NEW YORK — The Las Vegas Aces’ starting five was unrecognizable Sunday afternoon in Brooklyn.
Instead of A’ja Wilson, Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young occupying the center circle for tip-off, they sat at the end of the bench as Jewell Loyd, Dana Evans and Brianna Turner replaced them on the court. On the face of it, it was a potentially strange decision given the stage – ABC’s nationally televised match against the rival New York Liberty – and the importance of each game in terms of a playoff berth.
Aces coach Becky Hammon didn’t care about those factors. Her team arrived in town at the end of a five-game road trip and less than 24 hours after losing to the top-ranked Minnesota Lynx. As a result, the Aces looked like a shell of themselves in Sunday’s 111-71 loss to Liberty.
Workload management is becoming an increasingly important topic as the WNBA adds games to its schedule, and Hammon isn’t shying away from it.
“Player health and safety comes first,” Hammon said. “Wherever we end up, we end up, and we’ll play whatever hand we’re dealt. For me, this was just a bigger picture type (of) scenario, so you take the ‘L,’ realizing it pays dividends on the back end.”
The last time Wilson, Gray and Young missed the same game was the 2024 regular season finale against the Dallas Wings, which the Aces easily defeated 98-84.
League new collective agreementwhich was ratified after the WNBA announced its 2026 regular season schedule, states that the league will “use reasonable and good faith efforts” to provide at least 20 hours between the scheduled start of a team’s first game of a back-to-back and the scheduled start of the second game. However, the WNBA follows a guideline, like the NBA, that gives teams a minimum of 22 hours between back-to-back games, and travel cannot be limited to more than one time zone.
The Aces vs. Lynx game begins Saturday at 1:30 PM ET and Sunday’s game in Brooklyn begins at 12:30 PM. The Lynx also played the second half of back-to-back Sundays, but Minnesota’s home game against the Wings started at 3:30 p.m.
“We’re not going to put (players) in any danger of getting hurt when we’ve expended a lot of energy and traveled a lot of miles back and forth, crossing the country,” Hammon said of the decision to rest three starters. “It is what it is. I know these are big matches, and that’s what people want to see, but you have to make sure it’s fair.”
The league’s schedule has been steadily expanding in recent years, from 32 games in 2021 to 36 in 2022 and then to 40 in 2023 and 2024. This season, like last, includes 44 games in the regular season. In 2027, the schedule will increase again to 50 games.
“Obviously, we want to be able to play as many games as possible, win as many games as possible,” Liberty forward Jonquel Jones said. “But also with the speeding up of the schedule, I don’t know, maybe we need a little more time. We’ve been in a similar position before, where we’ve had a lot of games in a very short period of time. It’s really hard to judge that. You want to play in front of the fans, you want the ticket-paying people to be able to see you play, but also make sure you’re not smart with your body and you’re not resting.” you can get hurt.”
Jones said the Liberty players were “a little disappointed” that the Aces’ three leading scorers were not available on Sunday, as they had been looking forward to the match and saw it as a test of New York’s position in the league as the regular season winds down.
“Obviously they have to do what’s right for their team,” Jones said. “They have to do what’s right for their bodies. But as competitors, we really wanted to challenge them.”
The Liberty took an immediate lead after Sabrina Ionescu’s 3-pointer on Sunday and never trailed.
With 3:48 left in the third quarter, New York had a 16-point lead and was in control, so Liberty coach Chris DeMarco pulled all of his starters except Breanna Stewart. A few minutes later, when the lead grew to 21, Stewart also sat on the bench. From there, the Liberty reserves finished the game.
Marine Johannes took off, leading the Liberty with a game-high 27 points off the bench while shooting 7-of-13 on 3-pointers. Jones added 15 points and eight rebounds, and Stewart finished with 14 points. Ionescu had five points on 2-of-10 shooting.
The entire ace starting five combined for just 19 points. Their bench carried the load, led by Ta’Niya Latson with 20 points, four rebounds and two assists.
“This was a great opportunity for the bench to get some minutes and get some burn,” Latson said. “It will give us a lot of experience, and hopefully when our name is called, we will be ready.”
After Sunday’s loss, the Aces (22-11) are third in the standings, four games behind the league-leading Lynx (26-7). If the season ends on Sunday, they would face Liberty in the first round, who jumped to sixth with the win.
