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Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon entered the season with her sights set on another WNBA championship. Hammon has won titles in two of the four seasons she has coached in Las Vegas, but this season has gotten off to a rough start for her team. After making a blockbuster three-team trade to bring in All-Star guard Jewell Loyd, the Aces find themselves at 4-4.
Loyd was a major addition for Hammon and the Aces this offseason. She brought the team another perimeter threat to pair with Chelsea Gray, which the team hoped would take the offensive pressure off of A'ja Wilson. However, the reigning MVP and her teammates are having trouble adjusting to the new addition.
Loyd is in the last year of a two-year deal she signed with the Seattle Storm in 2024. The 31-year-old makes $249,032 this season(according to Spotrac), but her slow start has fans wondering if Las Vegas will bother trying to re-sign her this offseason. After a 97-89 home loss to the Los Angeles Sparks on Wednesday, Hammon brought up a potential solution that shifts Loyd into a bench role.
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"I think she's getting good looks, she has just missed them," Hammon said about her new star and a possible bench role. "Yes, it has been talked about, brought up by her."
Loyd is not the only player on Hammon's roster who is struggling this season, but her drop-off is the most severe. Last season, the All-Star averaged 19.7 points per game, sixth-best in the entire WNBA. Through eight games this season, however, she is scoring just 9.1 points per contest. The 10.6 point difference is one of the largest in WNBA history.
While a new role off the bench could help Loyd break out of her slump to start the season, the Aces' roster needs to find another gear to reclaim their spot as one of the league's top contenders.
Jewell Loyd's struggles stand out, but A'ja Wilson said the Aces need to be better under Hammon
When looking at how the Aces have performed so far this season, Loyd's statistics are the most glaring problem. However, Wilson believes that the lack of effort has spread throughout the entire team, included her. After the Aces started the season 2-2, the reigning WNBA MVP gave her thoughts on her teams struggles so far in 2025.
"We just gotta be better," Wilson said about her team's slow start. "We had bad games. We honestly just played bad, we looked bad, and that wasn't us. It's on us to look better, to play better...we just played like s***."
Since those comments, Wilson and the Aces have gone 2-2, including a blowout loss to the Golden State Valkyries. Now, their coach will have to right the ship without her superstar after Wilson left Wednesday's game against the Los Angeles Sparks with a head injury.
Las Vegas was in the WNBA semifinals last season and made arguably the biggest move of the offseason. However, a concerning start for Loyd puts a big obstacle in Hammon's way as she tries to press the right buttons and help her team return to their former glory.
