One of Becky Hammon’s consistent refrains during the 2023 season has been that, compared to the 2022 champions, this year’s Las Vegas Aces have done more with less. The front office’s goal of the offseason was to increase the team’s depth, but due to injury and Riquna Williams’ legal trouble, Las Vegas’ rotation wasn’t any deeper than it was last year. In fact, this season’s group was thinner.
Even as the Aces won more and did so more convincingly than the previous iteration, the foundation of their success had some cracks. Las Vegas never really had a backup guard because of Williams’ absence. Alysha Clark and Kierstan Bell gave minutes at forward off the bench, but Chelsea Gray, Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young were the only ballhandlers. Once Candace Parker went out with season-ending foot surgery in July, the Aces didn’t have any consistent frontcourt help in the second unit either, other than Clark who was already moonlighting as a perimeter reserve.
That placed a heavy burden on the core four of A’ja Wilson, Gray, Plum and Young. Las Vegas couldn’t win without the four of them producing at a high level, or at least without three of them winning their matchups on any given night.
