A’ja Wilson Reveals BIGGEST ‘Regret’ of Her Career

Coming into the 2024 WNBA season, the Las Vegas Aces were shooting for a rare three-peat. To this point, the only team that has ever won three straight WNBA championships is the now defunct Houston Comets. The Comets won four title in a row during the league’s initial seasons. The Aces were unsuccessful in their three-peat efforts, and A’ja Wilson recently opened up about her biggest regret in that aspect in an interview with TIME magazine.

“Not getting the three-peat was hard. The regret is the hardest part that I’ve had to deal with in this offseason, because I’m like, ‘What could I have done differently to get a different outcome,’” A’ja Wilson said. “When in reality it just wasn’t our time. And to see New York do it is like, Ah. But it’s part of the game – it’s the healthy balance that you’ve got to fight through.”

About one week ago, A’ja Wilson spoke about the Aces just not having that championship feeling since the beginning of training camp, in an interview with Callie Fin of The Las Vegas Review Journal.

The Aces finished the 2024 season as the No. 4 seed in the WNBA standings, defeating the Seattle Storm in the first round of the playoffs before being eliminated by the New York Liberty in the WNBA Semifinals.

Aces retooling roster for 2025 season

Amid their failed quest to three-peat, the Aces roster is going to look quite different this upcoming season. The core pieces of Wilson, Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young remain. But the team lost several key players in Kelsey Plum to the Los Angeles Sparks in a sign-and-trade, Tiffany Hayes to the Golden State Valkyries, Alysha Clark to the Seattle StormAlysha Clark to the Seattle Storm and Sydney Colson to the Indiana Fever.

The Aces also lost promising wing Kate Martin who was selected by the Valkyries in the expansion draft.

But in the Plum trade, the Aces received All-Star guard Jewell Loyd. Loyd is a six-time All-Star and two-time WNBA champion. She holds a career average of 16.9 points per game.

While Loyd will undoubtedly start at shooting guard, replacing Plum, the Aces also revamped their bench. They added Dana Evans in a trade with the Chicago Sky, and signed veteran Tiffany Mitchell in free agency.

It wasn’t only the roster that was overhauled. The Aces lost two assistant coaches from Becky Hammon’s staff in Natalie Nakase and Tyler Marsh. Nakase accepted the head coaching job for the Valkyries and Marsh became the Sky’s head coach.