2018 Las Vegas Aces season
WNBA team season
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The 2018 Las Vegas Aces season was the franchise's 22nd season in the Women's National Basketball Association. This was the franchise's inaugural season in Las Vegas - after relocating from San Antonio and Utah.[2] The season tipped off on May 20, 2018 and was also the first season under head coach Bill Laimbeer.[3]
| 2018 Las Vegas Aces season | |
|---|---|
| Head coach | Bill Laimbeer |
| Arena | Mandalay Bay Events Center |
| Results | |
| Record | 14–20 (.412) |
| Place | 6th (Western) |
| Playoff finish | Did not qualify |
| Media | |
| Television | AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain,[1] ESPN2, NBATV |
The team started the season slowly in May, posting an 0–4 record. June was a month of improvement, as the Aces went 6–7, including a win over Seattle away. July was the team's best month of the year. The Aces posted a 6–2 record, with their only 2 losses being to Los Angeles. The team's playoff push fell short in August, when the team posted a 2–7 record including the league's first forfeited game. Ultimately the forfeit proved costly, as the team missed out on the playoffs by 1 game and finished 9th in the league overall.
Transactions
WNBA draft
| Round | Pick | Player | Nationality | School/Team/Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | A'ja Wilson |  United States |
South Carolina |
| 2 | 13 | Jaime Nared | United States |
Tennessee |
| 3 | 25 | Raigyne Louis | United States |
LSU |
| 3 | 32 | Jill Barta | United States |
Gonzaga |
Trades/Roster Changes
| Date | Details | |
|---|---|---|
| February 1, 2018 | Signed F Tamera Young[4] | |
| February 1, 2018 | Signed C Carolyn Swords[5] | |
| February 1, 2018 | Received Indiana Fever's 2nd round pick in 2019 WNBA draft in exchange for C Kayla Alexander and Las Vegas Aces' 3rd round pick in the 2019 WNBA Draft.[6] | |
| February 2, 2018 | Received C Kelsey Bone from Phoenix Mercury in exchange for the 26th pick in the 2018 WNBA Draft and Las Vegas Aces' 2nd round pick in the 2019 WNBA Draft.[7] | |
| February 26, 2018 | Re-signed G/F Sequoia Holmes, F Cierra Burdick, Signed F Ivey Slaughter[8] | |
| March 13, 2018 | Re-signed G Sydney Colson[9] | |
| March 20, 2018 | Re-signed F Valériane Ayayi[10] | |
| April 11, 2018 | Signed G Jacki Gemelos[11] | |
| May 19, 2018 | Signed G Lindsay Allen[12] | |
| May 23, 2018 | Signed G Kelsey Plum and G Kayla McBride[13] | |
Roster
| 2018 Las Vegas Aces roster | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Game log
Pre-season
| 2018 pre-season game log | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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May: 1–1 (Home: 1–0; Road: 0–1)
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| 2018 pre-season schedule | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Regular season
| 2018 game log Total: 14–20 (Home: 8–9; Road: 6–11) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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May: 0–4 (Home: 0–1; Road: 0–3)
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June
: 6–7 (Home: 3–4; Road: 3–3) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
July
: 6–2 (Home: 3–1; Road: 3–1)
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August
: 2–7 (Home: 2–3; Road: 0–4)
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| 2018 season schedule | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Standings
| # | Western Conference | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | Conf. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seattle Storm (1) | 26 | 8 | .765 | – | 13–4 | 13–4 | 11–5 |
| 2 | Phoenix Mercury (5) | 20 | 14 | .588 | 6 | 9–8 | 11–6 | 8–8 |
| 3 | Los Angeles Sparks (6) | 19 | 15 | .559 | 7 | 11–6 | 8–9 | 9–7 |
| 4 | Minnesota Lynx (7) | 18 | 16 | .529 | 8 | 9–8 | 9–8 | 9–7 |
| 5 | Dallas Wings (8) | 15 | 19 | .441 | 11 | 10–7 | 5–12 | 7–9 |
| 6 | e –Las Vegas Aces | 14 | 20 | .412 | 12 | 8–9 | 6–11 | 4–12 |
Notes
- (#) – Conference Standing, Playoff Seeds shown to the right of team name
- x – Qualified for playoffs
- e – Eliminated from playoffs
Statistics
| Legend | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game | RPG | Rebounds per game |
| APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game | BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game |
| FG% | Field-goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field-goal percentage | FT% | Free-throw percentage | TO | Turnovers per game |
| PF | Fouls per game | Team leader | League leader | ||||
Regular season
| Player | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A'ja Wilson | 33 | 33 | 30.6 | 46.2 | 0.0 | 77.4 | 8.0 | 2.2 | 0.8 | 1.7 | 20.7 |
| Kayla McBride | 31 | 31 | 32.3 | 44.9 | 39.3 | 91.7 | 3.9 | 3.5 | 1.1 | 0.1 | 18.2 |
| Tamera Young | 33 | 25 | 26.7 | 40.8 | 30.8 | 70.7 | 5.1 | 2.8 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 9.9 |
| Kelsey Plum | 31 | 27 | 25.5 | 46.7 | 43.9 | 87.5 | 2.4 | 4.0 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 9.5 |
| Dearica Hamby | 33 | 0 | 14.4 | 52.6 | 28.9 | 74.2 | 3.6 | 1.2 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 7.4 |
| Moriah Jefferson | 16 | 0 | 15.7 | 37.9 | 20.0 | 81.0 | 1.3 | 2.1 | 0.6 | 0.0 | 5.4 |
| Nia Coffey | 28 | 10 | 13.8 | 38.0 | 40.0 | 61.8 | 2.4 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 5.3 |
| Carolyn Swords | 26 | 12 | 14.5 | 55.7 | 0.0 | 87.5 | 4.7 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 3.9 |
| Lindsay Allen | 24 | 6 | 14.9 | 38.4 | 6.3 | 70.8 | 1.3 | 2.9 | 0.6 | 0.0 | 3.1 |
| Kelsey Bone | 32 | 10 | 10.8 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 50.0 | 2.2 | 1.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 2.8 |
| Ji-Su Park | 32 | 11 | 13.0 | 38.8 | 0.0 | 61.9 | 3.3 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 2.8 |
| Jaime Nared | 31 | 0 | 9.1 | 30.0 | 22.6 | 85.7 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 2.5 |
Awards and honors
| Recipient | Award | Date awarded | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| A'ja Wilson | WNBA Rookie of the Month - June | July 2, 2018 | [15] |
| WNBA Western Conference Player of the Week | July 9, 2018 | [16] | |
| Kayla McBride | WNBA All-Star Selection | July 17, 2018 | [17] |
| A'ja Wilson | |||
| A'ja Wilson | WNBA Rookie of the Month - July | August 1, 2018 | [18] |
| WNBA Rookie of the Month - August | August 20, 2018 | [19] | |
| WNBA Rookie of the Year Award | September 9, 2018 | [20] |