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While preparing to face the Dallas Wings and recently returned 2025 No. 1 overall draft pick Paige Bueckers, the Aces await details on the availability of their own star, reigning WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson.
On Thursday, Wilson was listed as doubtful on the team’s injury report ahead of Friday’s game against the Wings at Michelob Ultra Arena. Wilson sustained a head injury and didn’t play in the fourth quarter of a 97-89 loss to the Los Angeles Sparks on Wednesday.
Bueckers will visit the Aces (4-4) with the momentum of this season’s best performance from a rookie. In a 93-80 loss to the Phoenix Mercury on Wednesday, the UConn product exploded for 35 points on 13-of-19 shooting (5-for-7 on 3-pointers) for the Wings (1-10).
It was Bueckers’ first game back after missing four games because of a concussion and undisclosed illness.
Player complaints
With 2024 No. 1 overall pick Caitlin Clark also out since she suffered a left quad strain in the Indiana Fever’s 90-88 loss to the New York Liberty on May 24, the start of the WNBA season has triggered complaints from players, coaches and fans about scheduling.
When the league’s biggest stars are hurt, there hasn’t been much time for them to recover without missing significant stretches for their teams.
Although the WNBA schedule has gradually added games over the past five seasons, this year seems to have presented the most notable shift. The league went from 32 games in 2021 to 40 in 2023 and finally landed on 44 this year, which is the maximum allowed under the collective bargaining agreement.
Mercury forward Satou Sabally called out WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert about the distribution of games in a postgame news conference Saturday.
“Cathy added a lot of games,” Sabally said. “We put our bodies on the line every single time. We had nine games in 18 days. That’s not really responsible for a commissioner.”
When asked if she saw a potential link between scheduling and injuries to younger talent like Bueckers and Clark, Aces coach Becky Hammon didn’t rule out the possibility. She cited Bueckers leading the Huskies to the NCAA title in the same month as the WNBA draft.
“There could be some validity,” Hammon said of scheduling critiques. “UConn made a deep run. You go from winning a national championship to being drafted a week later, and then probably escorted all around the United States as the No. 1 pick. So I’m sure Paige’s schedule has been quite crazy. But basketball is a contact sport. Injuries tend to happen.”
Swings of schedule
The Aces are being reminded of the latter part of Hammon’s statement with Wilson’s potential absence Friday.
Part of a three-game homestand, the Wings matchup will be the second of four games for the Aces in a seven-day span.
After playing only one game between June 2 and 10, the Aces have entered a stretch in which they won’t have three days off between games until June 30.
In 2024, there weren’t many issues over scheduling thanks to the monthlong break for the Paris Olympics.
In 2023, the 40-game regular season lasted 114 days. This regular season will last 118 days, allotting only four days for each team to fit in the four extra games.
Hammon said there likely wasn’t an ideal schedule that could leave every team satisfied.
“You pack it all in one piece, we’re going to complain that it’s too compact. You spread us out, and then we’re complaining it’s too spread out,” she said. “Bottom line is, there’s a crappy stretch for everybody at some point.”
Contact Callie Fin at cfin@reviewjournal.com. Follow @CallieJLaw on X.
Up next
Who: Wings at Aces
When: 7 p.m. Friday
Where: Michelob Ultra Arena
TV/radio: KMCC-34, ION; KWWN (1100 AM, 100.9 FM)
Line: Aces -8; total 170½
