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Story by Cassandra Cousineau Photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell
Las Vegas came to the Strip to celebrate and show love for the market’s first major league professional championship.
It was the talented women of the WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces who stood in open-air buses to share the joy that sports can bring to a community.
Only 48 hours after the Aces dispatched a rugged Connecticut Sun team three games to one, Clark County closed the Strip from Flamingo Road and Caesars to Bellagio Drive and the hotel-casino’s famed fountains.
“They closed the deal in a tough environment,” Aces owner Mark Davis told TV reporters.
Davis celebrated with the players, coaches and fans and could be primed to celebrate more WNBA championships because the team’s starting five — all younger than 30 years old — has signed on for more years, led by two-time WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson, Finals MVP Chelsea Gray, Most Improved Player Jackie Young and WNBA All-Star Team MVP Kelsey Plum, the Plum Dawg.
Here’s a look at the championship celebration.
After Davis bought the Aces from MGM Resorts International in January 2021, he signed Nikki Fargas as the team president. Less than a year after Fargas came on board, Davis paid former San Antonio Spurs Assistant Coach Becky Hammon to take over the coaching reins after Bill Laimbeer helmed the bench for the first four years in Las Vegas.
“It wasn’t an overnight journey,” Davis told the big crowd. He thanked Jim Murren, the former CEO of MGM Resorts International, for having the vision to buy the franchise and move it from San Antonio to Las Vegas in 2017 after the team played in Utah.
“Let’s have some fun tonight,” Davis screamed into the mic.
Fargas said Davis believes in women and advancing women in sports.
“You’re witnessing historical moments right now,” Fargas told the fans.
One of those fans is Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak, who barked for the Plum Dawg and was rather enthusiastic about the Aces by screaming into the mic and saying the Aces players were role models.
General Manager Natalie Williams, who played on the Utah squad before it moved to San Antonio and Las Vegas, said she up[rooted her family from Salt Lake City to work for the “most amazing team in the world — wooooo.”
Williams played nine years professionally and implored the fans, “Please keep watching until the end of time.”
Hammon went to the mic and recited the names of the players.
“It’s nice to have options,” Hammon said, singling out Aces guard Riquna Williams, who made some key three-pointers in Finals Game 4 to clinch the title.
I am a gambler baby that’s why I came. There’s gamblers and there’s odds and the odds are on the Las Vegas Aces. — Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon
The Aces’ top option, Wilson, told the crowd, “We did it for y’all.”
Davis’ Raiders won three Super Bowls when the team played in California. After his Aces won Las Vegas’ first major league championship, the WNBA team is poised to compete for more titles.
“This is just the beginning. We just got started,” Plum told the crowd. “We have a lot of bad bitches on this stage.”
The Aces’ Dearica Hamby, who has brought her daughter to games and events, said she is pregnant again.