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A'ja Wilson celebrates with head coach Becky Hammon after winning Game 4 of the 2025 WNBA Finals. (Christian Petersen / Getty Images)
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Led by A’ja Wilson and Becky Hammon, the Las Vegas Aces won their third title in four years, one of the greatest dynasties in WNBA history.
I got distracted. I took my eye off the ball. I was distracted by shinier objects across the WNBA.
Coming off a championship last year and returning all their key contributors, the New York Liberty were off to a 10-1 start and were set to become the W’s next dynasty, especially as they gain easy victories the rest of the decade against expansion franchises. They’d built their roster in 2024 to vanquish the two-time defending champion Las Vegas Aces, which the Libs triumphantly accomplished in the semifinals before a thrilling, controversial five-game Finals win over the Minnesota Lynx. Due to salary cap constraints, Las Vegas couldn’t keep its core group together and was forced to pivot.
Perhaps it felt like the end of an era. It very much was not. The Aces still have A’ja Wilson. The Aces still have Becky Hammon.
Seventeen days after winning her league-record fourth MVP award, her second in a row, Wilson sank a game-winning mid-range jumper to give Las Vegas a Game 3 Finals win over the Phoenix Mercury. The 29-year-old scored 34 points to go with 14 rebounds and three blocks, squashing Phoenix’s valiant comeback attempt and propelling the Aces to a commanding 3-0 lead in the WNBA’s first-ever best-of-seven series. Before Game 4 on Friday, she was unanimously named to the All-WNBA first team, her sixth career All-W selection.
Las Vegas finished the job Friday night, becoming the first team since the Houston Comets‘ four-peat to begin the league to win three championships in a four-year span. The Aces are a true dynasty, and they did it despite overcoming offseason salary cap obstacles that shortsighted reporters like myself thought might be the end of their prolific run.
Sticking with the core trio of Wilson and All-Stars Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young, Hammon and Co. traded perennial All-Star and fan favorite Kelsey Plum to the Los Angeles Sparks in exchange for Seattle Storm All-Star Jewell Lloyd, the first trade in W history featuring multiple No. 1 overall draft picks. Las Vegas also lost 2024 Sixth Woman of the Year Tiffany Hayes to Golden State, 2023 Sixth Woman of the Year Alysha Clark to Seattle, and fan favorite and locker room leader Sydney Colson to Indiana.
But built around the new core four, Hammon acquired 26-year-old guard Dana Evans from Chicago in February as a key reserve and 25-year-old rangy 6-foot-4 forward NaLyssa Smith from Dallas in June with the Aces struggling out of the gate at 7-7. After a humbling 111-58 loss to Minnesota on Aug. 2, Las Vegas was 14-14 and seventh in the WNBA standings, just a game ahead of Washington from being out of the playoffs altogether.
The Aces wouldn’t lose for another 44 days.
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After allowing 90-plus points nine times over the first 28 games, the Aces held every opponent under 90 during a 16-game winning streak to end the regular season 30-14 to secure the second seed in the playoffs. Wilson scored 38 points as Las Vegas beat Seattle by one in the decisive Game 3 in the first round, and 35 points to defeat Indiana in overtime of Game 5 in the semifinals. A’ja continued her dominant ways in the Finals sweep, earning her second Finals MVP honors in three years as she keeps stacking awards to cement her claim as the WNBA GOAT.
Las Vegas’ dynasty has spanned the league’s exponential growth. Mark Davis bought the Aces for $2 million in 2021, the year before the team’s first championship and two years before he built and opened the first practice facility ever solely dedicated to a W team. Forbes valued the franchise at $310 million in June, an unfathomable ROI that’s only going to grow. But with the collective bargaining agreement expiring at the end of the month, uncertainty reigns in Vegas and across the league.
Aside from rookie guard Aaliyah Nye, the entire roster will hit free agency as players anticipate drastically higher salaries across the board. Despite my skepticism, the Aces not only survived last year’s offseason upheaval but somehow came back even stronger than the year before. Now, Las Vegas is again atop the WNBA, having built a dynasty we haven’t seen in 25 years atop A’ja’s mighty shoulders.
As long as Wilson is leading the charge and Hammon’s presence remains as head coach and lead executive, don’t bet against Las Vegas. You’ll end up regretting it.
