Are the Las Vegas Aces the latest WNBA dynasty?

The Comets won a second title a year later, then a third the year after that, then a fourth the year after that. Houston’s mayor was proclaiming at parades that the Comets weren’t just the league’s first champion, but its first dynasty.

After losing three times to the Comets in the Finals, even Liberty forward Sue Wicks was willing to concede it.

“For me, I mean all sports, I think it’s great when you have a dynasty, why not?” Wicks said. “I heard it a few times that it was a bad thing. I don’t know how it could be a bad thing. Everyone in America loves a champion.”

After winning their third championship in four years, sweeping the Phoenix Mercury in this year’s Finals, the Las Vegas Aces are continuing the dynasty conversation Houston started.

They put themselves in elite company with the Comets, the Minnesota Lynx, the Seattle Storm, the Detroit Shock, the Mercury, and the Los Angeles Sparks as franchises with at least three WNBA titles.

Since the Comets, the Aces are the only three-time champion to win them in such quick succession.

The Storm and Lynx each have four championships, but they accumulated them in different ways.

The Lynx were the team of the 2010s. Maya Moore, Seimone Augustus, and Lindsay Whalen led them to their first in 2011, and their most recent in 2017.

Seattle’s are spread over 17 seasons. Sue Bird was a rookie when the Storm won their first title in 2004, and retired the year after they won their most recent in 2020. They’re the only team to go undefeated in playoff runs longer than two games twice (2010, 2020).

The Sparks won back-to-back titles in 2001 and 2002, then claimed their third in 2016. Detroit won three titles from 2003-08. Phoenix won in 2009 and again in 2014, both behind Finals MVP Diana Taurasi.

Aces owner Mark Davis said he was too close to say where his team fit among franchises defined by championships, but he did ask the players a question as it celebrated: “Can you do it again?”

Aces star and Finals MVP A’ja Wilson was more preoccupied with the revelry —whether it was the champagne-splashed goggles over her eyes, the pink tambourine that harkened back to spirits of the Southern church, or the parade plans with hopes of getting Beyoncé to make an appearance — to think about whether her team’s four-year run made it a dynasty or what it meant if it did.

But point guard Chelsea Gray kept it straightforward: “Short answer: Yes.”

That was after a long answer from Aces coach Becky Hammon, who has some personal experience, going toe-to-toe with those Comets twice as a player in the Finals.

“Houston was amazing,” Hammon said of a Comets team that beat opponents by an average of 10.3 points in the regular season and 8.9 in the playoffs. “Obviously, they beat my team quite a few times for those championships. They kind of had a jump on the league.”

Toward the end of her career, Hammon also faced the Lynx and called them “unbelievable.”

But when she considered the overall depth of talent across the league now, along with the increase in scoring, the emergence of 3-point shooting, the rigors of a 44-game schedule, and a longer playoff format that featured a seven-game Finals series for the first time this year, Hammon said her team is playing a different game.

The WNBA was in its infancy when the Comets made their four-year run. The first playoffs consisted of two single-elimination games. In its second season, the league switched to two best-of-three series. Houston’s entire dynasty consisted of 19 postseason games.

By comparison, the Aces went through the longest regular season in league history, put together a 16-game winning streak going into the playoffs, got pushed to the limit in their three-game, first-round series against Seattle, then got pushed to the brink again in a five-game, second-round series against Indiana. Sweeping Phoenix in the Finals was the lightest lift in a 12-game playoff run that stands as the longest in league history.

“I just think the evolving of the game — I left the game in ‘14 — these players are bigger, stronger, faster, and more skilled just than it was 10 years ago,” Hammon said. “Those guys who laid the groundwork showed how winning should be done and gave a lot to the league insofar as history — it’s really great to talk about it — but the skill set and the level that these guys are at, it’s not comparable.”

The Comets had Cynthia Cooper, Sheryl Swoopes, and Tina Thompson. The Lynx had Augustus, Moore, and Whalen. The Mercury had Cappie Pondexter, Taurasi, and Penny Taylor. The Aces have Gray, Wilson, and Jackie Young — and an argument can be made that no championship trio has had a bigger impact.

Wilson already had one of the best championship runs in league history on her résumé. In 2023, she averaged 23.8 points, 11.8 rebounds, 2.3 blocks, 1.4 steals, and 1.2 assists over a nine-game postseason push to a second straight title.

She tapped into another level this year, averaging 26.8 points (the highest scoring average of any player during a championship run) to go with 10 boards, 3.3 assists, 2.5 blocks, and 2.1 steals (not to mention her turnaround jumper with 0.3 seconds left to win Game 3).

Gray is now second all time in assists in Finals games behind Whalen. She has 118 in 21 games in five appearances. And Young (176) has won more games before 28 than anyone in league history.

“It’s been pretty cool to see the evolution and how great they’ve become since I’ve been here,” Gray said. “I knew I was going to play with some dynamic players, some players that were going to transform the game of basketball, and we all had a common goal of winning.”

Hammon’s only been on the job four years, but she’s already in rare air.

Her three championships put her behind just Cheryl Reeve and Chancellor, who both have four, for the most in league history.

“Obviously, you keep bringing championships to Vegas, and we’re just happy to be on the ride with you,” Wilson said.

But what sets Hammon apart is her teams’ dominance since she arrived in 2022. The Aces have won 73.1 percent of 160 games under Hammon, by far the best winning percentage of any coach with at least four seasons on the bench.

“Becky has done tremendous things for this franchise,” Wilson said. “It’s not just her basketball mind. It’s the way that she can form relationships and bonds with people. And I think that’s when you see winning cultures. When your leader is so poured into you, you want to win and play for her.”

⋅ The Mercury’s Alyssa Thomas is right behind Gray on the playoff assists list. She’s been to the Finals three times, played 13 games, and racked up 102.

⋅ Las Vegas’s Jewell Loyd is 10-0 in Finals games. She was part of two Finals sweeps with the Storm (2018 vs. Washington, 2020 vs. Las Vegas). The only other player with more than five Finals games and no losses is her former teammate, Jordin Canada, who also was a part of the two Seattle sweeps.

⋅ Not counting the initial single-game Finals in 1997, 11 of the 29 Finals have been sweeps.

Julian Benbow can be reached at julian.benbow@globe.com.