Built to Last: Wilson, Gray and Young Remain Heart of Aces’ Dynasty

By W.G. RAMIREZ

LAS VEGAS -- The names surrounding them have changed. The expectations have not.

Across four seasons, the Las Vegas Aces have watched championship contributors depart, veterans arrive and roles evolve. Dearica Hamby and Kelsey Plum were central pieces of the first championship team. Candace Parker and Alysha Clark arrived for the second. Jewell Loyd, Dana Evans and NaLyssa Smith helped reshape the supporting cast for the third.

Through every transformation, however, three constants have remained: A’ja Wilson, Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young.

Las Vegas won WNBA championships in 2022, 2023 and 2025, becoming the league's defining franchise of the period. While the supporting cast has evolved significantly, Wilson, Gray and Young have been part of all three championships.

As the Aces enter Tuesday's Game 2 in Indianapolis, one win from advancing in the WNBA Playoffs, their championship foundation looks remarkably familiar.

The Standard Remains

Becky Hammon believes their longevity together goes deeper than talent.

“Yeah, well, I think the trio of them understands their leadership role,” Hammon said. “They understand the pressure. They understand the standard. They understand the expectation. They understand and like the pressure, which might be the most important part in all that.”

The work has produced one of the most successful four-year stretches in WNBA history.

Wilson provides the force in the middle, a scorer capable of controlling games from virtually anywhere while simultaneously anchoring the defense. Gray supplies the orchestration, manipulating defenses with pace, angles and an ability to see opportunities before they fully develop. Young provides the bridge between them — a powerful two-way guard who can score, facilitate, defend multiple positions and adapt her role depending on what Las Vegas needs.

Their games don't merely coexist. They complement one another.

Three Different Weapons

Wilson has become the centerpiece around which everything operates. During the Aces' three-title run from 2022 through 2025, she averaged 23.4 points, 10.5 rebounds and 2.4 blocks across 37 playoff games while shooting 52.1 percent.

Young averaged 16.3 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.3 assists over that postseason span. Gray averaged 15.0 points and 6.9 assists while shooting 48.5 percent overall and 42.9 percent from 3-point range in her 36 playoff appearances.

The numbers illustrate the balance.

Wilson can overwhelm an opponent without Las Vegas needing to manufacture everything for her. Gray can organize the half-court offense when postseason possessions get harder. Young can punish the defensive compromises created by both.

And all three understand when the game requires something different.

“I think there's a commitment there to want to play and be great,” Gray said. “We try to pull the best out of each other, and that's something that takes time. It takes trust. When we're getting on each other, we know it comes from a good place, and that just doesn't happen overnight.”

That trust has become increasingly important because Las Vegas hasn't simply rolled back the same roster every season.

The Pieces Change, The Foundation Doesn’t

The 2022 championship team leaned heavily on Plum and Hamby alongside the trio. Parker and Clark joined the equation in 2023. By 2025, Plum, Clark, and Sydney Colson were gone, while Loyd, Evans, and Smith became key pieces of another championship team.

The result never changed.

Las Vegas won again.

And perhaps that is where Hammon's description of her three leaders becomes most important.

“Those three know their number one job is to make everybody else better around them,” Hammon said. “While doing that, they become the best version of themselves. So we've been preaching that for five years. I think they fully grasp and understand that. Now it's just about going out and doing the work.”

That ability to elevate changing personnel helps explain how Las Vegas has sustained success without maintaining the same supporting cast.

The 2025 title further cemented Wilson's place in league history. She became the first WNBA player to win Defensive Player of the Year, league MVP and Finals MVP in the same season while capturing her third championship in four years.

Yet Sunday's playoff opener against Indiana offered one of the clearest modern snapshots of why Las Vegas remains so dangerous.

Wilson erupted for 38 points, 16 rebounds, four blocks and two steals in the Aces' 102-85 victory. Young contributed 21 points and 10 assists. Gray added 14 points and eight assists.

Together, they totaled 73 points and 20 assists.

Las Vegas shot 59 percent from the field, scored 28 points off turnovers and moved within one victory of advancing.

One More Test In Indianapolis

Now comes a different challenge.

Game 2 shifts to Gainbridge Fieldhouse, where Indiana faces elimination and Las Vegas gets its first chance to close out the best-of-three series.

The Fever will adjust. The environment will change. The urgency will increase.

For Las Vegas, that is precisely where its advantage in continuity may matter most.

There is little Wilson, Gray and Young haven't experienced together by now - championships, elimination games, roster turnover, injuries, expectations and the pressure that inevitably follows sustained success.

And Gray understands there is something else at stake while this particular championship window remains open.

“There's a commitment there to want to continue our legacy in this uniform and doing it together, and doing something special,” Gray said, “especially while everybody is hooping, while everybody's healthy, and have an opportunity to play basketball in this uniform and in this city.”

Three championships have required different supporting casts and different solutions.

The foundation has remained the same.

Wilson. Gray. Young.

And as Hammon pointed out, perhaps the defining characteristic of all three isn't simply that they can handle the pressure.

It's that they like it.