LAS VEGAS — The Las Vegas Aces are two wins away from a third WNBA championship in four years after a dominant Game 2 victory over the Phoenix Mercury, led by an all-time great Finals performance from their stars Jackie Young, A’ja Wilson, and Chelsea Gray.
Young scored 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting in the third quarter alone, setting the WNBA Finals record for most points in a single frame, en route to a 32-point outing. Leading into Young’s third-quarter scorcher, A’ja Wilson became the third player in WNBA Finals history to score 20 points in the first half on her way to finishing with 28.
And of course, Gray was the catalyst of it all. “The Point Gawd” commanded the offense with 10 assists and added 10 points, seven of which came in a crucial first-quarter effort that allowed the Aces to keep pace early despite a blazing hot start by the Mercury.
With the series shifting to Phoenix for Games 3 and 4, the Aces are a few victories away from clinching the WNBA’s first seven-game Finals. If their “Big Three” can add a third ring to their collective resume as a trio in just five seasons as teammates, they would rightfully claim their place among the greatest cores in the history of the sport.
Big Threes and Dominant Cores
The concept of a big three core of players leading a franchise has become a defining trope in basketball since LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh popularized the term after teaming up in South Beach in the summer of 2010.
Since then, we’ve seen some trios establish themselves as legendary cores while others simply couldn’t balance the perils of stars’ clashing egos. Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green in Golden State come to mind as the most successful rendition, while Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden faltered in Brooklyn.
The W has its own deep history tied to big threes, dating back to the league’s first dynasty, the Houston Comets. Cynthia Cooper, Sheryl Swoopes, and Tina Thompson, who led the franchise to the first four titles in WNBA history. Cooper and Swoopes would retire with a combined five MVP awards, while Thompson retired as the league’s all-time leading scorer.
The Minnesota Lynx didn’t quite have a big three, but they did have a big four. Maya Moore, Seimone Augustus, Sylvia Fowles, and Lindsay Whalen led the franchise to four titles in the 2010s, but they never won back-to-back or even three in four years, unlike the Aces, who are two games away from doing so.
The Aces’ Path and Place In History
The Aces, for the first four seasons of this era, were a big four until they traded star guard Kelsey Plum to the Los Angeles Sparks this offseason. In 2021, you could even argue they were a big five with All-Star center Liz Cambage still in town, but the Phoenix Mercury shockingly and ironically eliminated that team in the WNBA Semifinals.
As recently as early August, it seemed this Aces core was going to limp to a second straight season without a title as they were fighting tooth and nail just to stay .500. We all know what’s happened since then and how the Aces can taste another title, but don’t let anyone tell you that this resurgence was a given or that it was simply supposed to happen.
No team in recent history has seen the lowest of lows and the highest of highs to the degree this core has, and the postseason shortcomings of the season-long championship favorites Lynx and Liberty have proven that the Aces were better for the trials and tribulations they’ve gone through this season.
The Big Three 🦾
Jackie Young, A’ja Wilson & Chelsea Gray were crucial in the @LVAces Game 2 win yesterday.
Young: 32 PTS | 8 REB | 3 3PM
◾️ Scored 21 PTS in the 3Q which marks the MOST EVER in an individual quarter of a WNBA Finals gameWilson: 28 PTS | 14 REB | 3 AST… pic.twitter.com/gHsI9dMsUn
— WNBA (@WNBA) October 6, 2025
Molded Through Adversity
In both series leading into the Finals, where they were quite literally a possession away from elimination and a humiliating upset, the Aces’ core managed to find an answer. In Game 5 against the Storm, it was Young winning the series with a putback lay-in. Against the Fever, it was Gray’s overtime 3-point barrage that pushed them over the hump.
In all of the moments in between, it’s been Wilson rattling off 30-point games seemingly every time the Aces most need her to. But an underrated quality of this trio is how they’ve helped keep all of the team’s role players focused on completing their championship mission.
When players like Kiah Stokes or Kierstan Bell could have checked out when they weren’t getting any minutes, they stuck with the culture that the core has done such a great job of implementing. When Jewel Loyd or Dana Evans could have given up when their shot stopped falling, they got affirmations and encouragement from some of the biggest stars in the league.
You see that all is paying off now. Stokes’ lockdown defense on the final possession of Game 1 secured the victory in a nail-biting come-from-behind win that was anchored by 38 combined points from Evans and Loyd off the bench. Bell is one of the league’s great stories this season, going from an unheralded reserve to a starter and meaningful contributor on a Finals team.
But most importantly of all, like Game 2 showed, the Aces’ big three can get it on their own, too.
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