The Las Vegas Aces were arguably the most disappointing team in the WNBA during the 2024 season. After winning two straight championships, the team barely locked up a top-4 seed in the postseason and hardly put up a fight in a semifinal loss against the New York Liberty.
This offseason, the team decided to shake things up by shipping off perennial All-Star guard Kelsey Plum to the Los Angeles Sparks in a three-team deal. In return, the team received Seattle Storm guard Jewell Loyd, a two-time WNBA champion and multi-time All-Star and All-WNBA talent.
However, Loyd started the season by going through a bit of a shooting slump, and Plum made things even worse by hitting her stride right away for the Sparks. She scored 37 points in her first contest and averaged just shy of 27 points through the first two weeks of the season.
Fortunately for the Aces, Loyd is beginning to turn things around, and the team is benefitting as a result.
Jewell Loyd's recent performances have revived Aces title chances
After beginning the season with five single-digit scoring performances in the first eight games, Loyd has contributed eight straight games of 10 points or more. Las Vegas also started the year 5-7 as a team, but as Loyd has proven her consistency in recent games, the team has settled in and now sits at 8-8 after a big road win over the Mercury on Sunday. This places them at seventh in the league, which is solidly in the playoff picture.
An adjustment period was expected for Loyd, as she spent the first 10 seasons of her career in Seattle. While she has certainly played with some star players before, trying to blend in with a dominant post player like A'ja Wilson was a bit of uncharted territory.
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The Aces had kept their championship core together for so many years as well, so adding a new and prominent player into the mix was sure to throw things off a bit. Head coach Becky Hammon has seemingly found a way to make Loyd more effective in this offense already.
With stars like Wilson, Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young already in the fold, there is no need for Loyd to be a main catalyst at this point in her career. However, she can be a pivotal part of a championship-level team, and her resurgence spurring an Aces turnaround is a clear example of that.