The Las Vegas Aces made history Sunday after winning the franchise’s first WNBA championship. It’s the perfect way to cap off a monumental season for the Aces, who already captured the Commissioner’s Cup earlier this year and finished the regular season with a league-best 26-10 record.
Coach Becky Hammon was dominant as a rookie head coach, earning her the 2022 Coach of the Year award as a result of her banner year.
Chelsea Gray won Finals MVP after averaging 18.3 points and 6.0 assists per game on 45 percent shooting from beyond the arc. The Duke alum dropped a game-high 20 points, five rebounds and six assists on 9-13 shooting from the field in Game 4 on Sunday to beat the Connecticut Sun.
With the series-clinching victory, Las Vegas became the first team since the Washington Mystics in 2019 to have two different players win the regular season and Finals MVP awards in the same season.
Gray joined fellow teammate A’ja Wilson in doing so. Wilson earned home league MVP honors after averaging 19.5 points, 9.4 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game on 50.1 percent shooting from the field and 37.3 percent from beyond the arc.
As for Kelsey Plum, she brought home some of her own silverware after a stellar performance in the WNBA All-Star Game, where she dropped an All-Star Game record 30 points to earn All-Star Game MVP honors.
The trio joined Sheryl Swoopes, Cynthia Cooper and Tina Thompson on the 2000 Houston Comets team to win the title. It won three awards in the same season. Swoopes win league MVPcooper Finals MVP AwardAnd Thompson took him home All-Star Game MVP.
If you have a player capable of earning MVP honors, this is bound to be a disaster. Gray wasn’t selected as an All-Star or All-WNBA team selection, but her ability to step up in key moments sets her apart from other stars in the league. The ace guard proved this with his second win on the biggest stage.
