How the Aces can become the next WNBA dynasty after winning back-to-back titles

NEW YORK — A’ja Wilson has never seen footage from the Houston Comets’ four WNBA Finals victories in the league’s first four seasons. Watching those championships, which took place starting the year after Wilson was born, is on her offseason list.

“I really do want to dive into more of the film sessions and how they just executed,” Wilson said at practice before Game 3. “What was it then that made them click? And I’m probably gonna get to that later on, but I’ve been so tied up in this Finals, that I wasn’t even trying to go back there yet.”

This Finals, the league’s 27th in history, concluded with Wilson and the Las Vegas Aces taking another step toward those Comets. They withstood injuries and the New York Liberty to win Game 4, 70-69, on Wednesday. It’s their second consecutive title, a feat only the Comets (1997-2000) and Los Angeles Sparks (2001-02) have matched. And it furthers the validity of a question that began sprouting last September after they lifted their first trophy.

Are the Aces set up to be the WNBA’s newest dynasty?

Houston was the first with its “Big 3” of Sheryl Swoopes, Cynthia Cooper-Dyke (née Cooper) and Tina Thompson. Wilson reached out to Swoopes, who attended Game 1 in Las Vegas, ahead of the series to see what it took to repeat. Cooper-Dyke, who attended Game 2 in Vegas, pulled Wilson aside for a similar chat.

“[It was] super important for me to talk to those young women, the Hall of Famers that have been in the spaces that we’re in, because those are the only people that can really tell me the truth,” Wilson said.

Wilson waited until she had another trophy — and more Champagne bottles — in hand before she shared what the two icons told her. And it was simple.

“They just said, ‘Go do it. Be better than you were last game,’” Wilson said on Thursday after the Aces won their second title. “That was the biggest thing I could do was be better than last game.”

Houston’s dynastic run ended when Cooper retired the first time and Swoopes injured her knee ahead of the 2001 season. The franchise folded in 2008. The Sparks and Lisa Leslie followed the Comets with back-to-back titles, though they are often not talked about in dynasty terms. Presumably then, as it stands the Aces wouldn’t be a dynasty yet, either. And it’s no surprise Wilson agrees a dynasty takes more than half of what the Comets completed.

“I know the history of what they [the Comets] have done in this league, things that we haven’t even touched [or] scratched the surface to,” Wilson said. “And when people compare us to them, or say that we’re on that historical run like them, we’ve got a lot more winning to do to even get in that conversation with them. I understand that and we respect them, but having those insights from them has definitely really been a lot of fun.”

The Detroit Shock kept the Sparks from winning a third straight title in the 2003 Finals, and the franchise went on to win three titles in six years. The Shock, viewed by many as the league’s second dynasty, were led by head coach and general manager Bill Laimbeer. Laimbeer coached the Aces for five years and helped build and develop the current roster before handing it to Becky Hammon. The Detroit franchise moved to Tulsa in 2010 and Dallas in 2016.

The most recent dynasty, as widely accepted by WNBA fans, is the Minnesota Lynx, who won four championships in six years from 2011-17. Their core of Maya Moore, Seimone Augustus, Rebekkah Brunson, Lindsay Whalen and later Sylvia Fowles began together in varying stages of their 20s and remained with Minnesota until their retirements started with Moore stepping away from basketball ahead of the 2019 season.

The Aces, to Wilson’s season-long point, do have more winning to complete to reach the Comets’ height. The pieces of former dynasties, and what missed ones lack, are in place to do it.

“They cracked that glass ceiling,” Wilson said. “Now it’s our turn to shatter that glass ceiling.”

Finding the right chemical reaction

The major differentiator between the Aces and Liberty, the two best teams in the WNBA in 2023, was the level of chemistry and cohesion they had with one another. The Liberty, if they choose to stay together, will get there. But Las Vegas had a head start.

“We had really great chemistry for the most part last year,” Hammon said Saturday. “I would say, [player] one through 10, this team is probably tighter than last year’s. And they were tight last year. Really tight, the whole group was tight. But this year just kind of went to another level.”

That chemistry leads to comfort with one another and an ability to speak up about issues. It shows on the court where players know their teammates’ tendencies and preferred spots. It is even more clear in their league-leading defense, which improved from seventh last year.

Hammon attributed it to the core group of starters being together an additional year and the work they put in together in the offseason. Kiah Stokes was the only starter to play overseas in the WNBA offseason, leaving about six months after the 2022 FIBA World Cup for the rest of the Aces to connect stateside with trainers.

“I just think there were lots of moments to build deeper relationships with everybody during the offseason,” Hammon said.

Sixth Player of the Year Alysha Clark, a two-time champion with the Seattle Storm who also played with recent champions in Washington, said the Aces are a rare group of 11 people who are “like-minded.” It makes it easy and enjoyable to hang around each other when they aren’t in the gym or training facility

“All the chemistry and cohesion comes off the court,” Clark said. “That’s where you build the trust.”

And that seamlessly leads onto the court where they can hold each other accountable, she said. It was the same on the Storm, where she spent the first nine seasons of her career. They’d have cookouts at Breanna Stewart’s house or Sue Bird’s place and check out local spots together. It’s the same thing she’s seen in Las Vegas, where she signed as a free agent this past offseason. The collective sense of humor is the same, and the best she said she’s experienced.

“That’s the special part that people don’t get to see a lot of and they don’t understand that plays a big part into what you’re able to do on the court, especially with this short of a season,” Clark said. “You don’t build chemistry in two days with people that you’ve never even been around. You have to spend that time together to make sure.”

For Wilson, building that cohesion is about celebrating each other’s accomplishments and helping wherever they can in each other’s charity foundations or personal lives.

“We really hold each other down through the tears, the smiles, sunshine, thunderstorms,” Wilson said. “It does not matter. We’re going to be there for one another and I have never been part of a locker room [like it]. I thought last year was like, hey, we’re tight. This year it’s been completely different and I love that and it shows on the court.”

A team doesn’t have to be close or “like-minded” to succeed, but it certainly helps one keep succeeding. Las Vegas improved its offensive rating again this year, its fourth in first place. Their 113.77 offensive rating ranks second behind the 2019 Mystics in league history. And their average winning margin of 15 points in playoffs came close to the previous record of 15.4 points set by the 2013 Lynx. That they did it against the league’s second-best offense in the Liberty shouldn’t be overlooked.

Keeping a core together

Once that cohesion and chemistry develops, it’s about keeping the core together. It is what has doomed past teams approaching dynasty status.

“I thought that we could have held onto that top spot for a lot longer,” Leslie said of her 2000-era Sparks in 2017, “but with the player movement, the talent level and the growth of the league and the expansion [in 2000], it is difficult to keep things together, but that is the nature of this business.”

The Comets won all four of their titles with the trio of Swoopes (26 years old to start the 1997 season), Cooper-Dyke (34) and Thompson (22). The only season in which one didn’t play a leading role was the inaugural season when Swoopes missed the start of the league after giving birth to her son. She played in nine regular-season games and came off the bench for the two playoff games under the old single-game postseason format. Janeth Arcain, the fourth Hall of Famer on the team, was there from 1997-02 in either a starting or bench role.

Cooper-Dyke retired ahead of the 2001 season (she played a final WNBA season in 2003) and Swoopes tore her left ACL in April 2001. Without two of their big three, the Comets lost in the WNBA Finals in what ultimately put an end to the dynasty.

The Shock kept four of their starters, all of whom were in the start of their professional careers, together for the first two of their championships. Swin Cash (23 years old in first title season), Cheryl Ford (22), Deanna Nolan (23) and Ruth Riley (23) all won together in 2003 and 2006. Riley was traded to the San Antonio Silver Stars ahead of 2007, when the trio and Katie Smith made the Finals. It was Ford, Nolan and Smith who won the 2008 title after Cash was traded to the Seattle Storm.

The Lynx kept their championship core together the longest. Moore (22 years old), Brunson (29), Augustus (27) and Whalen (29) played together from 2011, when Moore was the franchise’s No. 1 draft pick, through the 2018 season. Whalen retired and Moore stepped away for social justice pursuits, eventually announcing her official retirement this last offseason. Fowles completed their group when she joined via trade in the 2015 season, winning two of the four titles.

The Aces are set up to do the same in an arguably more difficult environment under the new collective bargaining agreement where salary stratification encourages player movement. The Aces drafted Kelsey Plum, Wilson and Jackie Young with three consecutive No. 1 picks beginning in 2017. Those three have played next to each other and grown with each other since 2019. The franchise reached its first Finals in 2020 when Plum was out with an Achilles injury. Ahead of 2021, they added Chelsea Gray as their point guard.

The core four continue to sign contract extensions with the Aces, even taking less money than they could have as top free agents elsewhere. Plum (29 years old at start of 2024 season), Gray (31) and Young (26) are signed through the 2024 season. Wilson (27) is signed through 2025, a year many players aren’t signing beyond because of the opt-out clause in the CBA and expiration of the media rights deal.

The Aces attempted to become more lethal, à la the Lynx, when they signed champions Candace Parker and Clark in the offseason. They were also supposed to have key reserve Riquna Williams, who spurred the Aces in their 2022 Game 4 clincher. Williams missed the season with a back injury, then a domestic violence arrest. Parker played 18 games before undergoing foot surgery.

“I don’t know how good this team could have been with those guys in the mix,” Hammon said ahead of Game 3. “That being said, these guys, to me, it even makes what they did even better, because it didn’t matter. They just kept getting better and better and better, individually and collectively. And that’s a tribute to them and who they are as competitors, their desire to win, and also their desire to be committed to each other’s success.”

Parker signed only a one-year deal and has mulled retirement in recent offseasons. Clark is signed through 2024. Stokes is an unrestricted free agent. More splashy free agents could be coming when the period opens. The team has $512,585 in salary cap room and a minimum of five roster spots to fill. Second-year guard Kierstan Bell is the only other player signed in 2024, but is on an unprotected contract.

The player maximum is around $208,000 and the pool of unrestricted free agents is enticing. It includes Gray’s former Sparks teammate Nneka Ogwumike; Liberty forwards Stewart, Jonquel Jones and Stefanie Dolson; Mercury center Brittney Griner; and the Mystics F/G Elena Delle Donne.

Staying healthy

Health will always be the great unknown for a championship contender. Clark and the Storm had the chemistry and the core signed after their 2018 championship. But a repeat title hope fell apart when Stewart tore her Achilles a month before the 2019 season and Bird remained out after knee surgery. They came back to win it in 2020.

Though Parker and Williams both missed all or most of the season with injuries, the Aces were fortunate their core four weren’t impacted by any serious issues until the final game of the season. They collectively missed only one game in the regular season when Plum was out against the Dallas Wings in July due to illness. Compare that to a team like the Connecticut Sun, a contender that lost its starting center, or the Washington Mystics, who were without three starters much of the summer. Or even to the Liberty, who started the season with a few players banged up.

It’s a stat largely attributable to the team’s strength and conditioning coaches and the franchise’s elite training facilities. It also helps them continuously improve their games.

Las Vegas team owner Mark Davis invested $40 million for an Aces-specific training facility, the first of its kind in the WNBA. Players can go at any time to get in work, and Hammon said she’ll often receive late-night texts from security to tell her Plum is in the gym. If Hammon locks her out, she said, Plum will find another gym, so she doesn’t shut the access card off. The facility also has hot and cold pools, a sauna, a nutrition bar and a hyperbaric chamber, all of which aid in recovery to stay at peak health.

“Any time you have the ability to recover and train, you’re going to be a better athlete and better athletes produce higher levels of results,” Plum said. “I think there’s no coincidence that the owners and the clubs that have invested the most in resources are some of the top-performing teams. I know we can’t do correlation and causation, but for me, personally, I feel a lot of benefit in that.”

The facility is the perfect bow on why the Aces can become, or even eclipse, the Comets. It puts them ahead in a way the Comets also had an advantage because of the inaugural draft and player allocations. The players who have built chemistry together want to stay in town because of those facilities, which are slowly popping up in other clubs. It draws in key free agents, such as Parker this past offseason. And overall it keeps players in good health and at the top of their games.

Coincidentally, the largest hurdle to their dynasty might just end up being the team that gave Houston the most trouble. The Comets faced the Liberty in three of their four championship seasons. If New York keeps its super-team together, there’s no doubt it will be stronger this time next year for all the same reasons the Aces are en route to a dynasty.