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WSlam Magazine took a new direction with its women’s basketball coverage. And it announced it on its website with a cover featuring the Las Vegas Aces.
You remember the one.
Ain’t this what y’all been waiting for?
The rise of a dynasty, @lvaces cover WSLAM 3.👑 pic.twitter.com/yBarOr22HT
— WSLAM (@wslam) July 15, 2023
Yeah, that’s the one.
The Las Vegas Aces: Rise of a Dynasty.
It was a head-turner, no doubt.
The Aces had just won their second WNBA Finals in a row, knocking off the New York Liberty.
But a dynasty requires more than two, and after the way the 2024 season ended, losing in the second round of the playoffs to the Liberty, losing key pieces to free agency and the expansion draft, and looking like a shell of itself – the dynasty dreams were dead.
Not so fast, friend.
See, after 20 games into the 2025 campaign, the Aces sat at 9-11.
After a 53-point loss to the Minnesota Lynx, the team fell to 14-14 on the year.
The reasons were clear. They lost so many key players in the offseason (Kate Martin, Alysha Clark, Sydney Colson, and Kelsey Plum) that their depth took a hit. They were counting on frontcourt contributions from Elizabeth Kitley and Kiah Stokes, which didn’t happen.
They were counting on Jewell Loyd—who they received in a three-team trade that sent Plum to the Los Angeles Sparks—to be her All-Star self.
That, too, didn’t happen.
Instead of just accepting mediocrity, the Aces did something about it.
“We’re just getting back to having fun and getting back to who we were,” Kierstan Bell said to Winsidr after the Aces won their 11th game in a row. “A little bit of it was chemistry, and we just had to continue to work on that and hang out outside of basketball. It came along, changes were made, and it’s been successful.”
The Aces won 16 games in a row to end the regular season, putting together one of the biggest turnarounds in WNBA history.
As much of the credit that the players get for turning it around, credit has to go to head coach Becky Hammon, too.
“Coming from ninth place, not even knowing if you’re going to make the playoffs, and then to be the No. 2 seed so quickly just speaks to the team and speaks to who she is as a coach,” Bell said.
It’s true. While you can’t ever count out A’ja Wilson, who singlehandedly elevated them defensively en route to a Defensive Player of the Year Award, you shouldn’t bet against Hammon, either.
Hammon made a personnel change, starting Bell and moving Loyd to the bench. Loyd actually thrived as a reserve, shooting a higher number from the field, averaging more points, and posting a better three-point percentage than as a starter.
They were able to address their center play, too, as they acquired NaLyssa Smith from the Dallas Wings for a 2027 first-round pick in a polarizing move.
The Aces faced adversity on the court for the first time this decade with questions about the future given the state of the CBA. Questions about the future given the first-round picks that theydidn’t have control of. Questions pertaining to if this was it for Hammon as the coach or if the end was near for Wilson in Vegas.
Questions whether the standard of the league would shift outside of Las Vegas.
And despite ending the season on a historic tear, the Aces looked to be on the brink of elimination again multiple times.
The Seattle Storm took them to a decisive Game 3, in which they squeaked out a one-point victory to advance.
Then came the series against the Indiana Fever, who were without Caitlin Clark, Aari McDonald, Sydney Colson, and Sophie Cunningham. The Fever shocked the Atlanta Dream in the first round, and they subsequently stole Game 1 from the Aces in Las Vegas.
They, too, took Vegas to a decisive Game 5, which the Aces pulled away late to win.
The only thing stopping the Aces from another championship was the Phoenix Mercury.
But honestly, with the way they were clicking, it was hard to see the series going any other way than in favor of Vegas.
Throughout the series, Wilson did Wilson things, but there was a noticeable sluggish start for them in Game 1 but the one aspect that was questioned all season came through when they most needed it: depth.
Dana Evans went off. Loyd went off. The two reserve guards combined for 39 points, making up for the combined 18 points that Jackie Young and Chelsea Gray scored.
But Game 2? Yeah, it was back to full show. This time, it was Gray and Young who stepped up for the Aces, giving the Aces an easy 2-0 series lead headed to the desert.
The series was well in hand for Vegas.
On the court, Phoenix didn’t adjust to try to slow down Wilson by sending a second defender on her. Instead, they played a stubborn defense, not switching up their schemes.
Some of the success that Indiana had against the Aces came by switching to a zone defense—especially when the fast Evans was on the court. Phoenix didn’t do this.
In fact, Phoenix didn’t adjust at all behind the bench. Hammon out-coached Nate Tibbetts in every facet, including calling for challenges at key times instead of waiting when their team was down 12 with a minute left to play to call an actual challenge.
By the time the series got to Phoenix, it was a matter of when, not if, for the Aces.
And that came in Game 4 on the road.
The Aces returned to the top of the league, cementing themselves as the standard of the WNBA.
Wilson continued to cement her legacy as not just a future first-ballot Hall of Famer, but the only person we’ve seen to compare to Maya Moore as the undisputed GOAT of the WNBA by becoming the first player to ever win the Defensive Player of the Year, WNBA MVP, WNBA Finals MVP, and WNBA Finals in a single season.
The WSlam article was positioned in a way to get the conversation going. To create engagement. To create discord.
That’s the way the media works.
There’s a difference between click-baiting and engagement-baiting, though.
What WSlam did was the latter because there’s truth and reason to it. It looked at a team with five Olympians on it (four at the time), and said, “This is the best top-down organization that we’ve seen in a long time in the WNBA.”
They took a take, and didn’t spout it off as being out-of-pocket or saying something just to say something. It was reasoned. It was fair.
And it was accurate. Because the Las Vegas Aces are the dynasty of the WNBA.
I bet against them this year, having them finish No. 5 for the regular season.
I asked the question that many of us thought:
Can we stop ranking the Aces so highly now rest of season, please? #Wnba
— Pitch Mr. Perfect (@michaelwaterloo.bsky.social) July 25, 2025 at 9:33 PM
I went against rule No. 1 in the WNBA—don’t bet against A’ja Wilson.
And no matter what the future holds after the CBA negotiations and the players change teams across the league, there’s one thing for sure. I won’t bet against A’ja Wilson again.
I’ve learned my lesson.
