WNBA: A’ja Wilson, Dana Evans star for Las Vegas Aces vs. Mystics in DC

WASHINGTON – Friday, July 6, 2012.

That night, I covered a professional sporting event in person for the first time in my life. As someone who had been aspiring to become a sports writer for about six years at that point, it was a big deal to me.

That night, Becky Hammon had 17 points (4-for-6 shooting from 3), six assists and two steals at the Verizon Center (now Capital One Arena) in downtown Washington, DC. She took two of her 97 free throw attempts of the 2012 season, registering one of her 12 misses; she made all 35 of her post-2012 freebies en route to 89.7 percent for her career (currently third all time).

Hammon, of course, is now the head coach of the Las Vegas Aces, the same franchise as the San Antonio Silver Stars, whom she was playing for that July night in 2012 when the Silver Stars defeated the Washington Mystics, 78-73.

Saturday afternoon saw that franchise beat the Mystics as well, this time at CareFirst Arena by a score of 91-81. I covered that game too. I saw Hammon turn to Dana Evans during the postgame press conference and encourage her, saying, “We just need two more!”

Why was Hammon saying that? For the same reason I led this story with an anecdote from 2012.

The Aces’ director of media relations, Caroline Williams, prompted Hammon when she shared with the room that Vegas’ 10th-consecutive win, which they earned on Saturday, puts the team two away from matching the franchise-record winning streak of 12, accomplished–you guessed it–during a stretch that included July 6, 2012’s win. It was the sixth win of the streak, the last win of which also came against the Mystics in San Antonio.

“The 10-game (streak) is the second-longest franchise winning streak after somebody led San Antonio to a 12-game streak back in 2012,” Williams said. Hammon quickly deflected the praise by saying, “Well, things are meant to be broken,” and, then to Evans, “So we just need two more!”

The saga of the 2025 Aces

Hammon admitted that she and her team wouldn’t have believed you if you had told them back in June that they were going to go on a 10-game winning streak.

On June 20, the Aces fell to the Seattle Storm, dropping their record to 5-7 for their lowest winning percentage of the season save for their 0-1 start. That record was not at all up to the standard the Aces have established since winning their first championship in 2022. Actually, Vegas had an above .600 winning percentage every season since A’ja Wilson’s rookie year of 2018, when they were at .412. They’ve been dealing with the expectation of being one of the best teams in the league that entire time, with such expectations soaring through the roof in 2023 when the additions of Candace Parker and Alysha Clark made them even more of a super team.

The Aces went 34-6 in 2023 and defended their title. Last year, they lost some of their intimidation factor though, going 27-13 and losing in the semifinals. Entering this year, everyone knew they would be without part of the chemistry that won them the two championships since Kelsey Plum was off to the Los Angeles Sparks. Replacing her was superstar Jewell Loyd, so I still put them at No. 1 in my preseason power rankings. Most disagreed with me, favoring last year’s finalists (the New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx), but the Aces certainly weren’t expected to be hovering around .500 and the bottom of the playoff picture like they have been for much of this season.

Things seemed to hit rock bottom when Vegas–so good at home this year (14-5)–suffered the worst home loss in WNBA history, 111-58 at the hands of the Lynx on Aug. 2.“The ass-whoopin’?” Hammon quipped Saturday. “You can say it. I’m a big girl, you can say it to my face.”

But then came this 10-game winning streak.

On Saturday, it was the M’VP leading the way. Wilson posted 36 points, 13 rebounds, two blocks and two steals. Dana Evans, a key part of an unheralded Vegas bench, dropped a season-high 21 points on 5-for-6 shooting from 3. Wilson’s faithful co-star Jackie Young was solid with 10 points, eight helpers and six boards. The Point Gawd, Chelsea Gray, had eight dimes as well, and Loyd was a pest on the defensive end with three steals.

The Aces started terribly, trailing 23-8 with 2:32 to go in the opening frame. Wilson got off to a slow start individually: 1-for-4 from the field with just two points up to that point. She was even missing some easy ones. However, much of these early struggles can be attributed to the Mystics being at home and fighting for their playoff lives; eventually, Vegas was able to match Washington’s energy, as Wilson began to dominate and her teammates began to hit big shots from outside. (They ended up making 10 triples to the Mystics’ four to overcome losing points in the paint 38-24 and free throws 21-13.)

In the end, the Aces, currently 24-14 and in third place, walked away looking really scary–like a team that can contend for a title. They still have the core of Wilson, Young and Gray, and the way Loyd has officially taken on whatever role is needed on the given day with no ego involved may be exactly what they need to get over the hump and capture a third ring.

Here’s Hammon on the turnaround:

We’re figuring out how to win together, and sometimes you have to go through some rough patches, some tough lessons to get there. Every season is a process. And some processes start harder and tougher than others. However, I give the ladies in that locker room a lot of credit points. Because it could have very easily fallen apart in June and July when it was not looking great. And it didn’t. They stayed the course; they dug in with each other. You just have to give that locker room a ton of respect.

How A’ja stays excellent

The MVP race between Wilson, Napheesa Collier and Alyssa Thomas is incredibly close.

Wilson is averaging a points-rebounds double-double and is second in the league in both categories while being first in blocks. Collier leads the league in scoring, is top-five in steals and blocks and has flirted with 50/40/90. She dropped 32 points with nine rebounds in her return from injury on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Thomas recorded her sixth triple-double of the season Friday night, accomplishing it with a whopping 16 assists. She’s nearly averaging a triple-double, holds the lead in assist average by a comfortable margin and is third in rebounding. Her career-best 16 points per game mark is extremely compelling considering she’s got the assist and rebound numbers as well.

All three have achieved unbelievable consistency and put up monster performances. Saturday was Wilson’s latest. It was her fourth 30-point game in her last five and seventh double-digit rebounding effort in her last eight.

She shook off a slow start and delivered a typical A’ja Wilson performance. After the game, she spoke about how she constantly churns out big games, even when she’s not always feeling it in the beginning:

I wish I could have a great start every game, but that’s just not the way basketball is played. I just continue to make sure that they’re good, quality shots. That I’m not just throwing up stuff, and they’re in the flow of our offense, and we’re trying to make things happen. So as long as I’m taking what the defense is giving me and they’re just not going in, there’s always a chance that they will go in. And my teammates continue to find me and we get to our spots and we make some things happen.

Wilson has just as much of a case for MVP as Collier and Thomas, and some would argue it’s greater. When Hammon was asked if she has any doubts about it, she didn’t need to elaborate, saying, “I mean, there’s zero doubts in my mind.”

Let’s give Evans some respect. She’s a WNBA champion. She finished third in Sixth Woman of the Year voting in 2023. Her WNBA career-high is 24 points. The former Louisville superstar is no stranger to scoring the basketball, so we shouldn’t be surprised by her performance on Saturday. Especially when she dropped 17 in the previous game.

Vegas’ depth is disrespected, and, remember, they are expected to have a really good player in Cheyenne Parker-Tyus ready to go by playoff time. Evans was their best role player on Saturday, with the Aces outscoring the Mystics by 35 points in her minutes, if you don’t count the meaningless garbage time at the end of the game. And even with the garbage time, she was +27, 13 points higher than the next closest players (Gray and Loyd).

Hammon was impressed to say the least:

She’s huge for us. That microwave scorer. She just gives us a different kind of gear. When she gets it going early, we definitely want to find time for her. And she’s feisty defensively, getting underneath people and just being a pest. … I’m always wanting her to be the most aggressive, best version of herself. … We need her gas pedal all the time.

Here’s Evans on proving people wrong:

Honestly, that’s been my whole life. I’ve always been counted out because of height or because of this. But I always say God doesn’t make mistakes. We went through that losing streak or whatever, that bump in the road, and we were able to bounce back. I went through things, had to go through adversity, I kept my faith. And God had me. He never left me. There’s times when I questioned a lot of things. Like last year was a rough year. But God don’t make mistakes. We’re here for a reason. And I’m just going to keep building off of this.