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The Las Vegas Aces swept the Phoenix Mercury in the 2025 WNBA Finals, thus cementing the franchise’s third league championship in the past four seasons.
This is an extremely impressive accomplishment, especially considering that Becky Hammon became the Aces’ head coach four seasons ago, which means that she has won a WNBA title in 75% of the seasons she has been a head coach.
Of course, Hammon’s Aces squad almost didn’t make it to the finals in the first place, as they were pushed to the absolute brink by the Indiana Fever in the WNBA Semifinals. That series went down to overtime in a winner-take-all Game 5 before the Aces ultimately pulled away against a Fever team that didn’t have Caitlin Clark, Sophie Cunningham (both of whom were injured), Kelsey Mitchell (who got hurt earlier in the game), and Aliyah Boston (who fouled out).
Becky Hammon Shows Fever Love After Aces WNBA Championship
While Hammon hasn’t been coaching in the WNBA for all that long, she has been around basketball her entire life and knows what a gritty, resilient team looks like. This is why it was cool to hear the kind words she shared about the Fever during her Aces exit interview on October 16.
“It didn’t feel great in the arena, after just having barely beat Indiana [in Game 5]. But when you go back and watch those games, I didn’t feel like it was so much of us playing bad, as they played great. Like, Indiana played great,” Hammon said, per a YouTube video from The Ballers Magazine.
“They had great individual performances, I think they’re coached great… that was a very good team, a very resilient team that had just went through Atlanta. Like, I don’t think, instead of trying to not take away from our credit, why don’t we give them credit?” she continued.
“Because I thought Kelsey Mitchell, [Odyssey] Sims, [Aliyah] Boston, I mean, they’re a formidable bunch. And I thought they played great. Shey Peddy came in and hit huge shots. I mean, What are you gonna do? Sometimes you just gotta pat them on the back and say good job, and run back on defense.”
Hammon deserves a lot of credit for praising the Fever in this way, especially because the question she was asked had nothing to do with Indiana, but Hammon immediately pivoted her answer so that she could give them props.
The Aces’ head coach seems to understand that the Fever had (and hopefully continue to have) something special brewing.
