We know that as per the 2026 WNBA GM Survey, the Las Vegas Aces are entering the 2026 WNBA season as the top favorites to win the title once again. The franchise has established itself as a true dynasty after winning three of the last four WNBA championships, only missing out in 2024 when the New York Liberty claimed the crown.
Now, they will be looking to defend their title once again, and with four-time league MVP A’ja Wilson still anchoring the roster, they remain the team to beat heading into the new campaign. Wilson herself has already made the team’s mindset clear ahead of the season, saying: “I’m not leaving Vegas. I’m looking to win another one. I’m looking to defend a championship that we have in Las Vegas.”
The State of the Dynasty
Winning three out of the last four titles sure makes the Las Vegas Aces a proven dynasty at this point. In fact, even the one they didn’t win, they made it to the semifinals. So, by all measures, they remain firmly at the center of the league’s title picture heading into this season.
In some way, it’s like the way last season turned out for them strengthened the dynasty even more. Unlike their more dominant championship run in 2023, last season forced them to fight a little harder. In the earlier part of the season,specifically at the All-Star break, they sat below .500 and looked vulnerable. In fact, they suffered a shocking 53-point loss to the Minnesota Lynx. And for a moment, questions about whether they are beginning to crack started coming up.
But they responded with one of the most dramatic turnarounds in recent WNBA history. The team regrouped and closed the regular season on a stunning 16-game winning streak. That momentum followed them directly into the playoffs, where they went through the physical Seattle Storm team, and the resilient Indiana Fever, before sweeping the Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA Finals to capture another title.
And the core of the team that pulled that off, they have somehow managed to retain. This offseason, they secured Wilson to a three-year, $5 million fully guaranteed supermax extension. They also re-signed guards Jackie Young, Chelsea Gray, and Jewell Loyd to long-term deals as well. And for depth, they added players like Chennedy Carter, Stephanie Talbot, and Brianna Turner.
And the foundation of this roster is still operating at an elite level. Wilson especially is coming off as one of the greatest individuals, the league has ever seen. Last season, she became the first player in WNBA history to win MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, Finals MVP, and the scoring title in the same season. Now 29 in the prime of her career, alongside the core that the Aces have retained, they remain the biggest force in the league.
Why A’ja Wilson Still Rules the WNBA
And of course, that prediction is quite understandable. A’ja Wilson is the kind of player that dominates both ends of the floor, offensively and defensively. Beyond that, she also has the ability to completely control games in both areas like no other person does. Her combination of graceful footwork, physical strength, mobility, and elite rim protection allows her to impact virtually every possession. And it was evident in her stats last season. In over 40 regular-season games, she averaged 23.4 points, 10.2 rebounds, and a league-leading 2.3 blocks per game. And she did this while shooting 50.5 percent from the field, and a career-best 42.4 percent from three-point range.
Beyond the numbers, Wilson’s leadership has also become one of the defining strengths of the Las Vegas Aces dynasty. When they struggled early in 2025 and fell below 500 before the All-Star break, Wilson was one of the steady forces that helped keep the team together before their remarkable turnaround. Most notably, after their devastating 53-point loss to the Minnesota Lynx, which left them with a 14–14 record, Wilson took a firm leadership stance. She sent a group text telling her teammates, “If you weren’t embarrassed from yesterday, then don’t come into this gym. We need the mindset to shift because that was embarrassing”.
And she does lead with her performance as well, especially in the biggest moments. She averaged 28.5 points and 11.8 rebounds across the Finals last season. And she became the first player to ever lead a Finals series in scoring, rebounding, and blocks simultaneously.
So it’s safe to say, even as the 2026 season begins, there is still no clear challenger to Wilson’s place as the best player in the WNBA.
Veteran Continuity: Why Vegas Still Trusts Its Core
The Las Vegas Aces are entering this season keeping together the veteran core that helped deliver another title in 2025. They literally re-signed every starter from last season’s championship team. And that’s understandable, even expected.
One thing retaining their core does is that it maintains a level of chemistry and familiarity in the team. Most notably, there’s the long-established connection between A’ja Wilson, Gray, and Young. The trio have been together since 2021. And so they have developed the kind of chemistry that only years of playing together can create. This means that they wouldn’t really struggle to understand Becky Hammon’s offensive and defensive concepts anymore. And that level of system mastery is indeed a major competitive advantage.
And perhaps the biggest advantage of all is the experience that they have. The Las Vegas Aces enter 2026 with one of the most playoff-tested groups in the league. Their roster carries a combined 20 WNBA championships and more postseason experience than any other team in the WNBA. That familiarity gives them an unusually high floor as a contender because the group has already experienced nearly every possible playoff situation together.
New Pieces and Supporting Cast Questions
One of the major priorities that the Las Vegas Aces had entering into the offseason was to fix their depth. Of course, they still had one of the strongest star cores in the league. But the front office understood that relying too heavily on the starting lineup over another long season could become risky.
As a result, they’ve brought in strategic reinforcements like Chennedy Carter. Carter has the ability to attack downhill and create her own shot. And she showed that during her preseason debut, where she scored 18 points in just 19 minutes. Her presence simply means the Aces now have another player capable of carrying stretches offensively when the starters rest.
Defensively, the Las Vegas Aces addressed another critical area by bringing in Brianna Turner. Standing at 6’3″ with a long 6’7″ wingspan, she has the physical profile required to disrupt opposing offenses at multiple levels. But beyond all that, one of her perks is her versatility. While she’s capable of protecting the rim, she can also switch across multiple positions. And that makes her presence especially important when A’ja Wilson is not playing.
Last season, the team struggled with transition, ranking near the bottom of the league in fastbreak production. The additions of Carter and Turner are also specifically designed to add more athleticism, defensive length, and pace to the roster.
Stephanie Talbot is another major addition. She brings valuable spacing and veteran stability to the Aces rotation. Her outside shooting also helps stretch opposing defenses and creates more room for Wilson to operate inside the paint, and also for other offensive threats like Jewell Loyd.
With all these additions, the biggest question now is whether or not they are strong enough to sustain another championship run deep into October. On paper, the answer appears to be yes. The front office successfully addressed many of the weaknesses of the 2025 season, particularly bench scoring and defensive depth. And so it’s safe to say that the overall roster now looks more balanced and less dependent on exhausting minutes from the core stars.
The Biggest Threats to Another Championship Run
Even though the Las Vegas Aces enter the 2026 season as the league’s biggest championship favorites, they still face realistic threats that could challenge their pursuit of another championship. One of the very obvious challenges is that other competitors like the New York Liberty, Atlanta Dream and the Indiana Fever have also been reinforced. And so, if they want to go all the way again, they will be facing a stronger kind of opposition.
Another possible threat to the Aces championship run is the physical state of the Aces’ core. The issue is not necessarily that the Aces’ stars are declining. But players like Chelsea Gray and Jewell Loyd are now entering the later stages of their primes. At this stage, recovery over a demanding 40-game season can become increasingly difficult. Even before the regular season began, A’ja Wilson dealt with a neck injury that sidelined her during preseason action. That was an early reminder of how thin the margin for error can become.
At the same time, younger teams like the Indiana Fever also seem to be catching up. In fact, with Caitlin Clark back healthy, and coming off an MVP performance during the FIBA World Cup qualifying tournament, The Fever are no longer viewed as an inexperienced rebuilding team. Instead, with that core of Aliyah Boston, Kelsey Mitchell, and Clark, they are a dangerous opponent capable of upsetting established powers in a playoff series. In fact, last season even without Clark, they almost caused an upset against this very Ace team in the semifinals.
Another area of concern is defensive consistency. While Las Vegas still possesses one of the most dangerous offenses in basketball, there were moments late in 2025 when the defense looked vulnerable. Transition defense, in particular, became a noticeable issue, with opponents frequently pushing the pace and generating easy scoring opportunities. Although the team has brought in defensive reinforcement like Brianna Turner, it’s not expected that she’ll be a core part of the team yet.
None of these concerns however eliminate the Las Vegas Aces from championship contention. In many ways, the Aces still remain the standard of the league. But it just appears as if the margin separating the Aces from the rest of the contenders is becoming smaller with every season.
Final Outlook: Can the Aces Return to the Top?
As long as A’ja Wilson remains at the peak of her powers, and with the continuity of veterans like Chelsea Gray, Jackie Young, and Jewell Loyd, Las Vegas will always enter a season with the highest possible ceiling. And with the upgraded bench depth and defensive versatility from the offseason, the roster appears built to survive another long postseason journey. In fact, most projections place them firmly near the top of the WNBA standings once again. Specifically, the expectation is that they will finish around first or second in the league. And of course, also with over a 30-win record.
Also, their title odds entering the year sit roughly between +400 and +475. In other words, the oddsmakers and analysts also still view them as one of the strongest championship bets. In short, until another team consistently proves capable of knocking them off the throne in the postseason, the Aces still look like the team to beat entering 2026.
