The Las Vegas Aces have one of the most unusual histories in professional basketball. Although the Aces did not arrive in Las Vegas until 2018, the franchise itself dates to the very first season of the WNBA in 1997.
The organization began as the Utah Starzz, moved to San Antonio in 2003 and became the San Antonio Silver Stars, later shortened to the San Antonio Stars. In 2018, the franchise moved to Las Vegas and became the Aces.
The move to Nevada transformed the franchise. After several decades of searching for sustained success, the Aces developed into one of the WNBA’s premier organizations, winning championships in 2022, 2023 and 2025. The 2022 championship was especially historic because it was the first major professional sports championship won by a team representing the state of Nevada.
At the center of the modern Aces has been A’ja Wilson, who became the first player in WNBA history to win four regular-season MVP awards and has played a central role in all three Las Vegas championships.
The Beginning: Utah Starzz, 1997-2002
The franchise was one of the WNBA’s original eight teams, beginning play in 1997 as the Utah Starzz.
The original owner was Utah businessman Larry H. Miller, who also owned the NBA’s Utah Jazz. The Starzz played their home games in Salt Lake City, Utah The Jazz. struggled during their first several seasons, but eventually became a playoff team.
The franchise’s first major draft success came in 1998 when Utah selected Margo Dydek with the No. 1 overall pick. At 7-foot-2, Dydek became the tallest player in WNBA history.
The Starzz finally reached the playoffs in 2001. In 2002, they won their first playoff series, defeating the Houston Comets before losing to the eventual champion Los Angeles Sparks in the Western Conference Finals.
The San Antonio Years, 2003-2017
After the 2002 season, the franchise moved to San Antonio and became the San Antonio Silver Stars.
The team was owned by Spurs Sports & Entertainment, the organization associated with the San Antonio Spurs. The franchise later shortened its name to the San Antonio Stars in 2014.
San Antonio produced some of the most important players in franchise history, including:
Becky Hammon, Sophia Young, Kayla McBride, Danile Robinson, Margo Dydek, Kelsey Plum, Moriah Jefferson, Dearica Hamby, Danile Robinson, Margo Dydek, Kelsey Plum, Moriah Jefferson, Dearica Hamby
The high point of the San Antonio era came in 2008, when the Silver Stars finished 24-10, the best record in the WNBA, and reached the WNBA Finals. They ultimately lost to the Detroit Shock.
Becky Hammon became the face of the franchise during this period. She was a multiple-time All-Star and All-WNBA selection and eventually had her No. 25 retired by the organization.
The Las Vegas Move
In October 2017, the WNBA announced that MGM Resorts International had purchased the San Antonio Stars and would move the franchise to Las Vegas.
The organization was renamed the Las Vegas Aces, and Bill Laimbeer became president of basketball operations and head coach.
The Aces immediately received a major opportunity.
They won the 2018 WNBA Draft Lottery and selected A’ja Wilson No. 1 overall.
Wilson averaged 20.7 points and 8.0 rebounds as a rookie and won the 2018 WNBA Rookie of the Year Award.
The following year, Las Vegas won the draft lottery again and selected Jackie Young No. 1 overall, giving the franchise three consecutive No. 1 overall selections dating back to the San Antonio era. That decision became one of the foundations of the championship team.
Aces Ownership History
Because this is a franchise history rather than simply a Las Vegas history, the ownership timeline includes the organization’s previous cities.
Years
Owner
1997-2002
Larry H. Miller — Utah Starzz
2003-2017
Spurs Sports & Entertainment / Peter Holt ownership — San Antonio Silver Stars/Stars
2017-2021
MGM Resorts International — San Antonio Stars/Las Vegas Aces
2021-present
Mark Davis — Las Vegas Aces
MGM purchased the franchise in 2017 and moved it to Las Vegas.
Mark Davis, owner of the Las Vegas Raiders, purchased the Aces in 2021, with the transaction approved by the WNBA and NBA in February 2021.
Davis’s ownership coincided with the beginning of the franchise’s championship era.
Home Arenas Through the Years
The Aces franchise has played in several different buildings.
Utah Starzz
Delta Center — Salt Lake City, Utah
The Starzz played their home games in the same arena that housed the Utah Jazz.
San Antonio Silver Stars/Stars
AT&T Center — San Antonio, Texas The team played most of its San Antonio history at the arena that was also home to the Spurs.
Freman Coliseum — San Antonio, Texas The Stars temporarily played their 2015 home games at Freeman Coliseum while renovations were taking place at AT&T Center.
Las Vegas Aces
Mandalay Bay Events Center — 2018-2021
The Aces began their Las Vegas existence playing at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.
Michelob ULTRA Arena — 2021-present
The building was renamed Michelob ULTRA Arena in 2021. It remains the home of the Aces and is located at Mandalay Bay. The arena has a capacity of approximately 12,000 for basketball. The Aces have developed an especially strong home-court following in Las Vegas, including a long series of sellouts in recent seasons.
Major Award Winners as Members of the Aces
The modern Aces have produced an extraordinary collection of individual award winners.
A’ja Wilson
Wilson has won:
2018 Rookie of the Year
2020 MVP
2022 MVP
2022 Defensive Player of the Year
2023 Defensive Player of the Year
2023 Finals MVP
2024 MVP
2025 MVP
2025 Defensive Player of the Year
2025 Finals MVP
Her four MVP awards are the most in WNBA history. In 2025 she became the first player to win MVP, Defensive Player of the Year and Finals MVP in the same season.
Jackie Young
Young won:
2022 Most Improved Player
2019 All-Rookie Team
She also became an important member of the championship teams.
Kelsey Plum
Plum won:
2021 Sixth Player of the Year
2022 All-Star Game MVP
She developed from a reserve into one of the WNBA’s most dangerous perimeter scorers and played a major role on the 2022 and 2023 championship teams.
Dearica Hamby
Hamby won:
2019 Sixth Player of the Year
2020 Sixth Player of the Year
She also became famous in Las Vegas for one of the greatest shots in franchise history —the “Hamby Heave”, in the 2019 playoffs.
Alysha Clark Clark won the 2023 Sixth Player of the Year Award as a member of the Aces.
Tiffany Hayes
Hays won the 2024 Sixth Player of the Year Award after joining Las Vegas.
Becky Hammon
Hammon won the 2022 WNBA Coach of the Year Award in her first season as Aces head coach.
The Aces’ WNBA MVP Winners
The Aces have one regular-season MVP winner: A’ja Wilson.
However, because Wilson has won four times, the franchise has accumulated four MVP awards:
Year
MVP
Team
2020
A’ja Wilson
Las Vegas Aces
2022
A’ja Wilson
Las Vegas Aces
2024
A’ja Wilson
Las Vegas Aces
2025
A’ja Wilson
Las Vegas Aces
Wilson’s 2025 MVP was historic because it was her fourth, making her the first four-time WNBA MVP.
The Best Aces Drafts
1. 2018 — A’ja Wilson, No. 1 Overall
This was the franchise-changing selection.
Wilson immediately became an elite player, averaging 20.7 points and 8 rebounds as a rookie and winning Rookie of the Year.
She subsequently became a four-time MVP, multiple-time Defensive Player of the Year and three-time champion.
Verdict: One of the most successful No. 1 overall selections in WNBA history.
2. 2019 — Jackie Young, No. 1 Overall
Young was a somewhat less obvious choice than Wilson. The Aces waited until shortly before the draft to make their final decision because Young was a junior at Notre Dame and had to declare for the draft after the NCAA season ended.
The decision worked.
Young became an All-Star, Most Improved Player and key member of two championship teams before helping the Aces win again in 2025.
3. 2017 — Kelsey Plum, No. 1 Overall
The selection technically came while the franchise was still the San Antonio Stars, but Plum belongs in the Aces franchise history.
Plum was the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer when San Antonio selected her.
She developed into a premier WNBA scorer and later became an All-WNBA First Team selection, All-Star and Sixth Player of the Year.
4. 2015 — Dearica Hamby, No. 6 Overall
Hamby was selected by San Antonio with the sixth pick.
She eventually became one of the franchise’s most valuable players and won Sixth Player of the Year twice.
Her 2019 playoff shot against Chicago became an iconic moment in Las Vegas sports history.
5. 1998 — Margo Dydek, No. 1 Overall
The selection happened during the Utah Starzz era.
Dydek’s 7-foot-2 frame made her an extraordinary defensive presence and one of the most recognizable players in early WNBA history.
She did not turn the struggling Starzz into a championship contender, but selecting the tallest player in league history gave the young franchise one of the most memorable players of the WNBA’s early years.
Players Traded Away Before Becoming Stars
This is one category where the Aces franchise is different from some older NBA and WNBA organizations. There are not many clear-cut examples of the franchise trading away a future superstar before that player became a star.
One of the closest examples is Becky Hammon, although the circumstances need to be explained carefully. San Antonio acquired Hammon from the New York Liberty in 2007. She became an All-WNBA player and franchise icon in San Antonio rather than being a player the organization traded away before stardom.
A more important lesson comes from players who left Las Vegas after becoming successful, rather than before.
Dearica Hamby
Hamby was traded to the Los Angeles Sparks in 2023 after becoming a two-time Sixth Player of the Year and championship contributor. The trade helped Las Vegas create roster space for veteran additions including Candace Parker and Alysha Clark.
Kelsey Plum
Plum was eventually traded away from Las Vegas after becoming an All-Star, All-WNBA player and two-time champion.
Thus, Plum and Hamby are better described as successful Aces players who were traded after becoming stars, rather than players the franchise mistakenly gave away before their emergence.
The Most Notable Aces Coaches
Dan Hughes
Hughes was one of the most important coaches in the franchise’s San Antonio history.
He won WNBA Coach of the Year in 2007 and guided the Silver Stars to the 2008 WNBA Finals.
Bill Laimbeer
Laimbeer became the first head coach of the Las Vegas Aces.
He helped establish the foundation for the modern team and guided Las Vegas to the 2020 WNBA Finals.
Becky Hammon
Hammon is the most important coach in Aces history to date.
After starring for the San Antonio franchise as a player, she returned as Las Vegas head coach in 2022.
In her first season, the Aces won the WNBA championship and Hammon won Coach of the Year.
She then coached Las Vegas to championships in 2022, 2023 and 2025. By the end of 2025, she had three WNBA championships as a head coach.
The connection between Hammon and the franchise is particularly unusual: she was once one of its greatest players and later became the coach who delivered its first championships.
The Aces Championships
The franchise has won three WNBA championships.
2022 — First Championship
The Aces defeated the Connecticut Sun 3-1 in the Finals.
A’ja Wilson was the centerpiece, while Chelsea Gray won Finals MVP.
The championship was the first major professional sports championship for a team representing Nevada.
2023 — Back-to-Back Champions
Las Vegas finished the regular season 34-6, then defeated New York in the Finals.
The Aces became the first WNBA team in more than 20 years to win consecutive championships.
A’ja Wilson won Finals MVP.
2025 — Third Championship
The Aces defeated the Phoenix Mercury 4-0 in the Finals.
It was the franchise’s third championship in four seasons.
Wilson won both the regular-season MVP and Finals MVP, while also winning Defensive Player of the Year.
The championship made Las Vegas only the second WNBA franchise to win three championships in a four-season span, joining the Houston Comets.
Five Most Outstanding Players in Franchise History
This list considers the entire franchise — Utah, San Antonio and Las Vegas — and combines individual accomplishments, longevity and importance to the organization.
1. A’ja Wilson
Wilson is the defining player of the Las Vegas era.
She has won four MVP awards, multiple Defensive Player of the Year awards, two Finals MVPs and three championships.
Her combination of scoring, rebounding, shot blocking and defensive versatility has made her the centerpiece of the Aces dynasty.
2. Becky Hammon
Before becoming the franchise’s championship-winning coach, Hammon was one of its greatest players.
She became an All-WNBA performer in San Antonio and was eventually honored with the retirement of her No. 25.
Her unusual transition from franchise star to championship coach makes her perhaps the most unique figure in the organization’s history.
3. Kelsey Plum
Plum went from the No. 1 pick in San Antonio to an important piece of the Las Vegas championship teams.
She became a Sixth Player of the Year, All-Star Game MVP and All-WNBA First Team selection while wearing an Aces uniform.
4. Sophia Young
Young was one of the franchise’s most important players during its San Antonio era.
She earned multiple All-WNBA and All-Defensive selections and helped establish the Silver Stars as a legitimate contender.
5. Jackie Young
Young developed from the No. 1 overall pick into a versatile championship player.
She won Most Improved Player in 2022, became an All-Star and played major roles on the 2022, 2023 and 2025 championship teams.
Chelsea Gray deserves special mention immediately outside this five. Her leadership and playmaking were fundamental to the first two Las Vegas championships, and she won the 2022 Finals MVP award.
The Most Outstanding Play in Aces History
There are several legitimate candidates.
The Hamby Heave in 2019 was one of the franchise’s earliest signature moments. With Las Vegas facing elimination against Chicago, Dearica Hamby stole the ball and launched a remarkable 40-footer with less than six seconds remaining.
The shot went in, sending the Aces to the semifinals.
But the franchise’s most extraordinary play came six years later.
A’ja Wilson’s 2025 Finals Game-Winner
In Game 3 of the 2025 WNBA Finals, Las Vegas was playing Phoenix.
The Aces had led by 17 points, but Phoenix fought back and tied the game late. With five seconds remaining, Becky Hammon called timeout.
The plan was simple:
Get the ball to A’ja Wilson.
Chelsea Gray inbounded the ball. Wilson took a couple of dribbles and hit a turnaround jumper over two defenders.
The shot fell with less than one second remaining.
Phoenix could not answer.
The Aces won the game and took a 3-0 Finals lead, eventually sweeping the Mercury to win their third championship.
The WNBA noted that Wilson’s basket was only the fourth game-winning basket in the final second of a Finals game in league history under the applicable statistical record.
For that reason, the 2025 Wilson game-winner is a strong choice for the most outstanding single play in Aces franchise history.
The Las Vegas Aces Legacy
The Aces story is really three stories in one.
The Utah Starzz were an original WNBA franchise trying to survive in the league’s early years.
The San Antonio Silver Stars/Stars developed into a competitive organization and produced players such as Becky Hammon and Sophia Young.
Then came Las Vegas.
The arrival of A’ja Wilson, followed by Jackie Young, Kelsey Plum, Chelsea Gray and a collection of veteran players, transformed the organization.
The results speak for themselves:
1997: Franchise enters the WNBA
2002: Utah reaches the Western Conference Finals
2008: San Antonio reaches the WNBA Finals
2017: Franchise sold to MGM Resorts and relocated to Las Vegas
2018: A’ja Wilson selected No. 1 overall
2018: Wilson wins Rookie of the Year
2020: Aces reach the WNBA Finals
2021: Mark Davis purchases the Aces
2022: First WNBA championship
2022: First major professional championship for Nevada
2023: Second consecutive WNBA championship
2025: Third WNBA championship
2025: A’ja Wilson wins her fourth MVP and second Finals MVP
The franchise that began as the Utah Starzz in 1997 has therefore evolved into one of the defining organizations of the modern WNBA.
And perhaps the most fitting part of the story is that Becky Hammon, once a star player during the San Antonio chapter, returned to the franchise decades later and coached it to three championships.
From Utah to San Antonio to Las Vegas, the franchise’s history is a story of relocation, rebuilding, star players and, ultimately, championship basketball.
Artie Fischal
