Las Vegas Aces
The Las Vegas Aces are an American professional basketball team based in Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Aces compete in the Western Conference of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), and play their home games at Michelob Ultra Arena in the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. The team was founded in Salt Lake City, Utah, as the Utah Starzz before the league's inaugural 1997 season. It then moved to San Antonio, Texas before the 2003 season and became the San Antonio Silver Stars, later shortened to the San Antonio Stars in 2014. The team relocated  to Las Vegas before the 2018 season. The Aces are owned by Mark Davis. They are one of three WNBA franchises not to share a market with an existing NBA team, the others being the Seattle Storm (were founded in 2000, when Seattle was also home to the NBA's Seattle SuperSonics), and the Connecticut Sun. As the Stars, the team qualified for the WNBA Playoffs in seven of their fifteen years in San Antonio. The franchise has been home to many high-quality players such as all-star point guard Becky Hammon, solid power-forward Sophia Young, former first -overall draft pick Ann Wauters, seven-foot-two-inch center Margo Dydek, two-time Sixth Woman of the Year Dearica Hamby, and 2020 league MVP A'ja Wilson. The franchise has twice gone to the WNBA Finals, in 2008 losing to Detroit and in 2020 losing to Seattle. Franchise history. The Utah Starzz years (1997–2002). One of the eight original WNBA teams, the "Utah Starzz" (partially named after the old ABA team, the Utah Stars, but with the zz at the end like the Utah Jazz) never met the same success as their (former) counterpart in the NBA, the Utah Jazz . They held the distinction of having the worst record in the WNBA in 1997 and were the first team to select in the 1998 WNBA Draft. With their selection, they picked 7 ft. 2 in. center Margo Dydek, who easily became the tallest player in WNBA history. Unfortunately, the pickup of Dydek did little to help their cause and they again finished near the bottom of the league in the 1998 & 1999 seasons. The Starzz finally posted a winning record in 2000, but did not make the playoffs. In 2001, the Utah Starzz made it to the playoffs for the  first time, but they were quickly swept in the first round by the Sacramento Monarchs. In 2002, the Starzz made it to the playoffs again, and this time beat the Houston Comets in the Western Conference Semifinals 2 games to 1. Their playoff run ended in the Western Finals, however, as they were swept aside by the eventual champs, the Los Angeles Sparks. The San Antonio Silver Stars/Stars years (2002–2017). When the NBA divested itself of all of its WNBA franchises at the end of the 2002 season, the Utah Jazz ownership did not wish to retain ownership of  the Starzz. The Starzz then looked for local Utah potential buyers, but none were found, leaving the franchise with the choices of either being sold to out-of-town investor(s) or folding. The Starzz avoided folding when the franchise was sold to Peter Holt (the owner of the NBA's San Antonio Spurs) and relocated to San Antonio. The team's name was changed to the "San Antonio Silver Stars" and would change its team colors to the silver and black motif used by the Spurs. For the first four seasons (2003–2006) after moving to San Antonio, the franchise was  unable to change its old losing trend and did not make the playoffs. The 2007 season brought a lot of change for the Silver Stars. They acquired stars Becky Hammon, Ruth Riley, and Sandora Irvin in trades, selected Helen Darling in Charlotte Sting's dispersal draft, drafted Camille Little in the second round, signed Erin Buescher during the off-season, and retained key players, such as Marie Ferdinand-Harris, Vickie Johnson, Shanna Crossley, Kendra Wecker, and Sophia Young. The new-look Silver Stars became an instant contender in the Western Conference. On August 4, 2007 the Silver Stars clinched their  first playoff berth since the franchise relocated to San Antonio in 2003. In the first round, the Silver Stars were matched up against the Sacramento Monarchs. After losing game 1 in Sacramento, the Silver Stars would win games 2 and 3 to advance to the Western Finals. The Silver Stars faced off against a strong Phoenix Mercury team, which had the number 1 seed in the Western Conference. On September 1, 2007 the Silver Stars' season came to an end after the Stars lost Game 2 98–92 in Phoenix. Heading into 2008, the Silver Stars were regarded as a premiere  contender and did not disappoint. After an average start, the Stars seized control of the Western Conference and rode to the best record in the West, and the #1 seed in the playoffs. In the WNBA Finals, the Silver Stars faced the Detroit Shock, who were making their third WNBA Finals appearance in a row. In Game 1 at home, the Silver Stars fell behind early, but would tie the game at 69 with 2:15 left in the 4th quarter. But from there the Shock took control once again and won the game 77–69. The 2010 season was not much  different for the Stars. They finished with an unimpressive 14–20 record but sneaked into the third seed of the playoffs in a below-average Western Conference. The Silver Stars were swept in the first round of the playoffs by Phoenix and it was clear that some changes were needed. In the 2012 playoffs, the Silver Stars lost in the first round to the Los Angeles Sparks. The team would miss the playoffs in 2013. In the 2014 playoffs, the Stars would lose in the first round to the Minnesota Lynx. Relocation to Las Vegas. After the Spurs Sports & Entertainment decided  to put the team up for sale, following the 2017 season, it became apparent the team would be on the move. The NBA and WNBA approved the sale of the Stars to MGM Resorts on October 17, 2017, with the intention of relocating the team to Las Vegas and playing at the Michelob Ultra Arena starting in the 2018 season. On December 11, 2017, at a press conference inside the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, the team name was officially announced as the Las Vegas Aces. They received the first pick in the 2018 WNBA Draft , and picked South Carolina's A'ja Wilson. On January 14, 2021, Mark Davis, owner of the Las Vegas Raiders agreed to purchase the team from MGM. The purchase was approved by the league on February 12, 2021. Shortly after the purchase of the team by Davis, ground was broken on a training facility for the Aces in Henderson next to the Raiders facility. The 50,000 square foot facility will house the Aces’ practice facility, offices, training room and lockers and is expected to be completed by 2022. In May 2021, Davis hired former LSU Lady Tigers basketball head coach Nikki  Fargas as team president. On December 31, 2021, Becky Hammon was hired as head coach in a deal that made her the highest paid coach in the WNBA. Media coverage. Aces games are broadcast locally on the second digital subchannel of KVCW, which is branded as My LVTV. All games (excluding blackout games, which are available on ESPN3.com) are broadcast to the WNBA LiveAccess game feeds on the league website. Furthermore, some Aces games are broadcast nationally on ESPN, ESPN2, ABC, and the CBS Sports Network. The WNBA reached an eight-year agreement with ESPN, which pays rights fees to  the Aces, as well as other teams in the league. On radio, Aces games are broadcast locally on KWWN "ESPN Las Vegas".