LAS VEGAS — Chelsea Gray stood with the rest of the Las Vegas Aces on Saturday night as the team raised its championship rings at T-Mobile Arena and opened the 2026 season, a celebration built on last year’s third WNBA title and a reminder of how quickly this franchise keeps turning the page.
The Aces earned those rings after finishing off a Finals sweep of the Phoenix Mercury on Oct. 10, completing a run that looked unlikely when they were 14-14 on Aug. 2. They now have won three championships since 2022, still trailing the Minnesota Lynx, Seattle Storm and Houston Comets, who each own four, and the target in front of them is clear: become the most successful franchise in league history.
A'ja Wilson said she had long since moved past the ceremony itself, even if the moment mattered. “It was all very nice,” the four-time MVP said, adding that “making history is motivation.” At age 29, Wilson remains the face of a team that has built its identity around sustained success, and she said the next step is less about celebration than repetition. “We know how we can be great, and we know it’s going to take all of us,” she said.
That has become the challenge in Las Vegas. The Aces opened the season with a 99-66 loss to the Phoenix Mercury and have won two games since then, a start that has not erased the bigger picture but has shown how much work remains. Coach Becky Hammon said the team is “still obviously very much in teaching mode, getting our system in place,” and noted that chemistry has to grow through daily work, not speeches. “Luckily, I’ve got a really good group of vets that help teach. Those little interactions with each other start to build trust and chemistry,” she said. “But chemistry is not anything you can force on a group. When it comes, we have some pieces that have played together for a while. And now it’s just integrating other pieces.”
Gray remains part of the core trio with Wilson and Jackie Young, the veteran spine that has carried the Aces through the league’s current power structure. The roster around them has changed. Jewell Loyd, Dana Evans, Kierstan Bell, NaLyssa Smith and Cheyenne Parker-Tyus returned from the 2025 championship team, while Chennedy Carter, Stephanie Talbot, Brianna Turner and rookie Janiah Barker joined as newcomers for 2026. The mix gives Hammon both continuity and another round of adjustment as the season settles in.
Carter, who was selected with the No. 4 pick in the 2020 WNBA draft, said the move matched a long-held belief about where she would end up. “I always thought I would be an Ace one day,” she said. “But I thought it would be more like a couple of years from now.” She added that the appeal was as much about the people as the opportunity. “I wanted to play with A'ja Wilson and play for Becky Hammon. I wanted to be part of a dynasty and around the best players in the world.”
The Aces have not hidden the size of the task ahead. They have won every championship in franchise history since 2022, and their next chance to widen that lead comes quickly, with games Friday in Connecticut and Sunday in Atlanta. For now, the rings are on, the season is underway, and Las Vegas is already back to trying to turn a good team into the one everyone else is chasing.
