WNBA

Phoenix Suns governor Robert Sarver said he will begin the process of selling the team in a statement released Wednesday:

As a man of faith, I believe in atonement and the path to forgiveness. I expected that the commissioner's one-year suspension would provide the time for me to focus, make amends and remove my personal controversy from the teams that I and so many fans love.

But in our current unforgiving climate, it has become painfully clear that that is no longer possible – that whatever good I have done, or could still do, is outweighed by things I have said in the past. For those reasons, I am beginning the process of seeking buyers for the Suns and Mercury.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement Wednesday that he "fully" supports Sarver's decision:

Portland Trail Blazers star CJ McCollum—who is president of the NBPA—also issued a statement:

The NBA announced Sarver would be suspended for one year and fined $10 million after an investigation found he "engaged in conduct that clearly violated common workplace standards," including using a racial slur multiple times, bullying and inequitable treatment of female employees.

In November 2021, ESPN's Baxter Holmes reported on allegations of racism and misogyny throughout Sarver's 17 years with the Suns.

Silver said the punishments from the league were justified, but many have wanted harsher punishments against Sarver.

Suns minority owner Jahm Najafi called for Sarver's resignation, and NBPA executive director Tamika Tremaglio wants the NBA to ban Sarver for life.

PayPal also announced it will not renew its sponsorship agreement with the Suns if there isn't a change in leadership.

The pressure has seemingly been enough for Sarver, 60, to sell both the Suns and Mercury.

The Suns are considered the 18th-most-valuable team in the NBA at $1.8 billion, per Forbes.

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski commented on the franchise's value:

Phoenix should also be considered a top contender for an NBA title in 2022-23 after finishing with an NBA-best 64-18 record last season.

None of the WNBA players who played in Russia last offseason will return to the country amid the continued detainment of Brittney Griner.

Doug Feinberg of the Associated Press reported Tuesday the group of about a dozen players, which includes Griner's former UMMC Ekaterinburg teammates Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones and Courtney Vandersloot, will opt to play elsewhere in Europe this winter.

"Honestly my time in Russia has been wonderful, but especially with BG still wrongfully detained there, nobody's going to go there until she's home," Stewart said. “I think that, you know, now, people want to go overseas and if the money is not much different, they want to be in a better place."

Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport in February after authorities found vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage. She's been detained for 215 days. In August, she was sentenced to nine years in prison, a verdict that's been appealed.

WNBA players compete overseas during the offseason for supplemental income, and Russia can offer lucrative deals upwards of $1 million. By comparison, the top salaries in the WNBA are just over $228,000, per Spotrac.

Vandersloot told Feinberg she isn't ruling out a future return to the Russian Premier League, but she'll wait for a resolution to the Griner situation.

"The thing about it is, we were treated so well by our club and made such strong relationships with those people, I would never close the door on that," she said. "The whole situation with BG makes it really hard to think that it's safe for anyone to go back there right now."

Jones, who's heading to Turkey for the offseason, told the AP she'd also consider going back to Russia in future years.

On Friday, United States President Joe Biden met with Griner's wife, Cherelle, and Elizabeth Whelan, the sister of fellow Russian detainee Paul Whelan, to discuss the continued efforts to secure their release.

"The President held the meetings to reiterate his continued commitment to working through all available avenues to bring Brittney and Paul home safely," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement. "He asked after the wellbeing of Elizabeth and Cherelle and their respective families during this painful time."

An offer was made by the U.S. of Griner and Whelan in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, but National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told CNN in July that Russia responded with a "bad faith attempt" at a counteroffer.

Meanwhile, WNBA players including Stewart have continued to make daily calls for Griner's release.

The 2022 WNBA season ended Sunday with the Las Vegas Aces defeating the Connecticut Sun in the Finals.

The Dallas Wings are making a coaching change after declining Vickie Johnson's option for the 2023 WNBA season.

Team president Greg Bibb provided a statement on the move:

While our organization has taken steps forward this season, at this time I believe a change provides our team with the best opportunity to achieve our long-term goals of advancing in the playoffs and ultimately competing for a WNBA Championship. I would like to thank Vickie for her work on behalf of the organization and wish her the best in her future endeavors.

The Wings went 32-36 in Johnson's two seasons on the sideline. Dallas made the playoffs in each of those two years.

It appears the current front office regime will remain in place, which raises a question that's bigger than who will replace Johnson: How much will a coaching change matter?

Arike Ogunbowale is an elite scorer but hasn't shown much improvement from when she entered the league.

The two-time All-Star averaged 19.1 points and 3.2 assists while shooting 38.8 percent from the field and 35.2 percent from beyond the arc as a rookie. This past season, she shot the same clip from beyond the arc with only marginal improvements to her overall shooting (40.0) and per-game averages (19.7 points and 3.6 assists).

Dallas is fully committed to Ogunbowale after signing her to a three-year max extension that begins next season, yet it's not clear whether the 25-year-old is the kind of franchise cornerstone who can get her team to the next level.

Granted, the Wings haven't done nearly enough to build the requisite supporting cast around Ogunbowale.

Charli Collier, the No. 1 pick in the 2021 draft, logged 78 total minutes in 2022. Awak Kuier, who was selected one pick later, averaged just 2.8 points and 2.5 rebounds in her 12.6 minutes on the floor in her second year.

Allisha Gray might be on the way out as well. Girls Talk Sports TV's Khristina Williams reported in July that Gray "most likely" will be traded this offseason.

Beyond Ogunbowale, there are reasons to be excited about the Wings' future, which will make them attractive to prospective candidates.

Marina Mabrey has taken her game to the next level after the Los Angeles Sparks traded her to Dallas. She was second on the team in scoring (13.6 points).

Satou Sabally has shown promise as well, but injuries have limited her availability. She appeared in 11 games after missing 15 games in 2021.

Still, it wasn't entirely Johnson's fault the Wings were sixth in the standings. This is a roster that was firmly in the middle ground between good and bad, and the fault for that belongs at the door of the front office.

As much as a new coach could help things, it will also be on Bibb to identify the necessary upgrades.

UNCASVILLE, Conn. — A’ja Wilson demonstrated how she felt on the inside once the final buzzer sounded Sunday afternoon. She and her team were officially the new WNBA champions. Following a 78-71 win over the Connecticut Sun, Wilson stomped on the Mohegan Sun floor foot by foot with her new gray championship hat in her hand.

She then turned and walked away from the cameras capturing her emotions and faced the Aces fans that traveled all the way to Connecticut from Las Vegas. She flailed her arms out, screaming out to get them hyped up and to celebrate with them from afar. “Yeah! Yeah!” she yelled.

Besides her two-way prowess on the court that propelled the Aces to a 3-1 series victory, Wilson was injecting emotion and energy into the Vegas fans. She was showing them love and reminding them how much they mattered.

“I think she just gets the crowd going,” Kelsey Plum told B/R a few days earlier about Wilson and her leadership style. “I mean, you’ve seen her, you know, celebrate after and ones she makes, you know, plays, blocks defensively. I think she just kind of like brings a ton of energy for us. And so like that’s someone that we rely on to like kind of, you know, get it riled up in here.”

Following Wilson’s interaction with the Aces fans, backup guard Sydney Colson approached her teammate, tapped her to get her attention and made a sleeping gesture with her hands to her head. Wilson mirrored Colson. What followed was Colson lying on the ground and Wilson placing the official championship T-shirt on top of her like a sheet. The Aces had put the Sun to sleep.

Wilson did a little jig around Colson while she lay on the ground and then helped her up. The 2022 MVP gave her a chest bump. Colson has known Wilson for a while. She was on the Aces back in 2019 when the franchise made its first playoff appearance but fell in the semifinal round to the eventual champion Washington Mystics. Colson has watched Wilson grow before her eyes.

Three years ago at age 23, Wilson was a hesitant superstar, someone who didn’t really know yet how to use her voice and take hold of the team that she was drafted to lead and be the face of. Two MVPs (2020 and 2022) and a Defensive Player of the Year later, Colson has witnessed the blossoming and blooming of someone who she knew was destined for a moment like this.

“She’s a really different player from 2019, honestly,” Colson said. “Just the way she worked on her game, and her willingness to finally start talking to people, talking on the bench. When she comes to a timeout, and she’s talking, you’re gonna listen. Because you know she’s doing what she’s supposed to do and she has the respect of the team. So it’s good to see that she’s reached that point.”

How has Wilson reached that point? Especially after season after season of falling short of winning a WNBA championship? Following the semifinals loss in 2019, her team was swept in the 2020 Finals and then lost a nail-bitter of a Game 5 to the Phoenix Mercury in the 2021 semifinals. Wilson was shaken by that loss and that singular moment when she was blocked by Brittney Griner to end her team’s 2021 postseason run. “I gave it my all, but it still wasn’t enough, and that did not sit right with me at all,” Wilson told ESPN’s Alexa Philippou. She had to make a change.

She got into the best shape of her life to become a consistent two-way presence. She only took off four minutes in the 2022 semifinals, and in Game 4 of this year’s Finals, she didn’t leave the floor for a single moment.

In addition to adding a pivotal three-point shot that would allow her to thrive and function with ease in rookie head coach Becky Hammon’s new spaced-out system, Wilson embraced who she needed to be defensively. She needed to be the anchor and the go-to for a team that had more consistent talent on the offensive end.

That is what has stood out the most to Hammon about Wilson. Once Hammon accepted the Aces job, she watched all the film she could on Wilson and the team she was set to coach. When she reflected back on what she saw in those early film sessions with the player she now coaches, there was a clear difference. Hammon “didn’t know” that Wilson’s defensive prowess had the potential to reach another level. Hammon explained that Wilson’s approach to the game and her “lock-in factor” begins defensively.

“I ask her, ‘Whose paint is that?’” Hammon said. “‘Offensively and defensively, who owns that paint? Whose paint is it?’ And we’ll use nicer words here, but I’m basically [saying] it’s your freakin’ paint. And then go to work and you protect it. We live and die with how she goes about her business in there. And we’re living right now.”

But aside from new and improved on-court capabilities, Wilson wasn’t going to get a ring unless she became the leader her teammates always knew she could be. Following the Aces’ Game 1 win on Sept. 11, while describing her leadership style, Wilson admitted that she didn’t fully grasp how important her role was on this team until the 2022 season.

Huh? How? How could the franchise player who had already won an MVP not understand how vital she was on this team? And how much this team needed her voice?

For Wilson, her hesitation came from being courteous as a teammate. She doesn’t often start possessions with the ball. Plum and 2022 Finals MVP Chelsea Gray do. But then Wilson realized that she didn’t have to get the ball to be the most important player on the Aces on and off the court. She had to do exactly what Hammon had told her. She needed to own the paint. She needed to also take ownership of the Aces locker room.

Sharpshooting guard Riquna Williams explained to B/R that Wilson couldn’t live up to her potential without more forceful and intentional leadership. That’s what she’s seen in 2022. But Wilson’s leadership isn’t the same as how Gray leads the Aces.

“A isn’t so much of a, like a Chelsea, like a vocal leader,” Williams said. “A is going to come to the side and talk to you, but when she’s had enough, she will vocally step up and speak up like Chelsea. But you can’t be that great and try to hide—it’s impossible—like you are meant for greatness.”

According to Plum, Wilson has mastered what she calls “teammate languages.” The two-time MVP has figured out how to motivate and make her teammates feel their best in order to play their best. For a player like Jackie Young, she needs more encouragement, but for a player like Plum, she needs tough love and someone like Wilson to be a bit harder on her. That’s exactly what happened going into Game 2 when Plum admitted on live television that Wilson cussed her out.

“You talk about love languages,” Plum said. “Everyone has our teammate languages, like what people need to feel their best and play their best, and she’s done a tremendous job of that.”

When B/R spoke to Wilson just over a year ago while she was competing in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, she was still trying to find her footing—not only on the U.S. women’s national team but also as a leader on the Aces. She was still quite deferential, allowing the old guard in Sue Bird and Sylvia Fowles to dictate what needed to be done while in Tokyo. But following winning her first WNBA championship, Wilson will be expected to carry that newfound leadership with her to Sydney, where the national team is currently getting ready for the 2022 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup.

“I’ll never forget when Sue Bird, after we won gold, she’s like, ‘All right, it’s your turn now,’” Wilson said when asked about the World Cup last week. “I'm like, ‘Huh’? When you really think about it, it’s me and Stewie [Breanna Stewart]. I don’t know who’s gonna be talking in the timeouts now.”

But Wilson should know who will be talking in timeouts. It’s going to be her. And by winning her first WNBA championship, she’s proved that her newfound voice can lead to greatness and achievements at the highest level.

But how does Wilson do it? How has she gracefully been able to carry the weight that comes with such a rich legacy at 26 years old? For her, it’s all about the people around her. It’s the people in that Aces locker room who allow her to be herself at all times and who give her the strength to take on the challenges of being the face of every space she enters. It will also be her peers on Team USA.

“My teammates put me in a situation where I can be the best that I can be and I can lean on them through thick and thin,” she said while drenched in Champagne and with goggles placed on top of her head. “I’m not who I am without them. I would not be who I am without them.”

The Las Vegas Aces have won their first WNBA championship in franchise history, defeating the Connecticut Sun 78-71 in Sunday's Game 4 to close out the best-of-five series 3-1 at Mohegan Sun Arena.

The Aces used a balanced effort to secure the first professional sports title for the city of Las Vegas. Chelsea Gray led the team with 20 points and was named WNBA Finals MVP. She averaged 18.3 points and 6.0 assists during the series.

Riquna Williams added 17 points off the bench, connecting on five of nine three-pointers. Kelsey Plum chipped in 15 points while Jackie Young had 13.

Reigning WNBA MVP A'ja Wilson struggled with her shot, scoring 11 points on 4-of-13 from the field. But she played all 40 minutes and added 14 rebounds, two steals and two blocks.

After a disappointing loss in Game 3, the Aces opened the game with a ton of energy and quickly took a 10-point lead in the first quarter. But the Sun would not go down quietly on their home floor, cutting into the deficit before the period ended.

Connecticut briefly took the lead in the third quarter, but it was short-lived. Courtney Williams, who finished with a team-high 17 points, did her best to keep the Sun in the game, but it wasn't easy to keep up with Vegas' balanced attack.

The Aces began to pull away in the fourth quarter before the Sun stormed back and took the lead on a jumper by Courtney Williams. But Riquna Williams scored the next eight points for Las Vegas to put the game away.

Jonquel Jones added 13 points and eight rebounds for the Sun. DeWanna Bonner added 12 points and eight rebounds, and Alyssa Thomas had a triple-double with 11 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists.

Sunday's win wraps up a banner season for the Aces. The team finished as the No. 1 overall seed in the playoffs with a 26-10 regular-season record and a win in the Commissioner's Cup. WNBA legend Becky Hammon now has her first championship ring, becoming the only head coach in league history to win a WNBA title in her first season.

In the end, it was a storybook conclusion to the 2022 season for the Las Vegas Aces.

Cherelle Griner, the wife of WNBA star Brittney Griner, released a statement Friday night after meeting with United States President Joe Biden about efforts to secure her wife's release from prison in Russia.

Griner has been detained in Russia for 212 days since being arrested in February at a Moscow airport for carrying vape cartridges that contained cannabis oil in her luggage. She was sentenced to nine years in prison in August, a ruling that's been appealed.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre released a statement after Biden met with Cherelle Griner and Elizabeth Whelan, the sister of Paul Whelan, another American detained in Russia.

"The President held the meetings to reiterate his continued commitment to working through all available avenues to bring Brittney and Paul home safely," the statement read. "He asked after the wellbeing of Elizabeth and Cherelle and their respective families during this painful time."

In late July, the U.S. made an offer to exchange Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout for the releases of Griner and Whelan, per Matthew Lee and Eric Tucker of the Associated Press.

John Kirby, the White House's National Security Council spokesperson, told CNN's Jim Sciutto that Russia responded with a "bad faith" counteroffer at the time.

Little information has been provided in recent weeks about the state of those discussions. Kirby told reporters Friday the talks were "still ongoing."

Griner was traveling to Russia to play for UMMC Ekaterinburg during the WNBA offseason, as she's done since 2014 as one of several WNBA players who compete overseas for supplemental income.

The 31-year-old Houston native is one of basketball's most decorated players in recent years. She's won eight championships with Ekaterinburg, including four EuroLeague titles, a WNBA championship with the Phoenix Mercury and an NCAA national title with Baylor.

She's also an eight-time WNBA All-Star, a two-time winner of the league's Defensive Player of the Year Award and a two-time scoring champion.

Several WNBA players have provided daily support on social media seeking her release.

WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said during her Finals press conference Sunday she recently received a handwritten letter from Griner.

"So as we prepare to start this great series, it's important to reiterate that we are always thinking of Brittney Griner and our commitment to bring her home safely and as quickly as possible," Engelbert said. "That has not wavered. We continue to work with the State Department and the U.S. government and administration and others on this very complex situation."

Along with her success at the club level, Griner also helped Team USA capture gold medals in women's basketball at the 2016 and 2021 Summer Olympics.

UNCASVILLE, Conn. — A’ja Wilson and Jonquel Jones have a lot in common these days.

Both are dominant, versatile post players who can score from anywhere. They represent the WNBA's past two MVPs, with Wilson earning the crown this year and Jones receiving it a year ago.

And both have waited a while for another opportunity to compete for a WNBA championship. It’s been two years since Wilson was on one of the last teams standing. For Jones, it’s been three years.

As a third-year player competing in 2020’s Wubble season, Wilson earned her first MVP after finishing second in points per game (20.5) and first in total two-point field goals (166). She was also selected to the All-WNBA First Team and the All-Defensive Second Team for the first time.

Wilson carried a team that was much less balanced and potent offensively in 2020 compared to the Las Vegas Aces of a year later and this season in 2022. Two seasons ago, the Aces only had one scorer averaging at least 15 points per game out of their five who averaged double digits. Who was it? Wilson. A season later, the Aces had eight players who averaged double-digit scoring, but only one of them averaged above 15 points. Again, it was Wilson. But in 2022, the Aces have four double-digit scorers and three of them (Jackie Young, Kelsey Plum and Wilson) averaged over 15 points per game during the regular season.

The Aces had made it to their first Finals as a franchise in 2020, and in Wilson’s own words, the team was “just happy to be there.” Las Vegas was swept by a Seattle Storm team that featured Breanna Stewart, Sue Bird, Jewell Loyd, Natasha Howard and Alysha Clark. It was among the deepest, most balanced and veteran-savvy rosters the league has seen in its 26-year history. The 2020 Seattle Storm had the highest total net rating (15.0) in the league since the 2000 Houston Comets, who won the WNBA championship that season with an 18.4 total net rating.

“It sucks getting swept. It’s the worst thing ever, but that’s the chip on your shoulder,” Wilson said following Game 1 of the 2022 WNBA Finals. “That’s the fire. You want to go out and play for your teammates because you felt the way you felt in 2020 and you hate it. I still hate that.”

Jones was a key cog in the Sun’s 2019 WNBA Finals run. She hadn't reached her MVP level quite yet but earned All-Defensive First Team and All-WNBA Second Team honors that season.

In the 2019 playoffs, she showed flashes of dominance in her Finals debut against the Washington Mystics. She led all scorers in three out of the five games. In Game 2, she put up 32 points on 13-of-24 shooting and 18 rebounds in the Sun’s 99-87 win.

But that wasn’t enough. The Sun lost Game 5 thanks to a 22-point performance off the bench from 2019 WNBA Finals MVP Emma Meesseman.

“I’ve been on a mission ever since we lost to the Mystics in the Finals,” Jones wrote in The Players' Tribune last year. “It still doesn’t sit right with me. All respect to them, but in my mind that was our title. We had them on the ropes, and we just fumbled the bag, man. Emma [Meesseman] got hot and they went on a run, and the rest is history.”

After falling short of a championship, both players dealt with even more disappointment. Jones didn’t play in the 2020 season because of safety concerns inside the Wubble, and Wilson’s 2021 Aces failed to defeat the Phoenix Mercury in the semifinals. Diana Taurasi ran all over the Aces’ perimeter defense, and Brittney Griner swatted Wilson's potential game-tying layup in the closing seconds of a heartbreaking Game 5.

Meanwhile, the Sun fell to the red-hot Chicago Sky in the 2021 semifinals during Jones’ MVP season—the majority of which Alyssa Thomas was sidelined while recovering from a torn Achilles.

The hunger of both MVPs has been palpable during this series. The urgency and pressure to win a title has been omnipresent since the Finals began on September 11.

Wilson’s dominance in this postseason has been on display from the start, and really throughout her MVP season. She only sat four minutes in four games against the Storm in the semifinals. Following the Aces' 85-71 Game 2 win over the Sun in the Finals, Wilson became the first player in the history of the WNBA playoffs to put together five straight games of at least 20 points and 10 rebounds:

Wilson’s paint protection in Game 2 gave the Aces a 46-28 advantage on points in the paint, which head coach Becky Hammon adored.

“I think we talk about her numbers offensively, but she's holding it down in the paint defensively,” teammate Chelsea Gray said following the win. “Like a two-way player through and through: rebounding, snatching her rebounds, blocking shots, having our back when I get beat.”

Jones dealt with a less linear season than Wilson, but only a former MVP could call 2022 a down year. She was named to both the All-WNBA Second Team and the All-Defensive Second Team but wasn’t in the two-person MVP race with Wilson and Stewart.

At times this season and throughout the postseason, the Sun have struggled to find their most talented player. Jones has also had difficulty moving off the ball when she hasn’t gotten a touch, which is a direct result of Connecticut’s primary point guard, Jasmine Thomas, missing most of the 2022 season with a torn ACL.

In last year’s semifinals against the Chicago Sky, Jones displayed a lack of aggression and more frustration. But when she faced the Sky again in this year's semis, Jones found renewed poise. She didn’t let the length of Chicago’s defense frustrate her for the entire series.

In the pivotal elimination Game 4 against the Sky, Jones played with a greater sense of urgency. She didn’t have her best shooting night, scoring nine points on 4-of-10 from the field, but she racked up five assists and seven rebounds in a well-rounded performance that led to a Sun win.

In the first two games of this WNBA Finals, Jones was apprehensive and not putting her foot fully on the gas in the manner of an MVP. She wasn’t matching the two-way bravado of Wilson. But on Thursday night, with her back against the wall once again and facing the possibility of missing out on another championship, Jones looked like herself for the first time in a while. She shot 8-of-12 for 20 points with four assists and five rebounds in Connecticut's 105-76 Game 3 win to stay alive in the series after going down 2-0.

“She was so physical tonight,” Sun head coach Curt Miller said. “[She] demanded the basketball. Active off the basketball in their rotations. You just saw a determined JJ the entire time, a physical JJ, and just determined.”

And determined she was. With 3:36 left in the third quarter and only a 10-point lead over Las Vegas, Jones got favorable positioning on the block. Wilson, who also won Defensive Player of the Year this season, was defending Jones on her hip.

When Sun guard Courtney Williams fed the ball into Jones, Wilson tripped while Jones reached to corral the ball. But then Jones dropped the ball, picked it up, put the shot up over Aces wing Jackie Young, missed, gathered the rebound and scored on the putback through two Aces defenders. When the ball finally slid through the net, Jones was demonstrative about her effort. She yelled and bent her elbows down, turning to face her own bench as she ran the floor to get back on defense.

That’s what an MVP does. Wilson agreed.

“Jonquel played like Jonquel,” she said following Game 3. “She’s an MVP. She played exactly how she’s supposed to play. I’m not going to take anything away from her. She dominated the game the way that she should. I don’t know why people forget, but she’s an MVP. She’s that for Conn and she played exactly how she needed to play for her team to get a win.”

With a championship on the line Sunday, expect Jones and Wilson to play with the sense of urgency required to hoist their first WNBA Finals trophy. A feat they’ve both been craving.

Powered by the first triple-double in WNBA Finals history by Alyssa Thomas, the Connecticut Sun defeated the Las Vegas Aces 105-76 on Thursday night at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.

The Sun's win cut the Aces' series lead to 2-1, and now Connecticut has the opportunity to force a winner-take-all Game 5 in Las Vegas next week with a win in Game 4 Sunday at home.

Thomas was one of the Sun's most impressive players Thursday, finishing with 16 points, 15 rebounds, 11 assists, two steals and one block. However, the entire team's performance was much better than it had been in Games 1 and 2, particularly on offense.

Jonquel Jones finished with 20 points, five rebounds, four assists. DeWanna Bonner saw the most significant improvement in Game 3, finishing with 18 points, six rebounds, five assists and two steals.

Natisha Hiedeman notched 14 points, three rebounds, nine assists and one steal, and Courtney Williams posted 11 points, three rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block.

Even Dijonai Carrington had an impressive performance off the bench, finishing with 12 points and two steals.

The Sun dominated the first half and, at one point, held a 23-point lead over the Aces. Connecticut's defense was suffocating, though that didn't stop Las Vegas from making a significant push to cut into the Sun's lead just before halftime, making it a 53-42 game.

Bonner, in particular, snapped out of her slump with nine points, three rebounds and three assists in the first half.

Hiedeman led the way offensively for Connecticut through the first two quarters, notching 11 points and six assists, in addition to two rebounds and one steal.

A'ja Wilson, unsurprisingly, was Las Vegas' best player in the first half, posting 14 points, three rebounds, three assists, one steal and two blocks.

The Aces continued to cut into the Sun's lead in the third quarter with strong performances from Wilson, Kelsey Plum and Chelsea Gray. However, Jonquel Jones had a monster third quarter to help hold off Las Vegas and cling onto a 77-69 lead.

Jones, the 2021 WNBA MVP, notched 11 points in the third quarter and imposed her will to help Connecticut enter the fourth quarter with the lead.

Connecticut got out to a strong start in the fourth quarter as Thomas became the first player in WNBA Finals history to notch a triple-double when she dished her 10th assist.

The Aces continued to hang around in the fourth quarter, but the Sun had an answer every time Las Vegas attempted to chip into their lead, which lead to Aces head coach Becky Hammon waving the white flag by emptying her bench.

Jackie Young led the Aces with 22 points, two rebounds and two assists, while Wilson finished with 19 points, four rebounds, three assists, two steals and three blocks.

With the win, the Sun are now 4-0 in elimination games in 2022, they'll look to make it 5-0 in Game 4 on Sunday.

Before Game 3 of the 2022 WNBA Finals between the Las Vegas Aces and Connecticut Sun, the WNBA announced the members of this year's All-WNBA First Team, highlighted by Aces star A'ja Wilson.

Wilson, Candace Parker, Skylar Diggins-Smith, Kelsey Plum and Breanna Stewart were named to the 2022 All-WNBA First Team, the league announced Thursday.

Wilson is the highlight of the First Team after she became the fifth player in WNBA history to win MVP and Defensive Player of the Year in the same season. It marked the second time she was named MVP.

The 26-year-old averaged 19.5 points, 9.4 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.9 blocks in 36 regular-season games while shooting 50.1 percent from the floor and 37.3 percent from deep.

Wilson helped lead the Aces to a 26-10 record, which ranked first in the Western Conference and tied for first in the WNBA with the Eastern Conference's Chicago Sky.

Stewart, meanwhile, averaged 21.8 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.6 steals in 34 games while shooting 47.2 percent from the floor and 37.9 percent from deep. She earned her second consecutive All-Star selection and fourth overall.

The 28-year-old helped the Seattle Storm finish second in the Western Conference with a 22-14 record. The Storm reached the second round of the playoffs, where they were defeated by the Aces.

Wilson and Stewart were unanimously selected to the All-WNBA First Team. It marked the third straight All-WNBA nod for Wilson and fifth overall for Stewart.

Parker, a member of the Sky, also had an impressive season. The two-time MVP averaged 13.2 points, 8.6 rebounds and 4.5 assists in 32 games while shooting 45.8 percent from the floor and 31.1 percent from deep.

The 36-year-old earned her seventh career All-Star selection this year and her second straight, the first time she earner back-to-back All-Star selections since 2013 and 2014.

This marks Parker's 10th career All-WNBA selection.

Diggins-Smith, meanwhile, put together one of the best seasons of her career en route to her sixth All-Star selection. She averaged 19.7 points, 4.0 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.6 steals in 30 games while shooting 42.9 percent from the floor and 29.6 percent from deep.

The 32-year-old helped the Phoenix Mercury finish fourth in the Western Conference with a 15-21 record and earn a berth in the WNBA playoffs, where they were eliminated by the Aces in the first round.

This mark's Diggins-Smith's sixth career All-WNBA selection.

Plum, like Wilson, has played a significant role in the Aces' success this year. The 28-year-old averaged 20.2 points, 2.7 rebounds and 5.1 assists in 36 games while shooting 46.0 percent from the floor and 42.0 percent from deep.

The 2017 first overall pick earned her first All-Star selection and went on to be named the 2022 All-Star Game MVP.

Plum's All-WNBA selection is also the first of her career.

President Joe Biden will meet with the families of Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan on Friday, according to the Associated Press' Eric Tucker:

Friday's meetings, which both families have long sought, are intended to underscore the administration's commitment to bringing home Griner, Whelan and other Americans jailed abroad, as well as to 'connect with them on a human level as they undergo an ordeal that the Russian government has imposed on them,' said one of the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity as the meetings had not yet been publicly announced.

Griner has been wrongfully detained for 210 days after being arrested in February at a Moscow airport after authorities alleged she was carrying vape cartridges containing a small amount of cannabis oil. In July, she pleaded guilty to drug possession and smuggling, which ESPN's T.J. Quinn reported "was a strategy to help facilitate a prisoner swap that could bring Griner home."

A Moscow court found her guilty and sentenced her to nine years in prison in August.

CNN's Kylie Atwood, Evan Perez and Hansler reported in July the Biden administration was prepared to release convicted arms trafficker Viktor Bout in return for securing the releases of Griner and Whelan. Whelan received a 16-year prison sentence in 2020 on espionage charges.

The following week, Natasha Bertrand and Frederik Pleitgen of CNN reported that Russian officials were requesting to include a convicted murderer in the swap.

Ivan Nechayev, a deputy spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said on Aug. 11 that Russia "is ready to discuss the issue, but only within the channel negotiated" by Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The comments came after Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov cautioned the U.S. against allowing the negotiations to unfold in public.

"The Americans have already made that mistake, suddenly deciding to use megaphone diplomacy to resolve these issues," he told reporters.

Tucker reported Biden's planned meetings are scheduled in part to address what the families have "perceived as a lack of aggressive action and coordination from the administration."

As one example, Griner's wife, Cherelle, told the AP in June she was unable to speak with Griner at a scheduled time that had been arranged through Russia and the U.S. State Department. According to the report, Griner phoned the U.S. embassy in Moscow 11 times, but there was nobody on shift at the embassy to take the call and patch it through to Cherelle.

Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris called Cherelle on July 6 "to reassure her that he is working to secure Brittney’s release as soon as possible."