Aces star A'ja Wilson 'warmed up,' which may be bad news for Valkyries
The Las Vegas Aces are looking to continue their nearly unblemished June against the visiting Golden State Valkyries on Sunday after splitting their two-game road trip this past week.
The Aces (11-4) sustained their lone loss this month in a 96-66 setback against the Dallas Wings on Monday, but they bounced back with an 86-76 win over the Phoenix Mercury on Wednesday. That victory secured their position in the WNBA Commissioner's Cup Final against the New York Liberty on June 30.
Center A'ja Wilson, the league's leading scorer at 26.1 points per game, predictably led the Aces with a double-double of 33 points and 10 rebounds in the winning effort, while NaLyssa Smith tallied 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field.
Sunday's game is the first of a three-game homestand for the Aces, who will then travel to Chicago for a matchup with the Sky on June 28 before departing to New York for the Commissioner's Cup Final. The Aces have won seven of their last eight games since back-to-back losses to the Los Angeles Sparks and Wings dropped them to 5-3 in late May, and the expectation in Las Vegas is that the team will only continue to heat up.
"I don't play basketball in the offseason, so it kind of takes me time to warm up and kind of get into the flow of playing 5-on-5," said Wilson, the four-time and reigning league MVP and a seven-time All-Star. "Sometimes, in some years, it takes me seven games. Sometimes it takes me 17 games. Overall, I'm very pleased about how I'm really just trying to get in the flow of things. For me, probably on the defensive end is where I'm really trying to be super hard on myself, only because I know I have to anchor this defense for us."
The Valkyries (10-6), on the other hand, are looking to bounce back from an 81-75 home loss to the league-best Minnesota Lynx on Friday. Despite the setback, the Valkyries were the first team to really solve the problem that is Rookie of the Year frontrunner Olivia Miles, holding her to season-low seven points on 1-of-10 shooting. Still, the Valkyries had won four games in a row before Friday's loss and certainly pose a threat to hand the Aces their fifth loss of the season.
Gabby Williams has been the Valkyries' most important piece on both ends of the floor, averaging a team-high 16.3 points per game while anchoring the team on the defensive end. Janelle Salaun and Veronica Burton have also built on their breakout 2025 campaigns, each improving their scoring averages to over 13 points per game.
"We're being super intentional on how we're preparing for Vegas," Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase said. "Going into our second year, I think we're having really good conversations on preparation. We were right there (against Minnesota), a couple possessions away. Not going to hang our hats, we're not going to point fingers off of this loss, but we're going to learn from it."
--Field Level Media
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This story was originally published June 20, 2026 at 9:42 PM.