WNBA: A loss of identity is haunting the Las Vegas Aces

It’s been almost two weeks since the WNBA resumed player after the All-Star break, and what was once debatable now seems to be factual: This is not the Las Vegas Aces’ year.

Throughout the beginning of this season, there were many questions about the Aces squad: Would the chemistry take time? Was the roster built to continue high-level play? Were they one move away from everything gelling together?

At this point, the writing is on the wall. This is just not that team.

There’s a recurring theme this season. One night, the Aces are an amazing team. Then, the look like a shell of themselves the next night. And there’s no better example than Saturday afternoon versus the Minnesota Lynx and then Sunday versus the Golden State Valkyries. Granted, the Lynx are arguably the best team in the WNBA right now, but the fact that the Aces lost by a staggering 53 points and then turned around the next night to beat Golden State by 24 points is a genuinely confusing, yet normal, thing this season.

The nature of the game is “you win some, you lose some,” but for the Aces, it’s almost become their identity and is not at all indicative of the team they have been. The writing has been on the wall, but it’s only getting bolder. This team has lost its identity. One night, they look like former champions, and the next, they look like they’re trying to cling to their postseason hopes. Which version of the team is going to finish the season?

The Aces have two choices: lock in or get locked out. The team the world had known would only go for one option: lock in.

Can roster roulette lead to better results?

This is a very interestingly composed Aces team, and after a (different) tough loss to Minnesota last week, the staff decided to swap things around to see if it could find a better flow. In a game that the Aces lost by 31 to the Lynx, Jewell Loyd shot 0-for-10 and committed five fouls in 21 minutes, a very uncharacteristic performance that prompted the Aces to deal the tough card of bringing her off the bench. While this move hasn’t made a noticeable change thus far, it is at least an attempt to shake things up and boost productivity from off the bench, which is something that has cursed Vegas for much of this season.

But regardless of who plays when, it just seems increasingly clear that the Aces aren’t built to win at a high level. They have the veteran presences of A’ja Wilson, Jackie Young, Jewell Loyd and Chelsea Gray, who show up on a mostly consistent basis, but outside of their core four, they’re left with a lot of questions that have followed them all season.

One thing about this team is, even through their struggles, they’re not going to stop fighting. With the veterans on this team, they have no other option but to lock in and try to salvage this season as much as possible.