career point on a 3-pointer with 3:01 remaining in the second quarter. NaLyssa Smith added 11 points and four rebounds, finishing 4-of-5 from the field in her second start with the team after being acquired from Dallas on June 30. Smith has scored 11 points in both starts with the Aces and has shot a combined 9-of-12 overall since being inserted into the lineup in place of Kiah Stokes.
"(NaLyssa's) doing great," Hammon said. "We basically just stuck her out there. She hasn't had a lot of practice time. We just need her to play her game and find her spots. With the amount of attention that the other players get, she'll naturally find nice, easy ones."
The Aces are set to travel to the nation's capital (or close to it) for a matchup with the Washington Mystics this Thursday, seeking to avenge an 11-point loss on June 26 in which they trailed by as many as 22 points. That game will tip off at 4:30 p.m. PDT from EagleBank Arena in Fairfax, Virginia.