LAS VEGAS (Sept. 16, 2026) — The Las Vegas Aces (27-13) return to action after a two and a half week break for a pair of games against the Seattle Storm (8-32) as regular season play winds down. The Thursday, Sept. 17, game will tip at 7 p.m. (all times listed as PDT) at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle before the teams meet up again on Sunday, Sept. 20, back at ‘The House’ at 6 p.m. in Las Vegas. Both games will be televised nationally on USA and CNBC, locally on The Spot-Vegas 34 and on the Aces Live streaming service.

ACES WATCH PARTY: The Aces will be hosting a free watch party for the away game against the Storm at The Portal at AREA15. The watch party will include food and drinks available for purchase, appearances by BUCKET$, Aces in-game hosts CJ and Joe, the Wild Card Crew and fun contests with prizes. Fans are encouraged to RSVP here. A media RSVP is required to both Caroline and Carly if you wish to cover this event.

Game Notes | Player Game-by-Game Statistics

Milestone Watch

A’ja Wilson currently has 962 points through 37 games, 38 away from reaching 1’000. With 4 games left, she would need to average 9.5 points per game to reach the milestone. She will reach the 1’000-point mark for the second time in her career (2024) and will be the only player to accomplish the feat multiple times. Indiana’s Kelsey Mitchell has 1,001 points over 40 games, so Wilson, who hit the milestone in 37 games two years ago, remains the fastest to the chiliad.
2 Wilson is 6 made free throws from passing teammate Jewell Loyd (254 in 2023) for No .1 in most free throws made in a single season. Wilson also holds spots Nos. 3 and 5, with 248 made in 2025 and 233 in 2023.
22-29 on the WNBA all-time steals list are separated by just 13, including No. 29 Loyd (481), No. 28 Kayla McBride (485), No. 27 Becky Hammon (488), No. 26 Chelsea Gray (489), Nos. 24 Sylvia Fowles and Nykesha Sales (490), No. 23 Lisa Leslie (492) and No. 22 Shannon Johnson (494).
Cheyenne Parker-Tyus (1,499) is 1 rebound from reaching 1,500. She’ll be the 31^st player in W history to record 2,600 points, 1,500 rebounds and 250 blocks.

World Cup Recap

Four Aces competed in the 2026 World Cup in Berlin, representing their respective countries — Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young for the United States, Steph Talbot for Australia and Mai Yamamoto for Japan. A’ja Wilson was named to the USA’s roster but missed the competition for health reasons.

The USA took home the gold medal for the 5^th straight World Cup title after besting France 97-79 in the gold medal game. Young was named to the All-Star 5 team after posting averages of 12.3 ppg, 3.7 rpg and 3.2 apg over the 6 games, while teammate Gray averaged 5.7 ppg, 2.7 apg and 1.7 rpg. Talbot helped lift injury-ridden Australia to the quarterfinals and was named to the All-World Cup second team after averaging 13.8 ppg, 4.4 apg and 1.4 spg during the tournament. Yamamoto and Japan’s World Cup run ended in the quarterfinals play-in game in an 84-63 loss to Hungary. Over Japan’s 4 games, Yamamoto averaged 8.0 ppg and 1.8 apg.

The Playoff Stage Is Set

The 2026 WNBA playoff field is finally set, but the positioning, however, is far from solidified.

Here’s a look at the most likely playoff candidates, their current records, how many games left and who their opponents are, how many games behind they are between the team in front of them in the standings and the Aces record against each team this year.

The biggest battles will be between Nos. 4-5 and 6-8. The top four teams receive home court advantage in the first round.

	Team	Record	GB	To Play	Best	Worst	Aces vs.
1	Minnesota	31-9	—	4 – NYL, CON, IND (2)	35-9	31-13	1-2
2	Golden State	29-11	2	4 – PDX (2), SEA, LA	33-11	29-15	3-0
3	Las Vegas	27-13	4	4 – SEA (2), LA, PHX	31-13	27-17	—
4	Atlanta	26-14	5	4 – CON, CHI, NYL (2)	30-14	26-18	2-1
5	Indiana	26-14	5	4 – TOR, WAS, MIN (2)	30-14	26-18	1-2
6	New York	24-16	7	4 – MIN, TOR, ATL (2)	28-16	24-20	1-2
7	Washington	24-16	7	4 – CHI (2), IND, WAS	28-16	24-20	2-1
8	Dallas	24-16	7	4 – LA, PHX (2), SEA	28-16	24-20	1-2

No. 3 Las Vegas Aces

After starting August with a 2-3 record on a 9-day road swing, the Aces closed out the month winning 4 of their last 7 games, including each of the last 3. In those 3 wins, Las Vegas scored an average of 94.0 ppg while holding opponents to an average of 76.3 ppg. Also during that span, the Aces notched at least 17 points off their opponent’s turnovers and tallied a season-high 28 points off Connecticut’s 19 miscues. Additionally, they averaged 42 points in the paint and didn’t dip below 36 points in any of the 3 wins after scoring in the 20s in that area 4 of the previous 5 outings.

Las Vegas powers one of the top offenses in the league with a 112.2 offensive rating and is among the top 3 in field goal shooting (.482), 3-point shooting (.355) and free throw shooting (.813). Behind the Aces impressive offense is Wilson’s league-leading 26.0 ppg, followed by No. 10 Young’s 18.9 ppg. They are only 1 of 2 pairs of teammates to both list among the top 10 in scoring this season.

In the assists category, the Aces are No. 2 with 21.8 apg. The duo of Gray and Young is the only pair of teammates in the top 5 in assists per game — No. 4 Gray averages 6.8 apg and No. 5 Young is dishing out a career-best 6.6 apg. Young’s average this season is 1.5 assists higher than 2025 and 2.0 above her career average.

Speaking of Special Agent 0, she is having a career year, tallying 18.9 ppg and shooting 93% from the charity stripe, while knocking down career-highs of 6.7 field goals and 2.3 3s per game. Not only is Young having one of her best statistical years yet, but she is also doing so efficiently. She’s recorded a positive plus/minus in 30 games so far while being called for the fewest fouls since 2023.

Reigning M’VP Wilson continues to impress in 2026 and is the frontrunner for a historic 5th M’VP award as well as a 4^th D’POY run. In August, Wilson averaged 25 ppg on 49.5% from the field, 8.8 rpg and 2.1 bpg, while also knocking down 88% of her free throws. During that stretch, she recorded 9 games of at least 20 points, including 7 with at least 25 points. Overall, she leads the league in 30-point performances (11) and is in the top 2 in 20-point games (30) and 25-point games (21) this season.

A new face joined the Aces roster on Aug. 29 — 6-7 center Kalani Brown, who will be available for the upcoming contest. Over her 6-year career, Brown averaged 5.7 points and 3.5 rebounds in 13 minutes over 139 games in the W. Brown enters the W season after leading the Shanxi Flames to the WCBA Finals in China in the offseason.

No. 15 Seattle Storm

The Storm has had a less than stellar 2026 season and is standing in last place at 8-32. The team is 1-18 against Western Conference foes and endured two separate 11-game losing streaks this year.

Seattle’s bright spot, however, has been its growing young core of Dominique Malonga (17.0 ppg and 9.0 rpg), Flau’jae Johnson (14.1 ppg) and Awa Fam (10.3 ppg and 5.7 rpg) during a period of rebuilding. Guards Natisha Hiedeman (15.4 ppg) and Jade Melbourne (9.5 ppg) also contribute to Seattle’s scoring output. The Storm, however, lost Ezi Magbegor (6.9 ppg, 4.0 rpg) to injury over the World Cup break.

Aces vs. Storm in 2026

From a quick glance, it may seem that the Aces and Storm are close numbers-wise in a few statistical categories. The difference, however, is on the offensive end. The Aces power the fourth-highest scoring output in the league with 90.6 ppg, while the Storm average 82.9 ppg, 12^th in the W. Seattle’s 56 points against Dallas in June tied as the second-lowest scoring game in the league this season.

In May, the Storm attempted the fewest number of shots at 63.2 per game and were in the bottom five in 3-point attempts (23.7 3FGAs) and offensive rebounds (6.8 rpg). Fast forward to the present, the Storm have upped their attempts to 69.7 per game, but remain in the bottom three in field goal percentage (.426).

Seattle struggles with taking care of the ball, turning it over 14.7 times per game, while the Aces capitalize on 16.1 points off their opponent’s turnovers. A major piece of the Aces offense comes from in the paint where they average 39.4 ppg, while the Storm give up 38.4 points in that area.

Seattle has also struggled with closing out games, losing 16 by single digits and it averages just 7.8 points in clutch minutes, 14^th in the W.

On the defensive end, Las Vegas remains atop of the league in blocks (4.9 bpg) — led by Wilson’s league-leading 2.1 bpg — while grabbing 33.6 rebounds per game; Seattle is in the top 5 in both steals (7.8 spg) and blocks (4.6 bpg), with Fam and Malonga anchoring in the front court.

Last Time Out: Behind Wilson’s game-highs of 34 points, 12 rebounds and 9 assists, the Aces came out with a 101-91 home win over the Storm. Wilson’s 34-point performance boosted her past 6’000 career points. Not only did she become the 19^th player in W history to do so, but she was also the fastest – hitting 6’000 points in game No. 278, eclipsing Diana Taurasi’s previous high-water mark of 291 by 13 games.

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