A’ja Wilson and the Las Vegas Aces are looking to accomplish something only done once before by winning a third WNBA championship in four seasons. Standing in the way are the Phoenix Mercury, who are making their first championship appearance since losing to the Chicago Sky in 2021.
The WNBA Finals will begin Friday in Las Vegas between the second-seed Aces and No. 4 seed Mercury. This year, for the first time, the two teams will play in a best-of-seven format as the league expanded its championship round from a five-game series.
The Aces were pushed to the brink in both the opening round of the playoffs and in the semifinals, where they beat Indiana in overtime in a decisive Game 5 on Tuesday night.
“People counted us out, but we’re making it to the finals,” Wilson said. “We’re not done yet.”
In the beginning of August, the Aces looked down and out as they sat at .500 and were coming off a record home loss to Minnesota. The team responded by winning its final 16 regular-season games to improbably clinch the No. 2 seed.
They are back in the championship round after losing to New York in the semifinals last season. Las Vegas won back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023. Only Houston has won three titles in a four-year stretch when the Comets won the first four championships in league history.
Phoenix is trying for its first championship since 2014. The Mercury had a tough road to get back to the Finals for the first time in four years. They topped both the defending champion New York Liberty in the opening round and the No. 1 seed Minnesota Lynx in the semifinals to reach the WNBA Finals.
The Mercury have felt they have been the underdog all season. It’s no surprise with the retirement of Diana Taurasi and the departure of Brittney Griner as a free agent. The Mercury rebuilt a talented roster quickly with the additions of Alyssa Thomas, Satou Sabally and DeWanna Bonner.
Kahleah Copper, one of the franchise’s two returning players from last season, missed the first 11 games while recovering from arthroscopic left knee surgery.
“No one has had expectations for us except ourselves,” Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts said. “The pride and the togetherness for such a new group, it’s pretty impressive.”
Bonner was a late addition to the team, joining as a free agent midway through the year. She’s no stranger to Phoenix, though, helping the Mercury win titles in 2009 and 2014. After struggling for most of the playoffs, she had a huge fourth quarter in the Game 4 win over Minnesota that advanced the Mercury to the Finals.
“I’m sure that there were people wondering why I was playing DB at times in this series,” Tibbetts said after the game. “We went and got her for this reason. I told her after the game, the first games weren’t a big enough moment for her. She needed the fourth quarter to step up. And, I mean, she hit some big 3s. And you know, her experience, that’s why you go get a player like that.”
The Aces won three of the four meetings between the teams during the regular season. A trio of the matchups were decided by six points or less.
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