There will be no three-peat for the Las Vegas Aces. The back-to-back champions were eliminated from the 2024 WNBA playoffs on Sunday with a 76-62 loss to the New York Liberty in Game 4 of their semifinal series. The Aces' defeat ensures that the Houston Comets, who won the first four titles from 1997-2000, remain the only team to ever pull off a three-peat.
After a huge effort in Game 3 to keep their season alive, the Aces didn't have the juice in Game 4. They shot 7 of 30 from behind the arc and 32.8% overall, and were really only in the game in the first three quarters because of the Liberty's mistakes. When the Liberty tightened things up in the fourth quarter, the Aces couldn't match them.
The Aces' issues started before the season even began. Candace Parker re-signed during free agency, but then announced her retirement at the beginning of training camp, leaving the Aces with no way to truly replace the future Hall of Famer. Furthermore, Chelsea Gray was not cleared from the foot injury she suffered in Game 3 of the Finals last season.
Without Parker and Gray, the Aces got off to a 6-6 start, losing as many games in the first month as they did in all of 2023. Once Gray returned and they convinced Tiffany Hayes to come out of retirement, they showed some glimpses of their usual dominance. There was a 10-1 stretch prior to the Olympic break and a 9-1 run to end the regular season.
Their improvements were enough to get them to the semifinals, but not to beat the Liberty, who were the best team in the league all season long.
"Quite frankly, we haven't had the edge," Aces coach Becky Hammon said after the team's Game 2 defeat. "All year. Now we found it, the last month I feel we've gained a lot of ground, but the feel was different from the jump. And this is why three-peating is hard. Let's be real. The whole league has been pissed off for the last eight months and my players are in commercials and this and that and being fricking celebrities and you get distracted. That's why it's hard. Because human nature is distracting."
The Aces will now face an important winter as they look to regroup for the 2025 season. Kelsey Plum, Alysha Clark and Tiffany Hayes are all unrestricted free agents, and they will need to figure out a way to improve their depth with what figures to be limited cap space.
Building through the draft will likely not be part of that process. The Aces had their 2025 first-round pick rescinded by the league after an investigation found that they violated rules regarding workplace policies and impermissible player benefits. They will have their own second-round pick and a second-round pick via the Washington Mystics, but won't make their first selection until No. 16 overall. Historically, it has been rare to find productive players at that point in the draft.