‘Three-peating is hard’: how loss of focus cost the Las Vegas Aces a dynasty

Becky Hammon blamed her team's foiled three-peat bid on her players being fricking celebrities'. A return the top won't be easy, even with the world's best player

Around this time last year the Las Vegas Aces appeared to be on the brink of becoming a dynasty. They'd just brushed aside the New York Liberty to become the first WNBA team to win back-to-back championships in more than two decades, reducing a much-hyped clash of the superteams to one-way traffic. Those Aces were one of the best teams ever seen in men's or women's basketball, at least since the KD Warriors. It wasn't just their 34 regular-season wins (more than any WNBA team in history) or their record-breaking efficiency numbers. It was the execution, the intensity, the discipline and attention to detail: they were so unselfish, so dialed-in and everyone looked like they were having a blast. Their vaunted core four of A'ja Wilson, Kelsey Plum, Jackie Young and Chelsea Gray were each under contract for at least another year. What could go wrong?

But the Aces' bid for a three-peat never quite left the launchpad. Candace Parker re-signed during free agency, before announcing her retirement at the start of training camp. They stumbled to a 6-6 start while Gray worked her way back from a foot injury suffered during last year's WNBA finals, racking up as many losses in the first month as they did all of last year. Wilson continued to show that she is the best player on the planet, earning a third Most Valuable Player award and becoming only the second player to win it unanimously, but Las Vegas were too often undone by backcourt inconsistency and the loss of their defensive identity. Wilson hinted at that back in August after her 42-point eruption was wasted in a defeat to one of the league's worst teams.