2020 Las Vegas Aces season
Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) season franchising
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The 2020 Las Vegas Aces season was the franchise's 24th season in the Women's National Basketball Association and the third year the franchise is based in Las Vegas - after relocating from San Antonio and Utah. This was the third season under head coach Bill Laimbeer. The regular season tipped off on July 26, 2020 versus the Chicago Sky.[1]
Head coachBill Laimbeer
ArenaOriginally: Mandalay Bay Events Center
Rescheduled to: IMG Academy gymnasiums, Bradenton, Florida
Rescheduled to: IMG Academy gymnasiums, Bradenton, Florida
Record18–4 (.818)
Place1st (Western)
| 2020 Las Vegas Aces season | |
|---|---|
| Head coach | Bill Laimbeer |
| Arena | Originally: Mandalay Bay Events Center Rescheduled to: IMG Academy gymnasiums, Bradenton, Florida |
| Results | |
| Record | 18–4 (.818) |
| Place | 1st (Western) |
| Playoff finish | 1st Seed, Lost 0–3 in Finals to Seattle Storm |
This WNBA season would’ve had an all-time high 36 regular-season games.[2] However, the plan for expanded games was put on hold on April 3, when the WNBA postponed its season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[3] Under a plan approved on June 15, the league began a shortened 22-game regular season at IMG Academy, without fans present, which started on July 24.[4][5]
The Aces got off to a rough start to their season, losing two of their first three games. However, from there, the team would go on a seven-game winning streak and four game winning streak, only separated by a single loss. Their 12–3 record on August 29, would secure them a playoff berth. They lost on September 1, and that would be their last loss of the season. The Aces finished on a six-game winning streak, including a final day victory over the Seattle Storm to finish 18–4. The victory on the final day of the season secured them the first seed in the playoffs by virtue of a tie-breaker.
As the first seed, the Aces received a double-bye into the Semifinals of the playoffs. In the Semifinals, they played the seventh seeded Connecticut Sun. The Aces lost two of the first three games, but rebounded to win the final two games of the series to advance to the Finals. In the finals they faced the second seeded Storm. The Storm swept the best-of-five series three games to none, and the Aces finished runners up.
Transactions
WNBA draft
The Aces will make the following selection in the 2020 WNBA draft.
| Round | Pick | Player | Nationality | School/Team/Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 33 | Lauren Manis |  United States |
Holy Cross |
Trades and roster changes
| Date | Details | |
|---|---|---|
| February 10, 2020 | Signed G Angel McCoughtry[6] | |
| February 16, 2020 | Signed G Danielle Robinson[7] | |
| February 18, 2020 | Re-signed G Sugar Rodgers[8] | |
| March 2, 2020 | Re-signed G Lindsay Allen[9] | |
| April 22, 2020 | Re-signed C Liz Cambage.[10] | |
| May 7, 2020 | C Park Ji-su will sit out the season and stay in Korea.[11] | |
| May 15, 2020 | Re-signed G Kelsey Plum.[12] | |
| May 19, 2020 | Re-signed C Carolyn Swords[13] | |
| June 16, 2020 | Signed G Alex Bentley[14] | |
| July 4, 2020 | C Liz Cambage announced that she will be sitting out the 2020 season.[15] | |
| Signed C Avery Warley[16] | ||
Roster
| 2020 Las Vegas Aces roster | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Game log
Regular season
| 2020 game log Total: 18–4 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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July
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August
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September
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| 2020 season schedule | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Playoffs
| 2020 playoff game log Total: 3–5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Semifinals
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Finals
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| 2020 playoff schedule | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Standings
| # | Team | W | L | PCT | GB | Conf. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | x – Las Vegas Aces | 18 | 4 | .818 | – | 8–2 |
| 2 | x – Seattle Storm | 18 | 4 | .818 | – | 8–2 |
| 3 | x – Los Angeles Sparks | 15 | 7 | .682 | 3 | 5–5 |
| 4 | x – Minnesota Lynx | 14 | 8 | .636 | 4 | 4–6 |
| 5 | x – Phoenix Mercury | 13 | 9 | .591 | 5 | 4–6 |
| 6 | x – Chicago Sky | 12 | 10 | .545 | 6 | 6–4 |
| 7 | x – Connecticut Sun | 10 | 12 | .455 | 8 | 7–3 |
| 8 | x – Washington Mystics | 9 | 13 | .409 | 9 | 6–4 |
| 9 | e – Dallas Wings | 8 | 14 | .364 | 10 | 1–9 |
| 10 | e – Atlanta Dream | 7 | 15 | .318 | 11 | 5–5 |
| 11 | e – Indiana Fever | 6 | 16 | .273 | 12 | 4–6 |
| 12 | e – New York Liberty | 2 | 20 | .091 | 16 | 2–8 |
Notes
- x – Clinched playoff berth
- e – Eliminated from playoffs
- Home and Away records not shown, as all games played at a neutral location.
- Updated to include results from September 13, 2020
- Source
Playoffs
| First round Single elimination (September 15) | Second round Single elimination (September 17) | Semifinals Best-of-5 (September 20–29) | WNBA Finals Best-of-5 (October 2–11) | |||||||||||||||
| 1 | Las Vegas Aces | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Minnesota Lynx | 80 | 7 | Connecticut Sun | 2 | |||||||||||||
| 5 | Phoenix Mercury | 85 | 5 | Phoenix Mercury | 79 | 1 | Las Vegas Aces | 0 | ||||||||||
| 8 | Washington Mystics | 84 | 2 | Seattle Storm | 3 | |||||||||||||
| 2 | Seattle Storm | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Los Angeles Sparks | 59 | 4 | Minnesota Lynx | 0 | |||||||||||||
| 6 | Chicago Sky | 81 | 7 | Connecticut Sun | 73 | |||||||||||||
| 7 | Connecticut Sun | 94 | ||||||||||||||||
Note: Teams re-seeded after each round.
- Bold – Game or series winner
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 | 22 | 22 | 31.7 | 48.0 | 0 | 78.1 | 8.5 | 2.0 | 1.2 | 2.0 | 20.5 |
| Angel McCoughtry | 22 | 22 | 20.0 | 51.8 | 47.1 | 88.2 | 5.1 | 2.5 | 1.3 | 0.3 | 14.4 |
| Dearica Hamby | 22 | 0 | 28.3 | 53.9 | 47.4 | 71.6 | 7.1 | 2.7 | 1.7 | 0.2 | 13.0 |
| Kayla McBride | 22 | 22 | 26.6 | 42.5 | 34.2 | 89.7 | 2.3 | 2.4 | 1.2 | 0.1 | 12.5 |
| Jackie Young | 22 | 0 | 25.8 | 49.2 | 23.1 | 85.2 | 4.3 | 3.0 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 11.0 |
| Danielle Robinson | 22 | 1 | 7.4 | 32.1 | 31.3 | 75.0 | 2.4 | 3.3 | 0.9 | 0.1 | 7.4 |
| Sugar Rodgers | 22 | 0 | 12.0 | 32.1 | 31.3 | 75.0 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 3.4 |
| Lindsay Allen | 21 | 21 | 13.5 | 41.8 | 33.3 | 80.0 | 1.1 | 2.4 | 0.3 | 0 | 3.3 |
| Carolyn Swords | 22 | 22 | 17.5 | 46.0 | 0 | 77.3 | 4.6 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 2.9 |
| Cierra Burdick | 13 | 0 | 2.2 | 28.6 | 0 | 0 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 0.3 |
| Emma Cannon | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Awards and honors
| Recipient | Award | Date awarded | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| A'ja Wilson | Western Conference Player of the Week | August 10, 2020 | [17] |
| Western Conference Player of the Month – August | September 1, 2020 | [18] | |
| Bill Laimbeer | WNBA Coach of the Month – August | [19] | |
| A'ja Wilson | Western Conference Player of the Week | September 14, 2020 | [20] |
| Western Conference Player of the Month – September | September 15, 2020 | [21] | |
| Bill Laimbeer | WNBA Coach of the Month – September | [22] | |
| A'ja Wilson | WNBA MVP | September 17, 2020 | [23] |
| Dearica Hamby | Sixth Woman of the Year | September 20, 2020 | [24] |
| Dan Padover | Basketball Executive of the Year | September 20, 2020 | [25] |
| A'ja Wilson | 2nd Team All-Defense | September 29, 2020 | [26] |
| All-WNBA First Team | October 4, 2020 | [27] |