Yet another get-together between the Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty features WNBA hardware on the line.
Amidst the countless changes on the WNBA landscape, one victorious staple apparently remains.
The defending postseason champion Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty are once again set to play for some WNBA hardware on Tuesday night, engaging in the finale of 2026 Commissioner's Cup play at Barclays Center. The winner of Tuesday's game will become the first repeat winner of the in-season title, which was secured by the Indiana Fever last time around.
Las Vegas and New York previously played for in-season glory back in 2023, which saw the latter take an 82-63 decision in Sin City. MVP Jonquel Jones posted a 16-point, 15-rebound double-double while Marine Johannés built a 17-point performance off the bench with five three-pointers. That came one year after Vegas vanquished Chicago by a 92-83 final, one where divine intervention from "Point Gawd" Chelsea Gray (19 points) secured the title.
Aces vs. Liberty: A Rematch of the 2023 WNBA Commissioner's Cup
Sin City would take revenge against the Liberty in the 2023 postseason, as A'ja Wilson's takeover guided the Aces to a 3-1 win in the ensuing championship set. The Liberty ironically repeated the journey in the following season, falling to the Minnesota Lynx in the Commissioner's Cup final before gaining similar vengeance in the fall. New York defeated Vegas in the middle leg of their postseason run, also by a 3-1 margin.
While the Liberty has lost four of five entering Tuesday's game, the lone win in that span came in Las Vegas exactly one week ago. Despite losing Satou Sabally to concussion protocol, Breanna Stewart scored 20 points to complement a 16-point, 10-rebound box score for Sabrina Ionescu in an 87-76 tally. Jackie Young led the Aces with 19 points in defeat.
Vengeful Vegas has gotten back in the win column twice since then to contrast the reeling Liberty, most recently prevailing by a 107-99 final in Chicago on Sunday. Wilson lived up to her MVP billing with 30 points and 15 boards while Young was right behind with 28 on her scoresheet.
Both New York and Las Vegas are missing major contributors heading into Tuesday's game: the Aces' injury report recently downgraded Wilson from questionable to out due to a leg injury, while Sabally remains stationed in protocol after lasting just eight minutes in the aforementioned Sin City tilt.
What: Las Vegas Aces (14-5, 6-1) @ New York Liberty (12-8, 6-0) (Commissioner's Cup final)
Where: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY
When/Watch: Tuesday, 7 p.m. ET, Prime Video
Who's Favored: NYL -6.5 (o/u 173.5 via FanDuel)
With the dream shake, NaLyssa Smith! 🔥👀 pic.twitter.com/IaEfbsOlPg
— WNBA Lead (@WNBALead) September 28, 2025
Ace to Watch: NaLyssa Smith
Wilson's injury could be another major opportunity for Smith, who has reinvented herself into a more traditional interior threat during an eventful year in Sin City.
Smith has remained more camped out under the basket during her time as an Ace, shooting over 60% from the floor between this year and last since donning black. She has been a bully in the paint, pulling in multiple offensive boards on 14 occasions (during which Las Vegas carries a 14-3 record) and reaching double figures 10 times (8-2).
New York has done a solid job shutting down the top of the key (Liberty opponents have the fourth-worst three-point percentage in the league this season), but has struggled to finish the job by allowing over eight offensive boards and just under 40 points in the paint per game (both ninth in the W entering Tuesday play). With both Sabally and Wilson out, this feels like a brilliant opportunity for Smith to further introduce herself to a wider audience, especially with a formidable inside challenge like Jones waiting for her.
Sabrina Ionescu with a BIG SMILE after this deep three!
📺 NBC and Peacock pic.twitter.com/qhgRE8H2Jv
— WNBA on NBC and Peacock (@WNBAonNBC) May 24, 2026
New Yorker to Watch: Sabrina Ionescu
Even though the Liberty's issues go deeper beyond one player, it still feels like a matter of when, not if, Ionescu will break out of her injury-induced stupor.
Flashes of the Ionescu the hardwood world has come to adore have emerged. The Aces know that all too well after last week, as Ionescu showcased her own interior tenacity in her first double-double showing of the year. Keeping that momentum has proven tough, as she recorded only five rebounds in the last two games (losses to Seattle and Golden State) combined while shooting 7-of-22 from the field.
Ionescu is a major part of making this era right, as her Bay Area connections indirectly set the stage for the arrival of longtime Golden State Warriors assistant Chris DeMarco's ascension to the top metropolitan quarter-zip. If anything, New York has proven it can still shoot its way out of jams, and Ionescu rediscovering her outside game would go a long way to forming some offensive consistency. Las Vegas is 12th in the league in treys allowed this season, something Leonie Fiebich noticed en route to a 4-of-5 outing last Tuesday.
They Said It
"We didn’t beat somebody tonight. We outscored somebody, and that’s not the way I want to win games. We’ll take it. It’s a quality win. That team’s playing well, but we better fix our defense overnight here or else we’re going to get smacked by 30 in New York ... You see in glimpses when we play defense, and we’re able to hold teams in the teens, it becomes a separation factor for us. So, instead of one quarter like that, give me three out of four like that or four out of four. So, we’re still working our way there. We’re not supposed to be a perfect product right now.”— Aces head coach Becky Hammon, the Aces' last win over Chicago (h/t Elaine Blum, Sports Illustrated)
"You can’t play with heart and play with effort just when things are going good. It’s really the moments when you’re at the lowest. And this team, we’re obviously not a finished product, but this wasn’t a great showing ... When you think it’s going to go good, sometimes it goes bad and vice versa. I think that the biggest thing that I can continue to preach to the teammates is not [get] too high or too low. Of course, these games when you take the ‘L,’ these matter later, but we really want to just continue to be our best. I think that, of course, [there might be] some that we’re going to look back on and really be upset at later, but the focus is on now, and that’s all we can do.” — Stewart on the state of the Liberty (h/t Madeline Kenney, New York Post)
Prediction
New York got the better of Las Vegas last time around, but, for the time being, it's clear that the Aces are in a more suitable place to contend for a title. The Liberty can embrace a relatively consequence-free opportunity to start making things right, but earning two wins over the mighty Aces in the span of a week seems like a testy ask at this point, considering where they are. Expect the usual thrills from Las Vegas and New York, but the former seems better suited to emerge with the in-season glory, even with Wilson temporarily out of commission.
Aces 87, Liberty 81
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
