WNBA Finals Foes Aces, Liberty Push League Forward on and off Court
On Thursday, Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob declared that the new WNBA expansion franchise in the Bay Area will win a championship within its first five years.
When the team begins play in 2025, it will have existing superteams to compete with. The 2023 WNBA Finals, which begins Sunday and pits the Las Vegas Aces against the New York Liberty, may be the most star-studded series in the history of the league.
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The defending champion Aces added two-time WNBA MVP Candace Parker via free-agency last offseason to supplement three returning All-Stars from the prior season: A’ja Wilson (a two-time MVP herself), Jackie Young and Kelsey Plum. Meanwhile, the Liberty traded for 2021 MVP Jonquel Jones, then signed 2018 MVP Breanna Stewart and Courtney Vandersloot.
“Both rosters have very high-level future Hall-of-Famers, Olympic gold medal winners,” Aces president Nikki Fargas said. “It’s going to be one of those matchups that we’ll see for a long, long time hopefully.
The result of all those transactions has been two dominant squads. The Aces finished 34-6 during the regular season, just ahead of the Liberty’s 32-8 record. Combined, the teams have gone 11-1 during the playoffs entering the Finals, reminiscent of the recent superteam era in the NBA during which the Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers met in the 2017 Finals after dropping just one postseason game between them.
“I remember when you had the Chicago Bulls versus the Lakers or Celtics and Detroit, and they just became these marquee matchups. I think that’s what’s happening now,” Fargas said. “From the collegiate level, it used to be Tennessee versus Connecticut. Now you got the Aces versus the Liberty.”
It is an ideal matchup for the WNBA. From an on-court product perspective, the Aces and Liberty scored 114.8 and 111.8 points per 100 possessions, respectively, during the regular season—those numbers rank second and fourth among all teams in WNBA history. In terms of star power, the series features three of the four active WNBA players with the most Instagram followers: Wilson, Plum and Sabrina Ionsecu. Parker, the fourth, has been sidelined due to an injury since July.
Fans have already demonstrated their excitement for the matchup. The two games this season in which the Liberty hosted the Aces at Barclays Center drew crowds of at least 11,400; no other Liberty home game this year attracted more than 9,400 fans. Overall sales on StubHub for the 2023 WNBA Finals have eclipsed every other Finals ever, currently exceeding last year’s series by 30%. Game 3 in Brooklyn (the first two games of the best-of-five series are in Vegas) is outselling any individual game, playoff or regular season, in WNBA history.
“It’s been amazing to see the Liberty fanbase rally this year to support our team—and we’re thrilled to bring a record-breaking WNBA finals crowd to the Barclays Center next week,” said Liberty CEO Keia Clarke. “We’re seeing our success on the court mirrored across the organization, and we’re going to keep that momentum going into the Finals.”
The Aces and Liberty have set a standard of excellence on the court for the WNBA that has piqued fans’ interest, but they have also both been under scrutiny by the league off the court for threatening its competitive balance.
With the league’s salary cap set at $1.42 million, extravagant owners must find other ways to spend to try to get a leg up, and the Liberty and Aces have both done just that. Liberty owner Joe Tsai was fined a record $500,000 for chartering flights for his team in 2021. The WNBA has prohibited charter flights without league approval, maintaining that the costs are not affordable, while Tsai has advocated for an airline partner to help fund charter travel for teams.
This season, the WNBA allowed the use of public chartering service JSX, which has preset routes and times that the league told teams they cannot change. ESPN reported that the Aces had attempted to work with JSX to create special publicly available flights based on their road game schedule, which was not allowed. The Aces were not fined.
Las Vegas, which shares owner Mark Davis with the hometown NFL franchise, was also under investigation for salary cap circumvention last winter. The team was accused of arranging for side payments to players from outside companies to bolster the limited salaries the Aces were able to offer.
In order to create a superteam within the rules, a franchise must improve the experience for its players enough to make it worthwhile for them to sign at a discount. For instance, the Aces opened the first training facility solely for use by a WNBA team in the league’s 27-year history. Additionally, Davis gave Becky Hammon, who starred for the franchise when it was located in San Antonio, the WNBA’s first seven-figure coaching salary last year.
The Liberty and Aces pushing the envelope has effected change across the league. The Phoenix Mercury, which owner Mat Ishbia bought along with the Phoenix Suns less than a year ago, announced plans Thursday for a new $100 million-plus project that will serve as a practice facility for the club. The Seattle Storm are also building a new facility, and the Chicago Sky and Atlanta Dream are scouting potential locations in their markets.
“Now you see Seattle just broke ground, there are other franchises talking about building facilities that are devoted to women, and that’s really Davis’ vision,” Fargas said. “His commitment and his love for the game and growing the game, his legacy has really changed what this league is about and what we will become.”
Furthermore, teams have been allowed to take charter flights for all playoff games for the first time in 2023, which WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced back in April.
“WNBA athletes are competing at the highest level of their sport,” Clarke said, “and we’re glad to see fans, owners, the league, and their peers in other leagues recognizing their excellence and supporting them on and off the court.”
Investment in women’s sports across the U.S. is growing. In the NWSL, expansion fees have exploded from $2 million to $53 million in just a few years. The Warriors’ ownership group will pay a $50 million fee for their new WNBA team, and Lacob will add to the collection of WNBA owners who are keen on winning and eager to spend big to build successful organizations.
For now, the Aces and Liberty have already started the arms race, and it should lead to a thrilling series on the court.
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