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. The season tipped off on May 20, 2018 and was also the first season under head coach Bill Laimbeer.
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 South Carolina 2 13 Jaime Nared Tennessee 3 25 Raigyne Louis LSU 3 32 Jill Barta Gonzaga
Trades/Roster Changes DateDetails February 1, 2018 Signed F Tamera Young February 1, 2018 Signed C Carolyn Swords 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. 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. February 26, 2018 Re-signed G/F Sequoia Holmes, F Cierra Burdick, Signed F Ivey Slaughter March 13, 2018 Re-signed G Sydney Colson March 20, 2018 Re-signed F Valériane Ayayi April 11, 2018 Signed G Jacki Gemelos May 19, 2018 Signed G Lindsay Allen May 23, 2018 Signed G Kelsey Plum and G Kayla McBride
Roster
Game log
Pre-season
|- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 1 | May 6 | China | W 98–63 | Wilson (20) | Tied (7) | Tied (5) | Mandalay Bay Events Center | 1–0 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 2 | May 13 | @ Dallas | L 55–68 | Young (11) | Wilson (12) | Slaughter (3) | College Park Center | 1–1
Regular season
|- style="background:#fcc;" | 1 | May 20 | @ Connecticut | L 65–101 | Young (23) | Wilson (10) | Bone (3) | Mohegan Sun Arena6,637 | 0–1 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 2 | May 22 | @ Washington | L 70–75 | Wilson (16) | Wilson (8) | Allen (6) | Capital One Arena4,509 | 0–2 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 3 | May 27 | Seattle | L 98–105 | Wilson (27) | Wilson (8) | Allen (6) | Mandalay Bay Events Center7,662 | 0–3 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 4 | May 31 | @ Seattle | L 74–101 | Wilson (21) | Tied (6) | Plum (6) | KeyArena5,235 | 0–4
|- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 5 | June 1 | Washington | W 85–73 | Wilson (26) | Wilson (12) | Tied (4) | Mandalay Bay Events Center5,575 | 1–4 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 6 | June 3 | @ Chicago | L 90–95 | Wilson (22) | Park (6) | Allen (8) | Wintrust Arena5,052 | 1–5 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 7 | June 8 | Atlanta | L 83–87 | Wilson (20) | Wilson (9) | Allen (7) | Mandalay Bay Events Center5,913 | 1–6 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 8 | June 10 | @ Phoenix | L 66–72 | Wilson (17) | Park (11) | Plum (6) | Talking Stick Resort Arena8,471 | 1–7 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 9 | June 12 | @ Indiana | W 101–92 (OT) | Wilson (35) | Wilson (13) | Young (9) | Bankers Life Fieldhouse5,437 | 2–7 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 10 | June 13 | @ New York | W 78–63 | Hamby (17) | Tied (4) | Allen (7) | Westchester County Center1,419 | 3–7 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 11 | June 15 | @ Dallas | L 67–77 | McBride (22) | Young (9) | Young (4) | College Park Center4,549 | 3–8 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 12 | June 17 | Phoenix | L 80–92 | Wilson (21) | Coffey (12) | Plum (5) | Mandalay Bay Events Center4,432 | 3–9 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 13 | June 19 | @ Seattle | W 87–77 | Wilson (25) | Wilson (15) | Tied (6) | KeyArena6,395 | 4–9 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 14 | June 22 | New York | W 88–78 | McBride (27) | Wilson (14) | Wilson (4) | Mandalay Bay Events Center5,478 | 5–9 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 15 | June 24 | Minnesota | L 73–88 | McBride (18) | Wilson (7) | Plum (5) | Mandalay Bay Events Center4,814 | 5–10 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 16 | June 27 | Dallas | L 91–97 | McBride (38) | Wilson (15) | Wilson (8) | Mandalay Bay Events Center5,246 | 5–11 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 17 | June 29 | Los Angeles | W 94–78 | Wilson (29) | Tied (9) | Tied (5) | Mandalay Bay Events Center5,124 | 6–11
|- style="background:#fcc;" | 18 | July 1 | @ Los Angeles | L 71–87 | Young (16) | Park (6) | Young (8) | Staples Center12,003 | 6–12 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 19 | July 5 | Chicago | W 84–80 | McBride (28) | Swords (12) | McBride (7) | Mandalay Bay Events Center4,699 | 7–12 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 20 | July 7 | Connecticut | W 94–90 | Wilson (34) | Wilson (14) | Plum (10) | Mandalay Bay Events Center3,363 | 8–12 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 21 | July 10 | @ Chicago | W 98–74 | McBride (18) | Tied (8) | 3 Tied (4) | Wintrust Arena7,696 | 9–12 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 22 | July 13 | @ Minnesota | W 85–77 | McBride (24) | Wilson (15) | McBride (9) | Target Center9,813 | 10–12 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 23 | July 15 | Los Angeles | L 78–99 | McBride (18) | Tied (8) | Jefferson (3) | Mandalay Bay Events Center4,810 | 10–13 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 24 | July 19 | @ Phoenix | W 85–82 | McBride (27) | Wilson (12) | McBride (3) | Talking Stick Resort Arena8,587 | 11–13 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 25 | July 22 | Indiana | W 88–74 | Wilson (24) | Tied (10) | 3 Tied (4) | Mandalay Bay Events Center5,368 | 12–13
|- style="background:#fcc;" | 26 | August 1 | Phoenix | L 93–104 | Wilson (29) | 3 Tied (6) | Tied (5) | Mandalay Bay Events Center5,129 | 12–14 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 27 | August 3 | @ Washington | L via forfeit | – | – | – | Capital One Arena0 | 12–15 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 28 | August 5 | @ Connecticut | L 88–109 | Wilson (24) | 5 Tied (3) | Tied (4) | Mohegan Sun Arena6,791 | 12–16 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 29 | August 7 | @ Atlanta | L 100–109 | Plum (20) | Swords (9) | Plum (13) | McCamish Pavilion4,033 | 12–17 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 30 | August 9 | Minnesota | L 73–89 | Wilson (18) | Swords (7) | Young (4) | Mandalay Bay Events Center4,497 | 12–18 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 31 | August 11 | Indiana | W 92–74 | Plum (20) | Wilson (8) | Tied (4) | Mandalay Bay Events Center5,213 | 13–18 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 32 | August 15 | New York | W 85–72 | Wilson (19) | Young (8) | Young (4) | Mandalay Bay Events Center7,159 | 14–18 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 33 | August 17 | @ Dallas | L 102–107 | Wilson (34) | Wilson (7) | McBride (12) | College Park Center6,209 | 14–19 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 34 | August 19 | Atlanta | L 78–93 | Wilson (21) | Hamby (8) | Plum (8) | Mandalay Bay Events Center5,737 | 14–20
Standings
Statistics
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 WNBA Western Conference Player of the Week July 9, 2018 Kayla McBride WNBA All-Star Selection July 17, 2018 A'ja WilsonA'ja Wilson WNBA Rookie of the Month - July August 1, 2018 WNBA Rookie of the Month - August August 20, 2018 WNBA Rookie of the Year Award September 9, 2018
References
External links The Official Site of the Las Vegas Aces