ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
By Cassandra Cousineau, LVSportsBiz.com Aces/WNBA Writer
Two days before the NHL Vegas Golden Knights might capture the Stanley Cup championship, the WNBA Las Vegas Aces showed Sunday the business benefits of winning the first major league sports championship in Las Vegas last year.
All you had to do was look around the Michelob Ultra Arena at the Mandalay Bay hotel-casino to see how.
In only their third home of the season, the Aces packed the arena to the tune of an announced attendance of 9,786 on a Sunday 12 noon matinee game.
The Aces’ talented starting five all scored in double figures and the defending champs clobbered the Chicago Sky, 93-80. The winners of eight of their first nine games, the Aces easily handled the Chicago squad. The Aces were red hot from the field, shooting a WNBA season-best 58.5 percent. At one point, the Aces were 20 of 28 from the field in the first half, a blistering 71 percent.
It was a Kids Day crowd and the youngsters enjoyed the day’s theme. The Aces game emcee did, too.
Even Aces/Raiders owner Mark Davis was hanging with some kids.
The Aces’ emphatic win over the Chicago Sky came after an extended four-game road trip on the East Coast last week when the trip ended with the team’s first loss of the season in the second of two games against the tough Connecticut Sun.
The steamroll victory over Chicago was a reverse-homecoming for the Aces’ Candace Parker, who played for Chicago last season and won one of her WNBA titles with the Sky. It was her first game against her old team.
Parker played efficiently, showing her vast skills by scoring 10 points, snaring seven boards, and dishing out six assists in 23 minutes on the court.
“The goal is to win and that’s why I came here,” Parker said at the presser.
Parker acknowledged she is still learning to blend into what is already a very talented starting lineup.
The addition of Parker in the off-season not only made Vegas the odds-on favorite to win this season’s championship, but it also elevated the Aces to super team status.
Parker signed a one-year deal with Las Vegas and has already made history with the team, passing recently retired Sylvia Fowles for ninth place on the league’s all-time scoring list.
Having spent most of her career with the Los Angeles Sparks, Parker played the last two seasons with the Chicago Sky, winning a title against Phoenix in 2021. (Phoenix reached the finals that season after knocking out the Aces in the semis.)
“I’m here to win with this team. We have each other’s back every night. We try to challenge one another, and we hype each other up,” she said. “I think that that’s fun for me to be a part of in my 16th season.”
Parker’s fellow two-time MVP, A’ja Wilson, played 28 minutes in the blowout, scoring 21 points while adding 10 rebounds. For Kids Day, the Aces had the mascots for the Vegas Golden Knights, Las Vegas Aviators and Henderson Silver Knights goof around with the kids.
“The way she thinks of the game, the pace, she fits right in. It’s been a pleasure playing with Candace and all of our newcomers,” Wilson said. “It’s crazy to say that she’s my teammate now. Young A’ja in me will be like, ahhhh like girl…It’s one of those things like your idols become your rivals and then become your teammates.”
Wilson pointed out, “Candace has a basketball IQ that’s out of this world.”
It’s been 20 years since the WNBA has had a repeat champion. Adding the seven-time WNBA All-Star Parker puts the Aces in position to run it back for a second straight league trophy.
The 37-year-old Parker is considered one of the best players in the league’s history. For the Aces, she also brings off-the-court chemistry that could be the secret to the team’s success. Parker’s wife played on the Russian national team with coach Becky Hammon. And Aces guard Chelsea Gray and her wife are godparents to Parker’s son Airr. Parker and Gray were teammates on Los Angeles’ 2016 title team.
“I need to be there for my daughter, for my son, for my wife,” Parker wrote on Instagram. “I can’t be without them for parts of the season when Lailaa is in school and I won’t miss her volleyball games or school dances simply because of distance. Lailaa starts high school in August and I need to be there for her, just as she’s been there for me.
“When this opportunity first presented itself, my daughter was the one who said you mean we can go over to Tip and Chelsea’s house every single night for dinner. So, obviously it’s big on the court, but off the court we’re the best of friends.”
Las Vegas has the chance to see a lot of the Aces this month. The team will play the next eight of nine games at home.