Aces’ big questions for 2025 include Plum’s status, rookie’s return

Through the entire 2024 season, Aces players and staff wore hoodies emblazoned with the word “GRACE.”

It was coach Becky Hammon’s idea to set a theme for the year with a play on the team’s name.

In the end, the back-to-back WNBA champions needed it. They aimed for a three-peat and fell short, losing in the semifinals to the New York Liberty, whom the Aces dispatched in the 2023 Finals.

This is the first time since Hammon’s hiring that the team isn’t playing or celebrating during this time of year.

“It’s been weird,” assistant coach Tyler Marsh said at the Aces’ training facility Thursday. “I think the biggest takeaway is that we all need to give ourselves grace.”

Marsh spoke about the positive takeaways from the season, the lessons learned and the resilience of the group.

But the team is going to look different next year, a reality that made Hammon emotional when she talked about it after the team’s final game.

Less than a week later, the group has already shifted. Lead assistant coach Natalie Nakase was announced as head coach of the league’s new expansion team, the Golden State Valkyries, on Thursday.

Here are a few more things to watch as the Aces’ offseason unfolds:

‘Get A’ja some help’

General manager Natalie Williams, sitting at a conference table overlooking the team’s vacant practice courts Thursday, said the largest takeaway from the Aces’ tumultuous season is “obvious.”

“We’ve got to get A’ja (Wilson) some help,” Williams said. “She does so much, and we want to extend her career as much as possible.”

Wilson, the Aces’ star forward, won her third WNBA MVP award this year after leading the league in points and blocks per game while setting league records for points and rebounds in a season.

The Aces had no choice but to rely on her. Point guard Chelsea Gray missed the first 12 games of the season with a lower left leg injury, and the team struggled to find consistent production from their bench outside of Sixth Player of the Year Tiffany Hayes.

Centers Megan Gustafson and late-season addition Queen Egbo never seemed to gain Hammon’s trust, while center Kiah Stokes bounced in and out of the starting lineup. Forward Kierstan Bell and rookie guard Kate Martin didn’t record many substantial minutes as the season progressed, either.

“We know we’ve got a great core group, but (we’re focused on) just finding a bench that we know that Becky (Hammon) can feel comfortable with and play in the tough stretches in the playoffs,” Williams said.

Next season, the league is expanding its regular season from 40 games to 44, while the Finals will go from five games to seven. The Aces will want to be able to go deeper into their rotation, but Williams said the emphasis is not necessarily on adding a center.

That could be because there’s excitement surrounding Elizabeth Kitley, the center from Virginia Tech whom the Aces selected with the 24th pick of this year’s draft. The three-time ACC player of the year is on a deferred contract while recovering, with the Aces’ help, from a torn left ACL suffered during her final college season.

“We’re hoping to sign her come February, and I think she can be that person that we need,” Williams said. “She is a legit 6-foot-6, and just a great kid.”

Future of Plum, veterans

One of the major questions surrounding the Aces’ roster is whether guard Kelsey Plum will remain with the team in 2025.

Plum is the only member of the “Core Four” who isn’t signed through the 2025 season. Wilson signed a two-year extension in 2023, while Gray and Jackie Young were extended this year.

“(Plum) deciding to wait is 100 percent something she can do,” Williams said. “When the time comes, we will start negotiating. … I mean, it was a hard offseason for her. So we’re just going to be very supportive of her and do the best for her and the best for us.”

The Aces could just give Plum the Core Designation — a one-year contract equal to the supermax salary that would prevent Plum from signing with another team — when she becomes a free agent in January, but that’s not an option Williams was ready to discuss Thursday.

The Aces’ other free agents are seasoned veterans: Alysha Clark (37), Sydney Colson (35) and Hayes (35). Clark is the second-oldest player in the league, and Hayes signed with the Aces after previously saying she was retired.

WNBA legend Candace Parker’s retirement right before training camp was a “a glitch” for the Aces this offseason, Williams said, and the team is expecting all of its older players to communicate their plans sooner this time around.

“We had planned on having her,” Williams said. “And then we kind of had to scramble in free agency on who we could get after that, and a lot of players had already committed to teams.”

Coaching staff

With Nakase’s exit, there are some decisions to make surrounding the Aces’ coaching staff.

Williams said Hammon will have full jurisdiction to hire whomever she wants.

“Becky’s definitely going to bring in someone who fits her style, who challenges her and the other coaches,” Williams added.

Hammon’s former WNBA teammate Teresa Weatherspoon, who was just fired after only one season as coach of the Chicago Sky, fits that description. The question is whether Weatherspoon would be willing to go from leading a team to potentially shifting toward player development.

Nakase was the team’s first assistant, and that seems like a role that Marsh, the team’s player development coach, would be in line for. Former LSU assistant Charlene Thomas-Swinson holds the third assistant role.

Marsh said determining his role with the Aces in the wake of Nakase’s absence is “ongoing.”

He has experience as a player development coach and assistant for the NBA’s Indiana Pacers. He also served as an assistant coach for three seasons in the G League.

His experience being equivalent to Nakase’s, along with his reputation for developing players’ skills, has made him a strong candidate for the WNBA’s three head coaching vacancies.

“I definitely have aspirations of being a head coach,” Marsh said. “But I’m planted and rooted at where I’m at and doing the best job that I can. So I’m an Ace, and I plan on being an Ace.”

Contact Callie Fin at clawsonfreeman@reviewjournal.com. Follow @CallieJLaw on X