Wilson's return boosts Aces in win over Valkyries

LAS VEGAS — As we approach the midway point of the 2025 WNBA season, the Las Vegas Aces find themselves in an unaccustomed position.

The Aces, two-time WNBA champions, would not make the playoffs if the season ended today. Fortunately for Becky Hammon’s team, the race is only at the halfway point. But this team is still trying to find its true identity.

There are warts everywhere, both individually and collectively. And while Hammon is trying to find the formula that will work with this particular group, this year’s Aces are consistently inconsistent.

They’ll play well for spurts. But not often enough over 40 minutes to guarantee victory. One night, they can’t guard anyone. Other nights, the defense shows up but they can’t make any shots. The play of some of the starters has been erratic and while some members of the bench — Aaliyah Nye and Dana Evans — have been contributing of late, it’s not enough to overcome a cold-shooting night from Jewell Loyd or Jackie Young.

The good news is that A’ja Wilson’s sprained right wrist has healed enough to allow her to return to the court Saturday against the expansion Golden State Valkyries at Michelob Ultra Arena after she injured it Tuesday in Brooklyn and sat out Thursday’s loss at Washington. The fear was she might be out for a considerable length of time. But the reality is the Aces can’t do without their best player and be expected to win. So Wilson’s return was a welcome sight for Hammon and the team.

Wilson played 33 minutes, scored 34 points, had 16 rebounds, four assists and blocked two shots Saturday as Las Vegas avenged its 95-68 beatdown suffered at the Chase Center in San Francisco back on June 7 with a 104-102 win to improve to 10-11. On the surface, the MVP’s return may be the catalyst the Aces need to shift gears and get themselves back into the playoff picture and not have to backdoor their way in come September.

“I wanted to shoot through some things,” Wilson said about her decision to return to action. “It was feeling good when I was warming up so I felt I was good to go.

“I’ve got to credit my medical staff. They helped me get through it. And my teammates trusted me with the basketball.”
 
Hammon has said on more than one occasion that each team is different and creates its own destiny at its own pace. And she believes she’s seeing enough positive signs. But this team was struggling before Wilson got hurt. So while her return is certainly a welcome one, it’s going to take more than that to get where the team and its enthusiastic fan base want to get to.

“It comes down to wanting to win,” Wilson said. “It’s about chemistry. We’re starting to understand each other and trust each other."

When Loyd and Young are making shots, as was the case in the third quarter, the Aces resemble the championship teams of 2-3 years ago. Loyd went from scoreless in the first half to have 15 points in the third quarter and finished with that number. Young complemented Wilson nicely with 30 points, 23 of which came after halftime as Las Vegas posted a season high for offense.

“It was a little bit of a gut-check; we had lost the last few ones,” Hammon said. “Great job by our group closing it out.”

The Aces have an opportunity to build on Saturday. They play at DallasWednesday before the WNBA All-Star break next weekend. The challenge going forward is to keep Wilson healthy, get Loyd to be more consistent with her shot making, keep getting something from the bench and defend over 40 minutes. And when they have the lead late, they need to close out games as they did Saturday. Do that and there won’t be anything to gripe about come playoff time.

That’s a big ask at this point. The runway got a lot shorter for a successful takeoff. But there’s still room and time for this team to prove it remains among the WNBA’s elite. Will they fly high? Or will they crash and burn? We’ll know in the next few weeks.