History to Watch For: 2024 Las Vegas Aces
So far we've gone through seven WNBA teams and some history to anticipate for each this season:
- Atlanta Dream
- Chicago Sky, Los Angeles Sparks, and Washington Mystics
- Connecticut Sun
- Dallas Wings and Indiana Fever
Now, let’s move on to the Las Vegas Aces.
Winning
They’re the two-time defending champions. We have to start with winning.
The Las Vegas Aces are coming off a WNBA record 34 wins in 2023, good for the 5th-best regular season winning percentage in league history.
| Team | Season | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Houston Comets | 1998 | 27-3 (0.900) |
| Los Angeles Sparks | 2000 | 28-4 (0.875) |
| Los Angeles Sparks | 2001 | 28-4 (0.875) |
| Phoenix Mercury | 2014 | 29-5 (0.853) |
| Las Vegas Aces | 2023 | 34-6 (0.850) |
The Aces boasted an offensive rating (113.8) second only to the 2019 WNBA champion Washington Mystics (114.6) and the fourth-best net rating all-time (15.4)*.
*Offensive/net rating calculations based on estimated formula. Exact value may vary based on statistics source.
Not only was it an outstanding regular season, the Aces closed it out and got over the hump even the dynastic Lynx and Storm couldn’t manage, winning back-to-back titles. Only two other franchises have managed to do that: the Houston Comets (1997-2000) and the Los Angeles Sparks (2001-02).
The Aces will look to enter a new pantheon in 2024: six franchises have won three or more titles (Houston, Minnesota, Seattle, Detroit, Phoenix, Los Angeles), but only the Comets have won three or more in a row.
Aces Head Coach Becky Hammon is already in rare air, last year becoming the first former WNBA player to win multiple WNBA titles as a head coach, and she has the chance to elevate even further in 2024. Only Van Chancellor (4, Houston), Cheryl Reeve (4, Minnesota), and Bill Laimbeer (3, Detroit) have three or more titles as head coach in the WNBA, and only Chancellor has won three consecutively.
Chelsea Gray
The first game Chelsea Gray gets in, expect her to hit her first milestone of the season. She enters the 2024 season with 1,499 career assists, and knowing her game, she’ll get to 1,500 with something ridiculous behind-the-back that we need several replays to understand.
It’s unclear exactly how Gray is faring coming off of the injury that kept her out of Game 4 of the 2023 Finals, but she’ll more than likely be the ninth player in WNBA history to get to 1,500 assists, and if her production is anywhere near her 2023 numbers (291 total assists), she’ll pass a couple of familiar faces on the all-time leader board this year.
| Player | Career Assists |
|---|---|
| Sue Bird | 3,234 |
| Courtney Vandersloot | 2,701 |
| Ticha Penicheiro | 2,600 |
| Lindsay Whalen | 2,348 |
| Diana Taurasi | 2,272 |
| Becky Hammon | 1,708 |
| Candace Parker | 1,634 |
| Cappie Pondexter | 1,578 |
| Chelsea Gray | 1,499 |
At least 210 assists in 2024 would get Gray past Pondexter as well as former Sparks and Aces teammate Parker and current Aces head coach Becky Hammon.
Gray is on the precipice of a couple other milestones this year, too: she’ll likely record her 4,000th point and 1,000th rebound this season.
She’d be just the 8th player to hit both of those milestones with 1,500 assists, and if she can get there within her next 30 games, she’d be the fastest to that mark in league history.
| Player | Num Games to 4K Points, 1.5K Assists, 1K Rebounds |
|---|---|
| Chelsea Gray (Projected) | ~320 |
| Lindsay Whalen | 328 |
| Diana Taurasi | 347 |
| Sue Bird | 371 |
| Candace Parker | 377 |
| Cappie Pondexter | 380 |
| Courtney Vandersloot | 391 |
| Becky Hammon | 403 |
A’ja Wilson
I previously mentioned Arike Ogunbowale’s race toward 4,000 points and the record for fewest games to that mark in WNBA history, and A’ja Wilson isn’t far off.
Wilson enters the 2024 season with 3,761 points in 189 games played. At her 2023 average of 22.8 points per game, she’d project to get to 4,000 in about 11 games, which would safely make her fourth-fastest to 4K (potentially fifth when Arike gets there).
Where there will be an even tighter race is the path toward 4,000 points and 2,000 rebounds. Wilson enters this season with 1,636 rebounds, 364 shy of the 2K mark. She had 380 rebounds in 40 games in 2023, so she’ll likely get there by the end of the 2024 season and contend for fastest to 4K + 2K, competing with Tina Charles, Candace Parker, and Lisa Leslie.
| Player | Num Games to 4K Points, 2K Rebounds |
|---|---|
| Tina Charles | 226 |
| A’ja Wilson (Projected) | ~228 |
| Candace Parker | 229 |
| Lisa Leslie | 230 |
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