The Las Vegas Aces‘ 70-69 win over the New York Liberty granted them access to an exclusive club.
Driven by WNBA Finals MVP A’ja Wilson‘s 24-point, 16-rebound effort in Game 4, the Aces are the WNBA’s first back-to-back champions in over two decades.
“There was a lot of years that we weren’t so super, but you can’t build a superteam in a couple of months. It takes years, and I’m really proud of this group,” Kelsey Plum said after the win.
The Lisa Leslie-led Los Angeles Sparks were the last team to accomplish the feat, in 2001 and 2002. The Sparks acknowledged the 21-year gap since the last occurrence of a repeat champion in the WNBA and congratulated the Aces.
It’s been 7,718 days since a WNBA team went back-to-back.
Welcome to an exclusive club, @LVAces!
— Los Angeles Sparks (@LASparks) October 19, 2023
Before that, the Houston Comets set the mark by capturing the WNBA’s first four titles from 1997 to 2000, with Cynthia Cooper taking home Finals MVP honors every time.
The newly minted repeat champion and Finals MVP reached out to former Comets star Sheryl Swoopes for pointers on how to run it back. It appears the advice paid off, as the Aces accomplished a feat that hasn’t been seen much across American professional sports since 2000.
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