LAS VEGAS – The 2025 WNBA Finals almost didn’t include the No. 2 seed Las Vegas Aces.
In August, Las Vegas was ninth in the league standings with seemingly no way to climb out of its slump. A 53-point loss to the Minnesota Lynx on their home floor poured salt in every possible wound the Aces had and openly revealed their flaws. The Aces later admitted they held conversations behind closed doors that were raw, authentic and honest about how they weren’t meeting their own expectations.
Those vulnerable moments spurred them to a 16-game win streak to end the regular season. Their determination also helped them through two grueling playoff series, which took every possible game to get to the WNBA Finals. According to Las Vegas guard Jewell Loyd, there’s only one word to describe the team.
‘Resilient,’ Loyd said. ‘We’ve been through a lot of s—. A lot of s—. And we’ve found ways to just keep pushing. We never turned our heads. We just kept our heads down and just kept with the work.’
When USA TODAY asked the same question ― one word to describe the Aces this season ― to Loyd’s teammates A’ja Wilson and Chelsea Gray, they couldn’t come up with a word as easily. For the better part of close to two minutes, Wilson and Gray were baffled at the thought of such a question. ‘One word is crazy,’ Gray said jokingly.
As she sorted through her thoughts, Wilson was still mystified. She covered her mouth and looked up at the ceiling, seemingly for inspiration. Then, she started chuckling and rocking back and forth, still stumped. ‘I really cannot put it into words’, she eventually mustered. Eventually, Gray quipped she couldn’t do just one word. She needed three.
‘Trust the process.’
‘You just don’t know what you don’t know,’ Gray explained. ‘Us going through that prepared us for something bigger. It was getting scary. … We went through some hard times, some uncomfortable conversations. We had some uncomfortable film sessions, some plane rides, some practices, but it’s all part of a process that you’re not really sure where it’s gonna lead.’
While Gray was finishing her answer, Wilson was still flustered as she looked down at her phone, which she had discreetly pulled out. She eventually leaned over to reveal the word to her teammate she had been actively scouring Google for.
‘I got a word, but I don’t know how to say it,’ Wilson said in a hysterically honest tone, as she scurried out the door to her next destination. However, she turned back momentarily just before leaving to reveal her word of choice: circuitous. Circuitous means not straight or direct ― roundabout. Despite not having the answer in the moment, Wilson was spot on in her assessment. This trip back to the WNBA Finals for a possible third Aces ring in four seasons has had so many twists and turns it’s hard to keep up with.
Yet, it revealed, as Gray mentioned, you have to trust the process, however nonsensical it may be at the time. It also confirms another notion: Don’t count out the Aces.