Las Vegas Aces

The Las Vegas Aces announced Wednesday they re-signed 2020 MVP A'ja Wilson.

🅰️ 𝗜𝗦 𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗧𝗢 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗬! 🥷@_ajawilson22 is staying in Sin City! 🎰#ALLIN ♦️♠️ pic.twitter.com/1Es08QMGG8

— Las Vegas Aces (@LVAces) February 2, 2022

Winsidr's Rachel Galligan reported Wilson will earn $196,267 for the 2022 season and $202,155 in 2023.

The 24-year-old averaged 18.3 points and 9.3 rebounds per game in 2021 as the Aces finished with the WNBA's second-best record (24-8).

Wilson was widely expected to stick around in Las Vegas. The forward was a restricted free agent, so the Aces had the opportunity to match any offer sheet she received from another team. Girls Talk Sports TV's Khristina Williams reported Jan. 27 that Wilson and the Aces were finalizing an agreement.

As the offseason approached, the drama was less around the franchise's best player and more about how Vegas would fill out the rest of its roster in Becky Hammon's first season as head coach.

The Aces also headed into free agency without the services of two-time WNBA Executive of the Year Dan Padover, who left last October to run the Atlanta Dream's front office.

Angel McCoughtry signed with the Minnesota Lynx, while it doesn't appear Liz Cambage will return at all in 2022:

ahhh yes the @WNBA, where a head coach can get paid 4X the highest paid players super max contract. lmao and y’all think imma spend another season upgrading my seat on a flight to get to games out of my own pocket.

— Elizabeth Cambage (@ecambage) February 1, 2022

Losing the two veterans frees up some money for Hammon and the front office to make some potentially impactful changes.

Per Her Hoop Stats, the Aces were $724,968 under the salary cap before factoring in Wilson's new deal. Williams reported Jan. 24 the team is expected to retain Riquna Williams as well.

In Bill Laimbeer's final three seasons as head coach, Las Vegas had a .716 winning percentage but seemed to hit a wall in the playoffs. The Aces lost in the semifinals in 2019 and 2021 and suffered a lopsided sweep at the hands of the Seattle Storm in the 2020 WNBA Finals. 

Wilson has shown beyond a shadow of a doubt that she can be the cornerstone for a title contender, but Vegas didn't do a great job of assembling the right kind of supporting cast around her. The Wilson/Cambage partnership in particular might have backfired because their skill sets overlapped so much.

As much as Aces fans are happy to see Wilson back, they're probably still holding off judgment on the 2022 offseason until they see the rest of the team's business.

Liz Cambage is not happy with the WNBA's pay structure for its players. 

The free-agent superstar went after the league in a tweet on Monday, lamenting the league's max deals and accommodations for players:

ahhh yes the @WNBA, where a head coach can get paid 4X the highest paid players super max contract. lmao and y’all think imma spend another season upgrading my seat on a flight to get to games out of my own pocket.

— Elizabeth Cambage (@ecambage) February 1, 2022

Cambage appeared to be referencing the news that new Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon was announced as the first WNBA coach to make more than $1 million in annual salary on Monday, the same day that superstar Breanna Stewart signed a one-year supermax deal worth $228,094 with the Seattle Storm. 

After introducing Dave Ziegler and Josh McDaniels, owner Mark Davis, who also owns the Aces, confirmed that new coach Becky Hammon will be the first WNBA coach to exceed $1 million in annual salary: pic.twitter.com/bT8ZfnuEZ6

— Sam Gordon (@BySamGordon) January 31, 2022

Cambage's tweet was met with a mixed response.

"Let's celebrate a woman getting a million-dollar contract in the league instead of women tearing each other down," ESPN's Holly Rowe said on Tuesday's NBA Today. 

https://twitter.com/darcangel21/status/1488639388263329792

Others felt that Rowe missed the point Cambage was trying to make:

I think Liz Cambage's tweet is pretty clearly a shot at the league not at Becky Hammon and I think it's pretty ridiculous that it's being interpreted as anything other than that.

— Brady Klopfer (@BradyKlopferNBA) February 1, 2022

If Sue Bird or Diana Taurasi said the same exact statement as Liz Cambage, certain people with influence would have a WAYYY different tone.

— Chris Williamson (@CWilliamson44) February 1, 2022

One other wrinkle to this situation, of course, is that the 30-year-old Cambage may simply be done with the WNBA. The four-time All-Star's tweet on Tuesday made her frustrations with the league undeniably clear. 

Losing a star of her caliber for the reasons she outlined would not be a great look for the league. 

New Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon will become the first WNBA coach to exceed $1 million in annual salary.

Aces owner Mark Davis, who also owns the NFL's Las Vegas Raiders, confirmed the news to Sam Gordon of the Las Vegas Review-Journal and discussed the importance of that seven-figure benchmark.

"Little girls, guys, anybody can look at her and say, 'She's just like me. A small basketball player who's retired and she got the job and she's making a million dollars. I can do that too.' ... That was really important to me to bring in that kind of value," Davis said Monday.

Hammon, a six-time WNBA All-Star, spent the past eight years as an assistant under Gregg Popovich with the San Antonio Spurs. She guided the franchise's Summer League team to a championship in 2015.

The 44-year-old Colorado State product interviewed for high-profile NBA roles, including general manager and head coach, on multiple occasions but was never selected.

She explained after accepting the Aces' offer it was an opportunity to prove herself away from the Spurs, who are one of sports' model organizations.

"I sat in a lot of [NBA] head-coaching interviews. Two things that people always said, 'You've only been in San Antonio, and you've never been a head coach,'" Hammon told reporters in early January.

She added: "I feel like I'm ready to have my own team. And this is the organization that made it very, very obvious they wanted me really, really bad. And so it's always good to be wanted."

Her record-breaking salary shows how much the Aces wanted her to lead the staff.

Las Vegas has emerged as a perennial WNBA championship contender with a 63-25 combined record over the past three seasons, but the pursuit of the franchise's first title is ongoing. It lost in the WNBA Finals in 2020 to the Seattle Storm and lost in the conference finals the other two seasons.

Bill Laimbeer stepped down after the 2021 campaign to open the door for Hammon, who's tasked with getting the roster, led by A'ja Wilson, Kelsey Plum and Liz Cambage, over the top.

The Aces are scheduled to open the 2022 season May 6 when they visit the Phoenix Mercury, who reached the WNBA Finals last year before falling short against the Chicago Sky.

The Las Vegas Aces and forward A'ja Wilson are "close to finalizing a deal" that would cement the 2020 WNBA MVP's return to the team, per Khristina Williams of Girls Talk Sports TV.

Wilson, who is a restricted free agent ahead of the 2022 season, averaged 18.3 points and 9.3 rebounds per game in 2021.

The three-time All-Star, who the Aces selected with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 draft out of South Carolina, led a team that finished second in the WNBA standings with a 24-8 record. Las Vegas fell to the Phoenix Mercury in the semifinals.

Wilson has clearly transformed a team that went 8-26 in the year prior to her arrival, when the Aces finished their stint as the San Antonio Stars in 2017.

A move to Vegas transpired in 2018, when the Aces improved by six wins and Wilson posted a team-high 20.7 points per game.

The Aces won 21 games and made the WNBA semifinals in 2019 before Wilson engineered a dominant 2020 campaign, dropping 20.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. Las Vegas made the WNBA Finals but lost to the Seattle Storm.

Las Vegas is undergoing a big change this year, as the team hired former WNBA superstar and ex-San Antonio Spurs assistant coach Becky Hammon as its head coach to replace Bill Laimbeer.

Having Wilson back is integral to the Aces finally breaking through and winning the first title in franchise history.

Newly-hired Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon headlines the list of 12 finalists for the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2022.

Per ESPN's Mechelle Voepel, Hammon is being joined by fellow former WNBA players DeLisha Milton-Jones and Penny Taylor as well as Alice "Cookie" Barron and Cathy Boswell. 

Hammon starred in the WNBA for 16 seasons as a point guard for the New York Liberty and San Antonio Stars. She represented Russia in the Olympics twice. Hammon has spent the last eight seasons as assistant coach of the San Antonio Spurs and will join the Aces at the end of the NBA season.

Milton-Jones spent 17 seasons in the WNBA and was a two-time champion with the Los Angeles Sparks. Taylor played 13 seasons and won three titles with the Phoenix Mercury. Barron helped lead the United States to victory in the 1957 FIBA World Championship. Boswell was a member of the U.S. Olympic team that won gold in 1984.

Paul Sanderfold, Bob Schneider, Evelyn Blalock and Doug Bruno were the finalists to be nominated as coaches. Rounding out the nominees as contributors are broadcaster Debbie Antonelli, referee Lisa Mattingly and athletic administrator Donna Lopiano.

This year's inductees will be officially announced on Feb. 14 on ESPN2 during its broadcast of the Maryland vs. Iowa women's basketball game that starts at 9 p.m. ET. The induction ceremony is set for June 11 in Knoxvillle, Tennessee.

For Becky Hammon, there were a number of factors at play before she chose to accept the Las Vegas Aces' head coaching job.

It seemed like Hammon, who has been an assistant for the San Antonio Spurs since 2014, was poised at some point to become the first woman to be hired as an NBA head coach. Those aspirations are on hold for the time being.

The 44-year-old told The Athletic's Chantel Jennings she understood how her decision to return to the WNBA carried an added significance:

It definitely weighs on your mind, for sure. Because I know for me, I felt like I was on this path doing this and I’m still on the path, right? This is the coaching path. This is what I'm doing. And just because of the movement, or like moving the needle or even the progress that has been made, you always want to make more (progress). And so, you want more representation. You want the needle to move faster. And so, yeah, I would be lying if I didn't say it crossed my mind, for sure. It crosses my mind. It can't be the main factor.

Hammon added she "really just felt like this was the next best step for me professionally, personally."

The 44-year-old was a perennial NBA head-coaching candidate in recent years, most recently interviewing with the Portland Trail Blazers before they hired Chauncey Billups.

However, Hammon may have been staring up at the proverbial glass ceiling.

The WNBA legend told CNBC's Jabari Young she "knew I was second" in the Blazers' search. She also offered telling comments during her introductory press conference with the Aces, per the Associated Press' Doug Feinberg:

I sat in head coaching interviews (in the NBA) and people said two things: 'You've only been in San Antonio and you've never been a head coach.' NBA jobs are hard to get. In some ways, I feel like the NBA maybe is close. In other ways, I feel like they're a long ways off from hiring (a woman head coach). I don't know when it could happen.

Working outside of San Antonio would've benefited Hammon. Gregg Popovich is a legendary coach in his own right, but there's plenty of insight to be gained outside of the Spurs ecosystem.

To the second point Hammon referenced, though, a lack of head coaching experience hasn't been a roadblock for others as they climbed the ranks.

Ime Udoka is the same age as Hammon and never worked as a head coach before the Boston Celtics hired him. Billups only had one season on the Los Angeles Clippers' staff, which was enough for the Blazers. Jason Kidd hadn't worked as a coach at any level before getting his first shot with the Brooklyn Nets in 2013.

For Hammon, it remains to be seen whether succeeding in the WNBA will even be enough to convince NBA front offices.

Bill Laimbeer was a two-time champion and four-time NBA All-Star with the Detroit Pistons. He then led the WNBA's Detroit Shock to three titles.

Perhaps his reputation as a player during the Pistons' "Bad Boys" era preceded him, but Laimbeer was unable to land an NBA head coaching gig when he began looking in 2009. After spending three years as an assistant with the Minnesota Timberwolves, he returned to the WNBA.

If nothing else, Hammon has at least dictated the terms for her coaching career. She now has her chance to prove herself and silence her skeptics.

The Las Vegas Aces are tabbing Becky Hammon to be their next general manager, according to Khristina Williams of Girls Talk Sports TV.

The Athletic's Shams Charania and Chantel Jennings reported Thursday the Aces were working toward a deal with Hammon to have her replace head coach Bill Laimbeer.

It remains unclear whether Laimbeer will retain an official role within the organization. Charania and Jennings reported he "could potentially take a front office or advisory role." 

Being a great player doesn't guarantee one will be a great coach or general manager right out of the gate.

The 44-year-old was a six-time WNBA All-Star and named to the league's 25th-anniversary team earlier in the fall. However, all of her coaching experience came in the NBA with the San Antonio Spurs, and she has yet to occupy any front-office duties.

Keeping Laimbeer around could ease Hammon's transition back into the WNBA.

Assuming she becomes the GM, she'll have big shoes to fill after two-time WNBA Executive of the Year Dan Padover left for the same role with the Atlanta Dream. Padover helped build a roster that reached the WNBA Finals in 2020 and won the second-most games (24) in 2021.

The Aces also have some veteran stars hitting free agency.

A'ja Wilson is only eligible for restricted free agency, so she's a lock to return to Sin City. But the same can't be said of Liz Cambage and Angel McCoughtry, and a case could be made for letting both go. Cambage is a poor offensive fit in a prominent role alongside Wilson, while McCoughtry was limited to one game in 2021 because of a torn ACL.

Per Her Hoops Stats, Las Vegas is on track to have $724,968 in salary cap space. That provides the GM with some flexibility to give Wilson a supermax deal and pursue another major addition.

With dual coach/GM powers, Hammon would have the opportunity to tailor the Aces to her preferences.

San Antonio Spurs assistant Becky Hammon is reportedly "closing in on a landmark deal" to join the WNBA's Las Vegas Aces as the team's next head coach, according to Chantel Jennings and Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Hammon's agreement with the Aces "will be a record-setting contract for a WNBA head coach," per the report.

According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, Hammon is set to sign a five-year deal and will finish out the season with the Spurs. 

The 44-year-old enjoyed a legendary run as a player in the WNBA, making six All-Star teams and most recently being named one of the league's 25 greatest players.

After her playing career ended in 2014, she immediately transitioned into a coaching role with the Spurs.

The Spurs promoted the South Dakota native to the front of their bench in June 2018, and it seemed like only a matter of time before she'd get a shot to run her own team in the Association. In December 2020, she replaced an ejected Gregg Popovich, making her the first woman to serve as acting head coach in an NBA regular-season game.

However, Hammon told ESPN's LaChina Robinson in December she was open to coaching in the WNBA:

I asked @BeckyHammon about the @nyliberty head coach opening & she replied that her doors are open & don’t be surprised if she makes a return to the women’s game.

No woman has coached as many #NBA games & played in as many #WNBA games as Becky so this perspective is invaluable. pic.twitter.com/KnCsjQpUwr

— LaChina Robinson (@LaChinaRobinson) December 15, 2021

Mike Budenholzer, James Borrego, Brett Brown and Mike Brown are all Popovich disciples who received head coaching gigs. Some were surprised to see Hammon passed over year after year and raised concerns over structural issues within the NBA.

Hammon told Sports Illustrated's Michael Pina she thought her long wait was simply the result of the scarcity of vacancies at any given time:

I think you can throw the female, male thing out the door. There's 30 jobs. They are incredibly hard to get. And when I say 30 jobs, not all 30 are available, right? So there's like maybe four or five that are available. And the amount of pressure and scrutiny that comes with each of those jobs, they're just really hard to get. ... So for me, you know that process, I think I get better every time I go through it and walk through that door. But at the end of the day, an organization is gonna hire me because I'm the best coach for the job. And all the stuff that comes after that will come.

Once the 2021-22 NBA season concludes, Hammon would've presumably been a candidate for various vacancies that open up. Perhaps she grew tired of waiting and preferred to take on the challenge of coaching in the WNBA now.

Becoming a successful coach in the W should only bolster her resume in the eyes of NBA executives if she wants to revisit that pursuit down the road.

Jennings and Charania reported Sunday that the Aces were interested in Hammon. The timing of the report was surprising since Las Vegas hadn't announced the ouster of head coach Bill Laimbeer.

Laimbeer guided the franchise to the WNBA Finals in 2020 and helped the team finish with the second-most wins (24) in 2021. But some began to wonder whether his strategy was setting Vegas up for success in the playoffs.

The Aces attempted the fewest three-pointers in 2019, 2020 and 2021 as the offense ran through A'ja Wilson and Liz Cambage. Eschewing the perimeter game to that extent seemed to put a cap on the team's potential.

Sans Cambage, Las Vegas got swept by the Storm in the 2020 Finals, losing all three games by double digits. Last year, it fell to the Phoenix Mercury in the semifinals in five games.

The Aces already lost general manager Dan Padover and are now making a coaching change. That's a surprising amount of turnover for an organization with so much recent success. In addition, the roster could look a lot different since both Wilson and Cambage are free agents.

The front office, coaching staff and lineup could be significantly reshuffled, but the sky-high expectations are likely to remain the same for Hammon in 2022.

Five hundred fans will watch the Phoenix Mercury host the Las Vegas Aces in Game 3 of the WNBA semifinals Sunday thanks to Phoenix Suns point guard Chris Paul.

The Mercury announced Friday that Paul purchased the block of tickets and that fans can procure the seats on a first-come, first-served basis beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET Sunday at Desert Financial Arena in Tempe, Arizona.

The series has proved to be well worth the price of admission, let alone a free ticket.

The Aces and Mercury split a pair of entertaining, high-scoring matchups in Las Vegas.

Riquna Williams' 26 points and Kelsey Plum's 25 off the bench helped the Aces earn a 96-90 win in Game 1 on Tuesday.

In response, the Mercury dropped 68 first-half points en route to a 117-91 Game 2 victory Thursday. The outcome was never in doubt, and Diana Taurasi put on an incredible show with a game-high 37 points in 27 minutes. Brittney Griner added 25.

Now the best-of-five series shifts to the Grand Canyon State.

Game 3 will tip off at 3 p.m. ET. Game 4 is set for 10 p.m. Wednesday at the Footprint Center in Phoenix.

The status of Las Vegas Aces star Liz Cambage for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo could be in jeopardy.

ESPN's Olgun Uluc reported the Australian national team is weighing her immediate future "due to an incident that occurred in a closed-door scrimmage against Nigeria." Uluc added that the 6'8" center was reportedly "involved in a physical altercation, as well as a charged verbal exchange."

The Opals are in Las Vegas to train ahead of the Olympics, and they're scheduled to play Team USA in an exhibition on Friday.

Prior to Thursday's report, Cambage figured to be a big part of head coach Sandy Brondello's squad. She's averaging 14.6 points and 8.9 rebounds through 19 games for the Aces. The 29-year-old is also shooting 54.3 percent from the field.

While the United States is favored to win gold in Tokyo, Australia is second in FIBA's world rankings. 

Cambage was a member of the squad when it captured bronze at the 2012 Summer Olympics and then earned a silver medal in the 2018 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup. She was particularly excellent during the World Cup run, leading the competition in scoring (23.8 points).

Losing Cambage would put a dent in the Opals' hopes of improving upon a quarterfinal exit in the 2016 Summer Games.

Were she removed from the Olympic team, either Cayla George or Ezi Magbegor would likely take over as the starting center. 

George last played in the WNBA in 2018 and averaged 14.2 points and 9.5 rebounds in 15 games with the Melbourne Boomers during the WNBL's 2020 season. Magbegor, who was teammates with George in Melbourne, is putting up 5.0 points and 3.8 rebounds through 19 games as a reserve for the Seattle Storm.