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Michael Voepel
PHOENIX — The Las Vegas Aces defeated the Phoenix Mercury 97-86 in a dominant performance Friday night to win their third WNBA championship in four years and cement their status as the league’s reigning dynasty.
The Aces completed a four-game sweep of the Mercury in the first best-of-seven WNBA Finals in league history.
Aces superstar and four-time league MVP A’ja Wilson led the way in Game 4, finishing with 31 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocks en route to earning Finals MVP honors. She averaged 28.5 points, 11.8 rebounds and 2 blocks in the Finals.
“You have your Mount Rushmore, she’s alone on Everest,” Aces coach Becky Hammon said. “There’s no one around.”
The Aces were presented the championship trophy by embattled WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert, who was greeted with boos from the sizable contingent of Las Vegas fans who made the trip to Phoenix.
The Aces won back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023 as the No. 1 seed after having the best record in the league. This season, they were .500 on Aug. 2 following a 53-point loss.
But through a subsequent 16-game winning streak to end the regular season, the Aces secured the No. 2 playoff seed and weathered challenging first-round and semifinals series that went the distance before putting together a dominant Finals run that solidified their super-elite status.
“This team has been through hell and back,” said an emotional Chelsea Gray, who had 18 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists. “What a run!”
Jackie Young added 18 points, 7 rebounds and 8 assists, while Jewell Loyd and Dana Evans combined for 22 points off the bench.
For the first 2½ months of the season, the Aces were not jelling. They lost their season opener by 14 points at New York, then hovered around .500 through June and July and had a losing record as late as July 25.
“This one hits different because it was different,” said Hammon, who is 10-2 in the WNBA Finals. “There was a lot more adversity than any of us anticipated. At the end of the day we’re all humans. We wanted to get it right and get it right together.”
The Minnesota Lynx were atop the league standings for most of the season and the presumed favorite to win the title after losing in the Finals to the Liberty a year ago. But New York fell in the first round of the playoffs, and Minnesota was eliminated in the semifinals — both at the hands of Phoenix.
The Mercury entered the Finals with a lot of momentum, but the Aces took it away. Las Vegas pulled out a close victory in Game 1, won comfortably in Game 2 and took Game 3 on Wilson’s game-winning jumper with 0.3 seconds left.
The Aces never trailed in Game 4, building a 30-21 lead by the end of the first quarter on 55% shooting. They led by 16 at halftime and 15 entering the final quarter, after Phoenix coach Nate Tibbetts was ejected in the third on a double technical for arguing with officials.
The Mercury, with assistant coach and former WNBA player Kristi Toliver guiding the team, rallied in the fourth quarter and got as close as six. But the Aces held on and celebrated their third title on the road, after winning at Connecticut in 2022 and at New York in 2023.
“Vegas is the standard. We’re here for a reason. Took a little bit to get here,” Young said. “Proud to put on an Aces uniform every night.”
Only the Lynx, Seattle Storm and Houston Comets (who disbanded after the 2008 season) have four WNBA titles.
With Wilson and Young, both former No. 1 picks, still in their prime at ages 29 and 28, respectively, the Aces should be contenders to join that exclusive group. That is if those players stay put, which is a question each WNBA team will have to answer this offseason.
Almost every player not currently on a rookie contract will be a free agent for the 2026 season. Before free agency can take place, the league and players’ union will need to agree on a new collective bargaining agreement and have expansion drafts for Portland and Toronto, two new franchises in 2026.
“The last time I spoke about things like that, I got fined, so I think it’s better if I don’t say anything,” Aces owner Mark Davis said of the ongoing CBA negotiations. “I think they’ll work it out somehow. I hope. I haven’t been consulted. You know what side of the table I’d probably be sitting on. So we’ll get it right.
“And I don’t think that there’s two sides to this if you look at it as togetherness and trying to make the future better. I think that’s what we need to do, but we’ll see if that works.”
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
