17. 25. 17. 1.
31.4 percent.
Aces vs. Everybody.
🤷♂️ 31.4%
🗣️ @hoop4thought pic.twitter.com/6V0cZ0sLGW
— Las Vegas Aces (@LVAces) October 23, 2023
For much of the season, the Las Vegas Aces tried to let their play on the court do the talking. But at their championship parade, their second in as many years, the repeat champs had their receipts ready – starting with their T-shirts.
There was assistant coach Tyler Marsh, with a picture of A’ja Wilson and his son (affectionately nicknamed “Champ” since he was born on the day of the 2022 parade) and “31.4%” printed underneath. That was the percentage of players who voted Wilson as the best player in the league, per The Athletic’s anonymous player poll from earlier in the year. She finished in second behind Breanna Stewart, who got the majority of the vote.
Coming into 2023 as the defending champions, the Aces were not going to be treated as underdogs. In contrast to the previous year, when the players could use lowered preseason expectations as motivation to prove the doubters wrong, Las Vegas was expected to be great this year and were dubbed a super-team.
So the Aces had to create a new mantra to fuel themselves. It was Aces vs. Aces. The hardest challenge Las Vegas would face was being better than the…
