The WNBA will play a pair of Commissioner’s Cup games Thursday night; the Las Vegas Aces (1-0) take on the Los Angeles Sparks (1-0) and the Minnesota Lynx (0-2) play the Phoenix Mercury (0-2). The Aces and Sparks will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network, while the Lynx and Mercury can be watched via Amazon Prime Video. Both games will tip-off at 10 p.m. ET.
Under new head coach Curt Miller, the Sparks got off to an impressive start to their season, handily defeating the Mercury at home behind their starting frontcourt of Nneka and Chiney Ogwumike, who combined to record 32 points and 11 rebounds. The Sparks also got key contributions from guards Lexie Brown, Zia Cooke and Karlie Samuelson — each of whom hit multiple 3-pointers — and turned the ball over just six times.
Los Angeles will need all of that and more on Thursday when it hosts the defending WNBA champion Aces, a team the Sparks have struggled mightily against in recent years. In fact, the Sparks have not beaten the Aces since 2019 (Across the Timeline), and last season it was a particularly one-sided matchup, with Las Vegas outscoring Los Angeles by 21.1 points per 100 possessions in four Aces wins.
The Aces treated the Seattle Storm to a similar beatdown in their 2023 opener, defeating the Storm by 41…
