Showing posts with label Las Vegas Aces. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Las Vegas Aces. Show all posts
Saturday, 10 October 2026
Thursday, 8 October 2026
Saturday, 11 October 2025
Friday, 10 October 2025
Thursday, 9 October 2025
Monday, 6 October 2025
Sunday, 5 October 2025
Monday, 11 August 2025
ACES A'JA WILSON ERUPTS FOR UNREAL FEAT VS. SUN NOT SEEN BEFORE IN WNBA HISTORY
Las Vegas Aces star A'ja Wilson added another impressive record to her prolific career during their win over the Connecticut Sun.
If there were still debates on who's the best player in the WNBA today, Las Vegas Aces star A'ja Wilson squashed them on Sunday.
Wilson led the Aces over the Connecticut Sun, 94-86, at Michelob Ultra Arena for their fourth straight win. Not even the best problem solver in the world could have helped the Sun in trying to stop Wilson. She finished with a monster line of 32 points on 13-of-25 shooting from the field, 20 rebounds, five assists, and two steals.
The Aces veteran also added another milestone to her stellar career after becoming the first player in WNBA history to record a game with at least 30 points, 20 rebounds, and five assists. She almost single-handedly outrebounded the entire Sun, who had 23 boards.
Las Vegas improved to 18-14, while Connecticut fell to 5-25.
It hasn't been the easiest campaign for Wilson and the Aces. She had missed four games due to a wrist injury and a concussion protocol. The Aces, meanwhile, are still in the middle of the pack, although they have been on fire as of late.
The three-time MVP already addressed their struggles earlier this year, stressing the need to get back on track. After winning back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023, the Aces relinquished the throne to the New York Liberty last season.
“We spoiled a lot of people without our greatness, with our legendary basketball style. We spoiled our fan base. We spoiled a lot of people with that, and now they expect that out of us in every single game,” said Wilson in June.
“I think we're in unfamiliar territory, but we're about to get real familiar with being uncomfortable and leaning on one another.”
There have been claims that Wilson has been supplanted by Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier as the best player in the WNBA. With her latest history-making performance, Wilson may have changed a lot of minds.
- Paolo Mariano
Thursday, 2 January 2025
Saturday, 20 July 2024
CLARK, REESE EXCITED TO TEAM UP AT WNBA ALL-STAR
 |
| Getty Images |
PHOENIX -- For 40 minutes on Saturday, Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark and Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese will put aside their rivalry to join forces on Team WNBA in the league's All-Star Game against the United States women's national team.
In a weekend when the stars of women's basketball have congregated in the blistering heat of Arizona, the unification of Clark and Reese has become a storyline unto itself. And they know it.
"That's what everybody wants to see," Reese said Friday.
The two, who played against each other in the 2023 Women's NCAA tournament national championship game when Clark was at Iowa and Reese was at LSU, and then three times in the first half of the WNBA season, have momentarily embraced being teammates. They spent time working on a pick-and-roll together during Friday morning's practice.
"I'm looking forward to it," Reese said. "Everybody can wear their 'Get Along' shirts together for one day, at least. So, I know a lot of people are going to come and watch us, to see all of us, but there's a lot of talent within both rosters of the teams, so they're in for a good one."
Clark thinks sharing a court with Reese will be "fun" and said it'll be "really great" to share the All-Star experience with Reese as rookies.
Clark, who led all players in All-Star Game voting, believes the attention she and Reese, who finished fifth in voting, are bringing to women's basketball will continue and also will help grow the game.
Their impact was evident in the All-Star voting. Both exceeded 380,000 votes. Last season, Las Vegas Aces star A'ja Wilson was the top vote-getter but received fewer than 100,000 votes.
While Clark and Reese will play in the All-Star Game, both declined invitations to participate in Friday night's skills competition -- Clark in the 3-point contest and Reese in the skills challenge.
Reese said she turned down the invitation so she could "enjoy" her first All-Star Game and just watch -- at least for her first year, she said. She plans to spend part of her month-long Olympic break in Paris, even though she's not on the national team, for a vacation. She's planning on fitting in some workouts and vintage shopping.
Clark cited rest as her reason for not participating in the 3-point contest.
"I've been playing basketball for a year straight," Clark said. "It's not an easy thing to just show up to and shoot off of a rack. It's not something I've ever done before. It's not something I've had a lot of time to practice. I've been focusing on helping my team win games, so I think just enjoying this break, I think there's going to be plenty of opportunities for me to do that at some point, but at the same time, like the field of shooters that we have in the competition are really good. They're all like near 40% shooters, so I'm excited for them.
"I'll be there supporting them and it'll be fun. But, yeah, I mean, I think the thing that's best for me is just, like, I need a break and I need to take some time to myself to enjoy what I want to do. And, at times, that can be tough, being in the position that I'm in."
Even though Clark said her goal and dream was to play on the Olympic team, she admitted that getting a four-week break will be "very beneficial." She also plans on going on vacation and taking "some time to breathe."
It won't be easy, said Clark, who described herself as someone "that wants to continue to work and continue to play."
"I probably will feel a little bit uncomfortable, like not touching the basketball for a week or so," Clark said. "But I know that's going to be the healthiest thing for myself and I think just relax, like, turn my phone off, get away from everything and really enjoy it because, obviously, this past year has been super crazy.
"It's something I'm very fortunate for, as well. Like, I wouldn't change it for the world."
Although she's admittedly tired, Clark put some perspective on her exhaustion.
"I mean like, sure, I'm tired, but at the same time, there's so many people that would kill to be in my shoes and so many people that are going through so much worse in their lives," Clark said. "Like, I'm a professional basketball player, my life is pretty, pretty good, so I have no complaints. And if I'm going to be tired, I'll be tired. Like, I'll take that every single day of the week. So, this break will definitely be nice though."
Part of why she knows she has to put down the ball is to absorb and reflect on everything that has happened to her over the past year.
"It goes so fast and you don't want to miss any of the moments," Clark said. "It's crazy. It feels like yesterday I was just in college and now I'm at my first All-Star Game, so just reflect back on everything and enjoy it and get some time to reset and then come back and be ready to go for the second half."
- Josh Weinfuss, ESPN Staff Writer
Tuesday, 14 May 2024
GRINER OUT INDEFINITELY WITH TOE FRACTURE
 |
| USA TODAY Sports |
Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner has sustained a toe fracture on her left foot and will be out indefinitely, the WNBA team said on Monday.
Griner, who was freed from a Russian penal colony in a high-profile prisoner exchange in December 2022, will be re-evaluated in the coming weeks and Phoenix said updates on her condition would be provided as appropriate.
The WNBA's 2024 season opens on Tuesday with four games, including Phoenix at the reigning champion Las Vegas Aces.
Griner was arrested in February 2022 at an airport outside Moscow for carrying vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage.
She was subsequently convicted of drug smuggling and later transferred to one of Russia's most notorious penal colonies.
Griner was eventually released in a prisoner swap for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, a deal that was arranged after months of talks during a time of high tension between the U.S. and Russia after Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
In her first season back, Griner averaged 17.5 points and 6.3 rebounds per game in 2023.
Monday, 29 April 2024
THREE-TIMES WNBA CHAMPION CANDACE PARKER RETIRES
 |
| Reuters |
Seven-times All-Star Candace Parker called time on her career on Sunday, stepping away from the game after becoming the first to win the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) Finals with three different teams.
The twice most valuable player Parker won the trophy with the Las Vegas Aces last year but was sidelined for much of the season after undergoing surgery on her foot.
"I promised I'd never cheat the game & that I'd leave it in a better place than I came into it. The competitor in me always wants 1 more, but it's time. My HEART & body knew, but I needed to give my mind time to accept it," Parker wrote on Instagram.
The first overall pick in the 2008 draft was the first to win Rookie of the Year and MVP in the same year when she averaged 18.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game in her opening season with the Los Angeles Sparks.
She led the Sparks to the playoffs 11 times, winning the championship in 2016, before a short stint with the Chicago Sky to win the title in 2021.
 |
| @candiceparker |
"From teens with hoop dreams to legends!" eight-time NBA All-Star Dwight Howard wrote on X. "Congrats on a legendary career."
"Congratulations on a brilliant career, Candace," tennis great Billie Jean King wrote. "Looking forward to following the next steps in your journey."
The future Hall of Famer Parker won Olympic gold with the United States twice and re-signed with the Aces in February but said that her foot was not "cooperating" in the off-season.
"It's no fun knowing what you could do, if only," said Parker.
"I’m grateful that for 16 years I PLAYED A GAME for a living & DESPITE all the injuries, I hooped."
- Reuters
Tuesday, 24 October 2023
Thursday, 19 October 2023
ACES OVERCOME LIBERTY TO WIN SECOND STRAIGHT WNBA TITLE
 |
| USA TODAY Sports |
The Las Vegas Aces became the first team in more than 20 years to repeat as WNBA champions after holding off the New York Liberty 70-69 in Game 4 of the Finals on Wednesday.
A'ja Wilson, named the Most Valuable Player of the Finals, produced 24 points and 16 rebounds to help the Aces recover from a 12-point deficit in Brooklyn.
New York had appeared on track to keep their first Finals campaign in 21 years alive, with guard Courtney Vandersloot leading with 19 points, but an error-filled second half cost them dearly.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)