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After a rocky start, the Aces ended the 2024 WNBA season looking like a championship team again.
They enter playoffs as the No. 4 seed, a drop-off from their No. 1 spot last year en route to their second straight championship.
Last season, coach Becky Hammon was incensed to learn that star forward A’ja Wilson landed third in the MVP voting after the regular season, saying that the media couldn’t see past the fact that Wilson didn’t play much of any fourth quarters because the team was so good.
This year, the Aces didn’t have a choice but to go all Wilson all the time, which is why she dominates the Review-Journal’s list of the five most notable performances during the Aces’ 2024 regular season.
5. Plum, Wilson a historic tandem
Guard Kelsey Plum notched her only 30-point game this season, scoring 34 in an 88-69 blowout of the Indiana Fever on July 2 at T-Mobile Arena.
She was +19 in the box score over 37 minutes, going 6-for-11 from the 3-point line and 55 percent from the field.
Wilson added 28 points on 59 percent shooting, marking only the fifth time in WNBA history that two teammates both attempted at least 20 field goals and made 55 percent or more.
Plum used her postgame media availability to praise Wilson’s historic season, while Wilson said the game helped the Aces “get back to the flow.”
4. Young’s career quarter, night
Before the Aces beat the Phoenix Mercury 103-99 on June 13, Hammon asked her players how they’re wired when things get tough.
Guard Jackie Young, still feeling winded from an illness that sidelined her for a game, gave her answer.
She scored a career-high 34 points in the road win over Phoenix, including a career-high 21 in a crucial second quarter, helping the Aces come back from a 16-point deficit.
Young had seven of the Aces’ 10 3-pointers in the period, which was three away from the WNBA’s single-game record for made 3s in a game.
3. Wilson’s video game
Wilson recorded her first 20-20 game — 24 points and 20 rebounds — in an 84-79 road win over the Seattle Storm on July 10.
It was a stat line from a video game, and fittingly, it had just been announced that Wilson would star on the cover of NBA 2K25.
Now-general manager Natalie Williams is the only other player with a 20-20 game in Aces franchise history (Utah Starzz, 2002). There have been 21 20-20 games in WNBA history.
With the performance, Wilson also joined Sylvia Fowles as the second WNBA player ever to record at least 20 points, 20 rebounds, three steals and three blocks in a game.
2. Wilson’s second 40-point game
Wilson’s 2024 season-high is 42 points in a loss to the Dallas Wings on Aug. 27.
But her 41-point performance in a 97-79 road win over the Mercury on Sept. 1 was arguably more impressive. Adding 17 rebounds, Wilson joined former teammate and WNBA legend Candace Parker as the only players in league history to record a game with 40 points and 15 rebounds.
“I’m trying to boot Candace out of these record books. (She’s) everywhere, man,” Wilson joked. “When you’re talking about greatness, that’s Candace in my eyes. … So when I see my name up there alongside hers, I feel like I’m on the right path.”
1. 1,000-point game
Wilson entered the Aces’ 84-71 win over the Connecticut Sun on Sunday needing 29 points to become the WNBA’s first player to record 1,000 points in a season. A tall task for some, but a regular day of work for Wilson. She’d just set the league record for points in a season days prior.
Through three quarters she already had 25 points, and the home crowd at Michelob Ultra Arena was hungry for history. The milestone bucket was one of her classic midrange shots, answered with a standing ovation and MVP chants.
Honorable mention: The Aces struggled without point guard Chelsea Gray, who missed the first 12 games with a lower left leg injury as the team went 6-6. Her return made all the difference, and the team went on a six-game winning streak. She recorded two 20-point games this season, as well as the third points-assists double-double of her career with 13 points and 10 assists in a home win against the Chicago Sky on Sept. 3.
Contact Callie Lawson-Freeman at clawsonfreeman@reviewjournal.com. Follow @CallieJLaw on X.
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