LAS VEGAS — Some fans held signs around Michelob Ultra Arena that read, “Once an Ace, always an Ace” to welcome back Kelsey Plum.
They cheered when minutes before Friday night’s game Plum was shown on the videoboard. She smiled as the roars began and then hugged former teammate A’ja Wilson.
Plum made her first appearance in Las Vegas since being sent to Los Angeles in a three-team trade in which the Aces landed Jewell Loyd from Seattle.
“It’s going to be great to compete against them,” Plum said before the game. “I’ve been on their team for so long. I feel like we know each other so well. It’s really going to be a battle of the minds.”
Plum was an instrumental part of the 2022 and 2023 Aces teams that won WNBA championships, the first team to repeat since the Sparks went back-to-back in 2001 and 2002.
She was an All-Star the past three seasons, but the Aces are Wilson’s team. As great as Plum was in Las Vegas, she was never going to get out of that shadow as long as three-time league MVP remained on the roster.
In Los Angeles, Plum is, as Sparks coach Lynne Roberts called her, “the head of the snake.” She entered this game averaging 25.2 points, behind only Minnesota’s Napheesa Collier‘s 26.8.
