For two years in a row, the Las Vegas Aces have ended the WNBA season as champions. Yet only after the Aces’ second title did Kelsey Plum finally allow herself to reflect on the accomplishment.

“I feel like for the first time in my career, I really have allowed it to soak in,” Plum told Just Women’s Sports.

That catharsis showed in the raucous celebrations after Las Vegas became the first team to win back-to-back titles since the Los Angeles Sparks in 2001 and 2002. From a parade down the Strip to a personalized concert invitation from Usher, the Aces did not hold back in sharing their joy.

“We have a lot of fun together,” Plum said. “And I think that’s why people really love watching us play, because that kind of permeates onto the court.

“I’m not going to lie, it was a long year for everyone, not just collectively but individually. And so I think that people let loose a little bit when we finally won, which, to me, I wasn’t mad at. I thought it was awesome.”

To reach that point, the Aces first had to do battle with the New York Liberty in the WNBA Finals. And while both teams sniped at each other after the series, Plum called the attention and the rivalry “great for the game.” In particular, she pointed to the buy-in from both franchises, which paid off on the court.

“The incredible investment that both franchises have made have just put the W in a different place,” she said. “And I think that it’s really just elevated the league overall. And that’s the biggest win out of all of it.”

After the WNBA Finals and ensuing celebrations, Plum faced a quick turnaround for USA Basketball’s fall training camp, which is being held from Nov. 7-9 in Atlanta. The 40-game WNBA season and deep playoff run presented what she called a “brutal” challenge.

“So I think it’s done a number on my body,” she said. “At the same time, USA Basketball is very important to me. We’ve been training for this since — shoot, I mean, forever, it feels like.”

Plum won Olympic gold as part of Team USA’s 3×3 team at the 2021 Summer Games in Tokyo. Now, she is primed to compete for a roster spot on the traditional 5×5 team for the 2024 Games in Paris.

After the USA Basketball camp, Plum will turn her attention to the rest of the offseason. And her competitive streak will come in handy as she partners with DICK’S Sporting Goods for their Holiday Shopping Sprint.

One lucky winner will team up with Plum for a frantic three-minute, $5,000 shopping spree. Plum remembers trips to DICK’S with her father for Spalding TF-1000 basketballs, but she’ll let her teammate lay out the shopping list this holiday season.

“I’m just a soldier in this fight, so whatever they tell me, whether that’s socks, shoes — now I will say, I’m not going to grab anything but Under Armour shoes,” said Plum, who inked a deal with that brand in 2022. “So if they want something else, I can’t help them with that. But everything else, I got them.

“I’m going to wear the best shoes I’ve got, I’m going to be hydrated. I’m taking this very, very, very seriously. … We’re not leaving anything on the table.”

The Las Vegas Aces had a lot to say during their 2023 WNBA championship parade, with much of it directed at the New York Liberty.

There was a lot of talking about going for a three-peat, with WNBA Finals MVP A’ja Wilson noting that the Aces are “going to do this s–t again.” The Aces were the first team in 21 years to win back-to-back titles, beating the Liberty in four games.

“We’re going to keep coming back, and everybody hates it,” Kelsey Plum told the crowd at Monday’s parade.

Yet the Aces’ Game 3 loss to the Liberty — their only loss throughout the 2023 playoffs — still sticks out as a source of frustration. In particular, Sabrina Ionescu’s “night night” celebration after hitting a key 3-pointer remains a point of contention. Sydney Colson mimicked the gesture after the Aces’ series-clinching win over the Liberty, and it came up again during the parade.

“They messed up when they went ‘night night,’” Chelsea Gray said. “And Sydney said I’m sitting on that Sabrina!”

Meanwhile, head coach Becky Hammon called out Liberty star Breanna Stewart’s Game 4 stat line, which included her going 3-for-17 from the field while being guarded by Alysha Clark.

“Alysha Clark was my rookie in San Antonio,” Hammon said, to which Clark replied: “Talk about it.”

“3-for-17 is you need to talk about it,” Hammon responded.

Wilson, meanwhile, was focused on her MVP snub, opting to wear a shirt that had the voting numbers on the back. She finished third for the regular-season award behind Stewart and Connecticut Sun star Alyssa Thomas. Wilson also called out the person that voted for her in fourth place, noting that she was going to use it as fuel for next season.

And at the end of the night, the Aces couldn’t resist getting in one more “night night.”

The Las Vegas Aces are hosting their WNBA championship parade Monday on the Strip. And according to Finals MVP A’ja Wilson, the back-to-back champions are raising the stakes for their 2023 celebration.

After the Aces won their first title in franchise history in 2022, Wilson told fans to come to the parade “four shots in.” Make it double for 2023, she said after the Aces won the 2023 Finals over the New York Liberty.

“Last year I said four shots. But this year, we going eight,” Wilson said, to the delight of her teammates. “So get ready.

“Children, drink your ginger ale, have fun, listen to your parents, go to bed on time, go to school, get good grades. Old people — not old people, but people that aren’t children — drink responsibly, but we about to turn it up out here.”

The parade, which is set to begin at 8 p.m. ET Monday, will run up Las Vegas Boulevard toward T-Mobile Arena. It will end outside the arena at Toshiba Plaza.

During the Aces’ 2022 parade, Kelsey Plum promised it would not be the last. Since then, Las Vegas has celebrated a Stanley Cup with the 2023 NHL champion Golden Knights, and now the Aces are back for another party.

“This is a long time coming,” Plum said in 2022. “I wanna let you guys know that this is just the beginning. We’re just getting started.”

New York Liberty players took exception to Las Vegas Aces guard Kelsey Plum’s criticism of their team following the WNBA Finals.

The Aces won a second consecutive WNBA championship, running it back with a very similar lineup to their 2022 title-winning season. After Wednesday’s series-clinching win, Plum pointed to Las Vegas’ long journey to that point — as compared to New York, which assembled its roster in the 2023 offseason.

“There was a lot of years that we weren’t so super,” she said. “But you can’t build a superteam in a couple of months. It takes years.”

Plum also questioned the Liberty’s team mentality.

“We also knew that, as much as they’re a team, they’re not a team, if that makes sense,” she told Yahoo Sports. “They’re really good individual players, but they don’t care about each other. And you can tell in those moments. They revert back to individual basketball.”

On Friday, Liberty players called out Plum’s comments in their end-of-season interviews.

“I think it’s easy to kick people when they’re down and you’re up, and honestly to me, it felt classless,” Jonquel Jones said. “You could celebrate with your team, and instead you chose to essentially s— on someone else.”

Sabrina Ionescu pushed back on the notion that New York isn’t a team, saying that “couldn’t be further from the truth.”

“I’ve never been on a team that’s been more committed to one another than what it’s been like this year,” she said. “We had players that came together in a short amount of time… to try to win.”

Breanna Stewart sidestepped a question on Plum’s criticism, calling the Aces “phenomenal” and congratulating them on their win.

“Win or lose, we’ll just continue to carry ourselves with grace and keep that going forward,” she said.

Head coach Sandy Brondello admitted she had not looked much at social media since her team’s loss Wednesday, but she did say that what Plum said about the Liberty is “wrong.”

“I don’t even think I should comment, because I know it’s not true,” she said. “This team has grown so close together in a short period of time, and what Kelsey said is wrong.”

Plum then took to social media to clarify her comments.

“Since the media wants to do click bait, imma cut this drama out right now so we can move on and be in peace,” she wrote on X. “What I said was taken extremely out of context. I was trying to articulate my teammates and I have been through a lot and we used our bond to get over the hump.”

She also apologized for how her words came on, noting that she didn’t intend to “throw shade.”

“Never been the type to throw shade, quite the opposite actually,” she continued. “I see how it came off, never was my intention and I apologize. Our game grew immensely from this series, don’t let this bull shit detract from the biggest win here.”

The 2023 WNBA Finals were billed as a battle of the titans between the Las Vegas Aces and the New York Liberty. But in the end, only one team lived up to the superteam label.

The Liberty assembled a superstar lineup in the offseason, signing Breanna Stewart and Courtney Vandersloot and trading for Jonquel Jones. The Aces, meanwhile, added Candace Parker – though they went without the injured star for the latter half of the season.

In the end, the Aces came out on top, winning a second consecutive WNBA title. Las Vegas won the first title in franchise history in 2022 with much the same lineup.

“This group has been through so much. But it’s here,” Aces guard Kelsey Plum said. “And there was a lot of years that we weren’t so super. But you can’t build a superteam in a couple of months. It takes years.”

Plum also questioned New York’s team mentality, not just its superteam credentials.

“We also knew that, as much as they’re a team, they’re not a team, if that makes sense,” she told Yahoo Sports. “They’re really good individual players, but they don’t care about each other. And you can tell in those moments. They revert back to individual basketball.”

For Las Vegas, the road back to the championship wasn’t an easy one. Injuries left the team depleted for Game 4 of the Finals, but in the end, there wasn’t anything that could keep the Aces from back-to-back championships.

“This is a moment that we need to celebrate,” Finals MVP A’ja Wilson said. “Not a lot of people get a chance to do it, and for us to do it short-handed is truly amazing. It just makes this win that much better.

“I’m going to get choked up … This s— wasn’t easy.”

Winning one title isn’t easy. Winning consecutive titles is even harder.

“This one’s sweeter,” head coach Becky Hammon said after the series-clinching win. “It just is. It’s harder to do.”

Kelsey Plum thinks the Las Vegas Aces will be just fine in Game 4 of the WNBA Finals, even without two of their key pieces.

Chelsea Gray and Kiah Stokes both will be absent from the Aces’ starting lineup Wednesday night against the New York Liberty after sustaining foot injuries in Game 3. Gray attended practice on a scooter Tuesday, while Stokes was on crutches, and both are questionable to return in the series.

For defending champions, who dominated Games 1 and 2 before losing Game 3, the losses of Gray and Stokes represent major blows.

“It’s brutal,” Las Vegas guard Kelsey Plum said. “You watch them work so hard and get to this point, and you want it for them. So when they go down, it hurts. And there’s no replacing either of them. There’s no magic wand you can wave. There’s just not, and I would be ignorant to tell you that there is. It hurts, absolutely.”

Still, the Aces aren’t letting it get them down. Head coach Becky Hammon joked about having Sydney Colson climb on the back of Liberty center Jonquel Jones as part of the team’s defensive strategy. She also made a remark about bringing back injured star Candace Parker, though she has since been ruled out for Game 4.

And Gray noted that Las Vegas’ system sets them up to be able to replace any given player at any given moment.

“What actually is a positive thing about that is that our system is so fluid that any given person at any given time can be at the top and a different person can be in the corner. So you’re going to see a lot more times where Jackie and KP are at the top since I’m not out there. So our system being fluid actually really helps in that way.”

Plum made a comment about the Aces’ season, which has been marked by dominance on the court but controversies off it. Aces guard Riquna Williams was arrested on domestic violence charges in July; though the charges were dropped in September, she has not rejoined the team. And former Aces forward Dearica Hamby has filed a discrimination complaint against the team for trading her away because of her pregnancy.

“This team has responded all year,” Plum said. “We’ve been through a lot. We’ve been hurt, sued, arrested; you name it, we’ve done it. I’m confident in our group, and we’ve gone through a lot of adversity. We’ll be ready.”

A’ja Wilson echoed Plum’s sentiments about the Aces’ ability to rebound, but she called replacing Gray “a challenge.”

“That’s the head of our snake. That’s our leader. So that’s a challenge, obviously,” she said. “This is something that we’re just going to grind out like we’ve always been. And we’re used to being in the trenches, so at this point, we’ve just got to climb our way out.”

While the Las Vegas Aces and the New York Liberty have not literally come to blows, their battles throughout the year have packed a punch, as Aces guard Kelsey Plum and Liberty forward Breanna Stewart agreed before Game 2 of the WNBA Finals.

While the Liberty held the 3-2 edge over the Aces heading into the Finals, Las Vegas started the best-of-five series with a 99-82 statement win at home. The game also served as a response to New York’s previous victories over the Aces, all of which came in August.

In particular, the Liberty took over in the second halves in several of their meetings to secure emphatic victories. New York outscored Las Vegas 50-17 in the second half of a 99-61 win on Aug. 6, and then 50-29 in the second half of an 82-63 win in the Commissioner’s Cup final on Aug. 15.

In Game 1 of the Finals, though, the Aces effectively shut down Liberty guard Marine Johannès after she was lights-out in the first half. Las Vegas outscored New York by 20 points in the second half of the win.

“We’ve had some poor third quarters, and New York has really came out and punched us in the face,” Plum said. “And so I think it was kind of a team awareness, understanding that setting the tone to start the half is really important. Coming out being super focused and knowing our schemes.”

Of course, the Liberty are now the ones feeling the sting of defeat. And their ready to “punch back,” as Stewart said Tuesday.

“The playoffs are a roller coaster, a lot of positives and lows. And it’s gonna be who can stay even keeled and maintain their emotions the best, because punches are gonna be thrown at you, you’re gonna throw punches back, but who can continue to play on,” Stewart said. “Obviously losing Game 1 sucked and we’re not happy about it, but how are you going to respond for Game 2? This isn’t a sulk and put your head down moment, it’s like, alright, let’s get up, let’s be better and let’s show what we can do.”

And the Aces know to expect a fight from the Liberty in the second game of the series, especially now that New York has adjusted to the bright lights of the Finals.

“I remember my first game in the Finals last year. I was kind of wide-eyed. I didn’t really know what to expect, it just is a different feel,” Plum said. “So I expect them to come in and they have a ton of pride in that locker room, a lot of really good players. We’re gonna see a different team I feel like.”

The Aces will host the Liberty at Michelob Ultra Arena for Game 2 of the WNBA Finals at 9 p.m. ET Wednesday. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.

New Las Vegas Aces minority owner Tom Brady sat courtside for Sunday’s Game 1 win over the New York Liberty.

Kelsey Plum let the NFL great know she saw him. And she didn’t cut the Aces’ newest investor any slack, as the 29-year-old guard recalled after the game.

“It’s about effing time you showed up,” Plum told him.

Brady replied: “You already know.”

The seven-time Super Bowl champion also responded after the game. “Nobody is safe from KP,” he wrote on social media platform X.

While Plum appreciated Brady’s good-natured response from his seat at Las Vegas’ Michelob Ultra Arena, she also appreciates his connection to the franchise — and not just because she has referred to the retired quarterback as her favorite athlete.

“I’m super excited for his investment in our franchise, and understanding what that means for us and the growth of not just us but the league and putting eyes on us,” Plum said. “So I joke around, but, man, it’s been awesome to have him.”

The Aces announced Brady’s acquisition of a minority stake in March, soon after his retirement from the NFL. The WNBA approved his ownership stake just before the WNBA Finals.

Brady and Plum met during an Aces home game in May 2022, in which Plum made quite the impression — by barking at him. The pair continued their friendship from there, as Brady sent Plum a signed Buccaneers jersey with a personalized note.

No bench? No problem, at least for the Las Vegas Aces.

In Game 1 of the WNBA Finals, the Las Vegas Aces took a 99-82 win against the New York Liberty. Of those 99 points, 91 came from four Aces starters.

Kelsey Plum (26), Jackie Young (26), Chelsea Gray (20) and A’ja Wilson (19) dominated for Las Vegas, which outscored New York by 20 points in the second half to take the 1-0 series lead. No four players have combined for more points in a WNBA Finals game, per ESPN’s Alexa Philippou.

The Aces’ other eight points came from Alysha Clark, the first player off the bench for the defending champions. Clark played 28 minutes; the rest of the Aces’ bench played just five minutes combined.

Kiah Stokes, the fifth starter for Las Vegas, is a defensive specialist, often trading places with Clark depending on possession. In Game 1, Stokes finished with zero points, but she had five rebounds and three assists.

Before Candace Parker’s injury, she held Stokes’ role as the second post player in the starting lineup alongside Wilson, averaging 9.0 points and 5.4 rebounds. Yet even with Parker on the sidelines, the Aces’ starting lineup is fearsome for opponents, as they proved again Sunday.

With the victory, Las Vegas has won its first six games of the 2023 postseason. The No. 1 seed Aces swept the No. 8 seed Chicago Sky and the No. 4 seed Dallas Wings to reach the championship series. Five other teams in WNBA history have won their first six postseason games, and all went on to win the title, per ESPN Stats & Info.

NFL legend Tom Brady’s acquisition of an ownership stake in the Las Vegas Aces, finalized Monday, was met with enthusiasm from Aces players, star A’ja Wilson revealed.

When Wilson learned that Brady – a seven-time Super Bowl winning quarterback – would become a minority owner of the Aces, her jaw dropped, she said Monday on SiriusXM show “Let’s Go! with Tom Brady, Larry Fitzgerald and Jim Gray.”

“Oh man, it was super dope,” she said. “It was super, super cool just to be able just to have someone that matters and cares for us to come in and be like, ‘I wanna help push this needle.’ And it’s something that we always needed.

“We always love when people have a seat at the table, and obviously Tom Brady has a seat at the table and for him to reach out and say, ‘I wanna be a part of this and helping it grow,’ it was truly, truly a lot of fun. I think we were all going in our group chat going crazy, because obviously Kelsey Plum barked at you, which was kind of weird, but now it’s kind of cool. (laughs) … We’re truly thankful.”

Brady, for his part, said it was a “long process” to get approved by the WNBA’s Board of Owners. The announcement of Brady’s intention to join the Aces’ ownership group was announced all the way back in March, but approval came just ahead of the team’s second consecutive WNBA Finals appearance.

Of course, the approval seemed to be a formality, with WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert issuing a statement in which she praised the acquisition.

“Obviously women’s sports has meant a lot to me my whole life. I had three older sisters who were all better athletes than I was,” Brady said. “My whole childhood was going to watch them play at the softball fields, at the soccer fields, on the basketball courts. I love women’s sports. I love the empowerment that it gives young women, a great direction.

“Sports teaches us all so much and it’s certainly not reserved for men. And I love that women are getting the type of attention for the incredible athletes that they are in a lot of different sports, tennis, golf and basketball obviously. I love the sport and I love watching you guys play.”