# 2020 Las Vegas Aces season

The 2020 Las Vegas Aces season is the franchise's 24th season in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and the 3rd year the franchise was based in Las Vegas. The regular season tipped off on July 26, 2020 versus the Chicago Sky.
This WNBA season would’ve had an all-time high 36 regular-season games. However, the plan for expanded games was put on hold on April 3, when the WNBA postponed its season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Under a plan approved on June 15, the league began a shortened 22-game regular season at IMG Academy, without fans present, which started on July 24.
The Aces got off to a rough start to their season, losing two of their first three games. However, from there, the team would go on a seven-game winning streak and four game winning streak, only separated by a single loss. Their 12–3 record on August 29, would secure them a playoff berth. They lost on September 1, and that would be their last loss of the season. The Aces finished on a six-game winning streak, including a final day victory over the Seattle Storm to finish 18–4. The victory on the final day of the season secured them the first seed in the playoffs by virtue of a tie-breaker.
As the first seed, the Aces received a double-bye into the Semifinals of the playoffs. In the Semifinals, they played the seventh seeded Connecticut Sun. The Aces lost two of the first three games, but rebounded to win the final two games of the series to advance to the Finals. In the finals they faced the second seeded Storm. The Storm swept the best-of-five series three games to none, and the Aces finished runners up.

## Transactions
### WNBA draft

The Aces will make the following selection in the 2020 WNBA draft.
| Round | Pick | Player | Nationality | School/Team/Country |
| 3 | 33 | Lauren Manis | United States | Holy Cross |

### Trades and roster changes

| Date | Details |
| February 10, 2020 | Signed G Angel McCoughtry |
| February 16, 2020 | Signed G Danielle Robinson |
| February 18, 2020 | Re-signed G Sugar Rodgers |
| March 2, 2020 | Re-signed G Lindsay Allen |
| April 22, 2020 | Re-signed C Liz Cambage. |
| May 7, 2020 | C Park Ji-su will sit out the season and stay in Korea. |
| May 15, 2020 | Re-signed G Kelsey Plum. |
| May 19, 2020 | Re-signed C Carolyn Swords |
| June 16, 2020 | Signed G Alex Bentley |
| July 4, 2020 | C Liz Cambage announced that she will be sitting out the 2020 season. |
| July 4, 2020 | Signed C Avery Warley |

## Game log
### Regular season

2020 game log Total: 18–4 :
July
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
1
July 26
Chicago Sky
L 86–88
McCoughtry (25)
Wilson (11)
Allen (7)
IMG Academy
0–1
2
July 29
Atlanta Dream
W 100-70
Wilson (21)
Wilson (11)
Tied (3)
IMG Academy
1–1
3
July 31
Phoenix Mercury
L 95–102
McCoughtry (18)
Wilson (8)
Tied (4)
IMG Academy
1–2 :
August
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
4
August 2
Dallas Wings
W 79–70
Wilson (19)
Tied (8)
Hamby (4)
IMG Academy
2–2
5
August 5
Washington Mystics
W 83–77
Tied (20)
Hamby (13)
Robinson (3)
IMG Academy
3–2
6
August 7
Los Angeles Sparks
W 86–82
Wilson (26)
Wilson (11)
McCoughtry (5)
IMG Academy
4–2
7
August 9
New York Liberty
W 78–76
Wilson (31)
Young (7)
Tied (3)
IMG Academy
5–2
8
August 11
Indiana Fever
W 98–79
McCoughtry (20)
Wilson (11)
Tied (4)
IMG Academy
6–2
9
August 13
Minnesota Lynx
W 87–77
Wilson (23)
Wilson (8)
Allen (7)
IMG Academy
7–2
10
August 15
Washington Mystics
W 88–73
Young (16)
Swords (7)
Robinson (7)
IMG Academy
8–2
11
August 18
Chicago Sky
L 82–84
McCoughtry (17)
Wilson (8)
3 tied (4)
IMG Academy
8–3
12
August 20
Connecticut Sun
W 99–78
McBride (25)
McCoughtry (8)
Robinson (9)
IMG Academy
9–3
13
August 22
Seattle Storm
W 82–74
Wilson (23)
Tied (14)
Robinson (7)
IMG Academy
10–3
14
August 25
Dallas Wings
W 96–92
Wilson (26)
Hamby (14)
Young (4)
IMG Academy
11–3
15
August 29
New York Liberty
W 80–63
Wilson (20)
Hamby (10)
Robinson (6)
IMG Academy
12–3 :
September
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
16
September 1
Phoenix Mercury
L 85–92
Young (20)
Hamby (13)
McBride (9)
IMG Academy
12–4
17
September 3
Connecticut Sun
W 93–78
Wilson (24)
3 tied (4)
Young (9)
IMG Academy
13–4
18
September 5
Atlanta Dream
W 89–79
Wilson (21)
Hamby (9)
Young (6)
IMG Academy
14–4
19
September 8
Indiana Fever
W 92–86
Wilson (22)
Wilson (16)
Young (7)
IMG Academy
15–4
20
September 10
Minnesota Lynx
W 104–89
McCoughtry (22)
Hamby (11)
3 tied (6)
IMG Academy
16–4
21
September 12
Los Angeles Sparks
W 84–70
Wilson (19)
Wilson (8)
McBride (6)
IMG Academy
17–4
22
September 13
Seattle Storm
W 86–84
Tied (23)
Swords (8)
Hamby (8)
IMG Academy
18–4 :
2020 season schedule :

### Playoffs

2020 playoff game log Total: 3–5 :
Semifinals
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceSeries
1
September 20
Connecticut Sun
L 62–87
Wilson (19)
Wilson (9)
Tied (3)
IMG Academy
0–1
2
September 22
Connecticut Sun
W 83–75
Wilson (29)
Wilson (7)
Young (5)
IMG Academy
1–1
3
September 24
Connecticut Sun
L 68–77
Wilson (20)
Wilson (12)
Young (7)
IMG Academy
1–2
4
September 27
Connecticut Sun
W 84–75
McCoughtry (29)
Wilson (13)
McCoughtry (6)
IMG Academy
2–2
5
September 29
Connecticut Sun
W 66–63
Wilson (23)
Wilson (11)
Tied (4)
IMG Academy
3–2 :
Finals
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceSeries
1
October 2
Seattle Storm
L 80–93
McCoughtry (20)
Swords (12)
Tied (4)
IMG Academy
0–1
2
October 4
Seattle Storm
L 91–104
Wilson (20)
McCoughtry (8)
Robinson (10)
IMG Academy
0–2
3
October 6
Seattle Storm
L 59–92
Wilson (18)
Swords (10)
Wilson (4)
IMG Academy
0–3 :
2020 playoff schedule :

## Standings

| # | Team | W | L | PCT | GB | Conf. |
| 1 | x – Las Vegas Aces | 18 | 4 | .818 | – | 8–2 |
| 2 | x – Seattle Storm | 18 | 4 | .818 | – | 8–2 |
| 3 | x – Los Angeles Sparks | 15 | 7 | .682 | 3 | 5–5 |
| 4 | x – Minnesota Lynx | 14 | 8 | .636 | 4 | 4–6 |
| 5 | x – Phoenix Mercury | 13 | 9 | .591 | 5 | 4–6 |
| 6 | x – Chicago Sky | 12 | 10 | .545 | 6 | 6–4 |
| 7 | x – Connecticut Sun | 10 | 12 | .455 | 8 | 7–3 |
| 8 | x – Washington Mystics | 9 | 13 | .409 | 9 | 6–4 |
| 9 | e – Dallas Wings | 8 | 14 | .364 | 10 | 1–9 |
| 10 | e – Atlanta Dream | 7 | 15 | .318 | 11 | 5–5 |
| 11 | e – Indiana Fever | 6 | 16 | .273 | 12 | 4–6 |
| 12 | e – New York Liberty | 2 | 20 | .091 | 16 | 2–8 |
* v
* t
* e
Notes
    x – Clinched playoff berth
    e – Eliminated from playoffs
    Home and Away records not shown, as all games played at a neutral location.
    Updated to include results from September 13, 2020
    Source

## Playoffs

| First round: Single elimination (September 15) | First round: Single elimination (September 15) | First round: Single elimination (September 15) | Second round: Single elimination (September 17) | Second round: Single elimination (September 17) | Second round: Single elimination (September 17) | Semifinals: Best-of-five (September 20–29) | Semifinals: Best-of-five (September 20–29) | Semifinals: Best-of-five (September 20–29) | Semifinals: Best-of-five (September 20–29) | Semifinals: Best-of-five (September 20–29) | Semifinals: Best-of-five (September 20–29) | Semifinals: Best-of-five (September 20–29) | WNBA Finals: Best-of-five (October 2–11) | WNBA Finals: Best-of-five (October 2–11) | WNBA Finals: Best-of-five (October 2–11) | WNBA Finals: Best-of-five (October 2–11) | WNBA Finals: Best-of-five (October 2–11) |
| | | | | | | 1 | Las Vegas Aces | 62 | 83 | 68 | 84 | 66 | | | | | |
| | | | 4 | Minnesota Lynx | 80 | 7 | Connecticut Sun | 87 | 75 | 77 | 75 | 63 | | | | | |
| 5 | Phoenix Mercury | 85 | 5 | Phoenix Mercury | 79 | | | | | | | | 1 | Las Vegas Aces | 80 | 91 | 59 |
| 8 | Washington Mystics | 84 | | | | | | | | | | | 2 | Seattle Storm | 93 | 104 | 92 |
| | | | | | | 2 | Seattle Storm | Seattle Storm | Seattle Storm | 88 | 89 | 92 | | | | | |
| | | | 3 | Los Angeles Sparks | 59 | 4 | Minnesota Lynx | Minnesota Lynx | Minnesota Lynx | 86 | 79 | 71 | | | | | |
| 6 | Chicago Sky | 81 | 7 | Connecticut Sun | 73 | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 7 | Connecticut Sun | 94 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Note: Teams re-seeded after each round.

## Statistics
### Regular season

| Player | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
| A'ja Wilson | 22 | 22 | 31.7 | 48.0 | 0 | 78.1 | 8.5 | 2.0 | 1.2 | 2.0 | 20.5 |
| Angel McCoughtry | 22 | 22 | 20.0 | 51.8 | 47.1 | 88.2 | 5.1 | 2.5 | 1.3 | 0.3 | 14.4 |
| Dearica Hamby | 22 | 0 | 28.3 | 53.9 | 47.4 | 71.6 | 7.1 | 2.7 | 1.7 | 0.2 | 13.0 |
| Kayla McBride | 22 | 22 | 26.6 | 42.5 | 34.2 | 89.7 | 2.3 | 2.4 | 1.2 | 0.1 | 12.5 |
| Jackie Young | 22 | 0 | 25.8 | 49.2 | 23.1 | 85.2 | 4.3 | 3.0 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 11.0 |
| Danielle Robinson | 22 | 1 | 7.4 | 32.1 | 31.3 | 75.0 | 2.4 | 3.3 | 0.9 | 0.1 | 7.4 |
| Sugar Rodgers | 22 | 0 | 12.0 | 32.1 | 31.3 | 75.0 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 3.4 |
| Lindsay Allen | 21 | 21 | 13.5 | 41.8 | 33.3 | 80.0 | 1.1 | 2.4 | 0.3 | 0 | 3.3 |
| Carolyn Swords | 22 | 22 | 17.5 | 46.0 | 0 | 77.3 | 4.6 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 2.9 |
| Cierra Burdick | 13 | 0 | 2.2 | 28.6 | 0 | 0 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 0.3 |
| Emma Cannon | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

## Awards and honors

| Recipient | Award | Date awarded |
| A'ja Wilson | Western Conference Player of the Week | August 10, 2020 |
| A'ja Wilson | Western Conference Player of the Month – August | September 1, 2020 |
| Bill Laimbeer | WNBA Coach of the Month – August | September 1, 2020 |
| A'ja Wilson | Western Conference Player of the Week | September 14, 2020 |
| A'ja Wilson | Western Conference Player of the Month – September | September 15, 2020 |
| Bill Laimbeer | WNBA Coach of the Month – September | September 15, 2020 |
| A'ja Wilson | WNBA MVP | September 17, 2020 |
| Dearica Hamby | Sixth Woman of the Year | September 20, 2020 |
| Dan Padover | Basketball Executive of the Year | September 20, 2020 |
| A'ja Wilson | 2nd Team All-Defense | September 29, 2020 |
| A'ja Wilson | All-WNBA First Team | October 4, 2020 |