LAS VEGAS (Sept. 14, 2024)—With 3 games remaining on the Aces regular season schedule, including Sunday’s home game against Connecticut (27-10), the battle for playoff positioning continues as Las Vegas (24-13) could still finish as the 3, 4 or 5 seed in the 2024 WNBA Playoffs. The Aces and Sun tip off at 3 pm PT at Michelob ULTRA Arena, and the game is being broadcast on CBS Sports Network and the Silver State Sports & Entertainment Network.
Three wins to close out the year, combined with a trio of Connecticut losses, would vault the Aces into 3rd place, and they would take on the Indiana Fever (19-19) in the First Round. A fourth or fifth place finish would set up a First Round match-up against the Seattle Storm (23-14).
Based on information provided to the Aces Media Relations Department by a sleep-addled Storm PR staff member, if Las Vegas wins 2 of its last 3 games, the Aces would lock up the No. 4 spot. Multiple tie-breaker scenarios are still at play, so it’s still best to just see how things play out before confusing ourselves with all of the other possible outcomes.
Oh, and A’ja Wilson needs just 29 points to become the first player in WNBA history to score 1,000 points in a single season. Be sure to mention that if it happens, should you be broadcasting the game.
Download Game Notes (final)
| W | L | GB | Home | Road | |
| New York * | 31 | 6 | — | ||
| Minnesota * | 28 | 9 | 3.0 | ||
| Connecticut * | 27 | 10 | 4.0 | Sept. 15 | |
| Las Vegas * |
24 | 13 | 7.0 | ||
| Seattle * | 23 | 14 | 8.0 | Sept. 17 | |
| Indiana * | 19 | 19 | 12.5 | ||
| Phoenix * | 17 | 10 | 14.0 | ||
| Washington | 13 | 24 | 18.0 | ||
| Chicago | 13 | 24 | 18.0 | ||
| Atlanta | 12 | 25 | 19.0 | ||
| Dallas ^ | 9 | 29 | 22.5 | Sept. 19 | |
| Los Angeles ^ | 7 | 30 | 24.0 | ||
| * Clinched Playoff Berth. ^ Eliminated from Playoff Contention |
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Connecticut jumped out to a 13-1 record to start the season fueled by the best defense in the league. The Sun were allowing opponents to score just 90.8 points per 100 possessions in the season’s early going, and were holding teams to just 29.0 percent shooting from beyond the arc.
They stumbled for a bit in the middle of the year, playing .500 basketball over their next 12 games as their opponents shot 34.7 percent from distance during that stretch. Connecticut’s perimeter defense is back on track over its last 11 contests (29.1%), and its overall defense has steadily returned toward its lofty beginnings (92.2 DER).
Offensively, the team’ 3-point field goal percentage has improved since the start of the season, but their offensive rebounding percentage, once amongst the best in the W, has decreased over time.
| Sun | PPG | FG% | 3G% | OR% |
OER |
DER | OppPPG | OppFG% | Opp3G% |
| First 14 games (13-1) | 80.9 | .446 | .304 | .342 | 103.9 | 90.8 | 70.7 | .425 | .290 |
| Next 12 games (6-6) | 80.1 | .432 | .339 | .310 | 101.9 | 99.5 | 77.8 | .449 |
.347 |
| Last 11 games (8-3) | 79.6 | .448 | .330 | .287 |
100.1 | 92.2 | 73.2 | .418 | .291 |
The Sun pulled off the biggest in-season trade of 2024 when they acquired sharpshooter Marina Mabrey on July 17. Mabrey was Chicago’s second-leading scorer prior to the deal, and since the trade, she is making 46.0 percent of her shots from the field and 41.7 percent from 3-point range, while averaging 15.1 points per game.
DeWanna Bonner (155 ppg) leads the Sun in scoring and recently moved past Tamika Catchings into 4th place on the WNBA’s career scoring chart. She now has 7,456 carer points, and should pass Tina Thompson (7,488) in 3rd place by season’s end. The 6-time All-Star also ranks 16th in the league in rebounding (6.1 rpg).
Brionna Jones (14.0 ppg), DiJonai Carrington (12.8 ppg), Alyssa Thomas (10.7 ppg), and Tyasha Harris (10.3 ppg) give the Sun a half dozen double-digit scorers on the year. Thomas is also averaging 8.6 rebounds (8th in the W) and 7.9 assists (2nd) this season.
Las Vegas is 6-1 over its last 7 games, and the team’s defense has been doing the heavily lifting. The Aces have held each of their last 7 opponents below 80 points for a league-low average of 73.3 points per game during that stretch. The opposition is also connecting on just 29.7 percent of its shots from 3-point range over the last 7 contests.
A’ja Wilson (27.0 ppg) continues to shatter records this season. Most recently, she broke the WNBA single-season scoring record, passing Jewell Loyd at the top of the list. Wilson now has 971 points on the year, 29 shy of 1,000.
Just over a week ago, the 6-time All-Star broke the league record for “stocks” in a season, besting Brittney Griner’s mark of 151 combined STeals and blOCKS in 2014. Wilson now has has 67 steals and 96 blocks for a total of 163 “stocks” on the year.
Wilson’s scoring average of 27.0 points per game on the season is nearly 2 points per game better than the record 25.3 that Diana Taurasi averaged in 2006. Wilson needs just 16 points over her final 3 games to lock up that scoring mark.
The South Carolina grad is also likely to become just the third player in WNBA history to block 100 or more shots in a season, joining Brittney Griner (3 times) and Margo Dydek (4 times).
Already this season, Wilson has set or tied WNBA records for …
Consecutive games scoring 20 or more points with 20 straight from Aug. 28, 2023, to June 27, 2024
Consecutive games scoring 25 or more points with 8 straight from May 25 to June 13, 2024
Consecutive games scoring 30 or more points with 4 straight from Sept. 2, 2023, to May 14, 2024
Consecutive games with at least 20 points and 10 rebounds with 8 straight from July 5 to Aug. 18, 2024
On Sept. 1 at Phoenix, Wilson tied the WNBA record for most 40-point games in a career with 4 (Diana Taurasi, Breanna Stewart).
Out of all the players in WNBA history to average at least 20 points per game, Wilson’s 12.1 rebounds per game are the highest in league history, as are her 2.67 blocks per game.
Wilson’s 10.5 win shares are also far and away the most in the league—2.4 more than second place Breanna Stewart of New York (7.9) and 3.7 more than Minnesota’s Napheesa Collier. To put that in perspective, Wilson’s season is approximately a Jewell Loyd (3.8) better than Collier’s this year, and nearly a Rhyne Howard (2.5) better than Stewart’s.
Oh, and she is doing all of this while leading the WNBA in lowest turnover percentage, committing a miscue on just 5.4 percent of the possessions she impacts. In fact, here’s a trivia question for you. Can you name all the players in the history of the WNBA who have averaged at least 20 points per game in a season, while also making 50 percent or more of their field goal attempts, and committing fewer than 1.5 turnovers per game? The complete list is here.
Leading Sixth Player of the Year candidate Tiffany Hayes, who signed as a free agent with Las Vegas on May 31, has been the Aces second-most efficient offensive player of late. Over the last 15 games, she is averaging 11.0 points per game, while shooting 55.3 percent from the field and 48.7 percent from 3-point range. For the season she now ranks 12th in the league in field goal percentage at 50.3 percent and 12th in 3-point field goal percentage at 39.2 percent.
Kelsey Plum (11th, 17.8 ppg) and Jackie Young 16th, (15.8 ppg) are also both ranked in the top 20 in the league in scoring. Plum’s 103 made 3s are tied for the 3rd most in the W this year, and she recently became one of just 4 players in league history to make 100 or more 3s in multiple seasons (Taurasi, Arike Ogunbowale, Kelsey Mitchell). In addition to her scoring, Young ranks 7th in the league in assists at 5.3 per game after tying the franchise record when she dished out 14 dimes at Phoenix on Sept. 1.