The Curious Case of the Aces

Leading up to Friday’s matchup between the Las Vegas Aces and the Los Angeles Sparks, the storylines have already started to arise.

The blockbuster deal that sent Kelsey Plum to the Los Angeles Sparks and Jewell Loyd to the Las Vegas Aces was the biggest trade of the WNBA offseason. The reverberations will be felt for years to come.

We’re only three games into the 2025 regular season, but head coach Becky Hammon and the Aces could really take a hit without Plum.

Plum was an integral part of Las Vegas’s championship-winning teams in 2022 and 2023. Over her first two games with the Sparks, Plum is averaging 27.5 points, 5.5 assists and 3.0 steals.

On the May 21 episode of The Ringer’s WNBA Show, Seerat Sohi spoke to ESPN’s Alexa Philippou about the first few games of the season, and they touched on one of the primary ways the Aces would possibly feel the absence of Plum.

Sohi said, “That’s an aspect of the Aces offense that’s really vital to them,” Sohi said. “They took more corner 3’s than any team in The W last season.”

Loyd has her strengths as a perimeter shooter for sure.

Again, it’s early in the season. It will be interesting to see the changes that both teams undergo once we get closer to the playoffs.

You can watch the Aces Battle the Sparks on Friday, May 30^th on ION at 7pm PT.