CHELSEA GRAY HEARS A’ja Wilson speaks. A lot. About trophies. About buckets. About blocks. About the boards. But among the millions of words her outspoken teammate said during their five seasons and two WNBA championships together as teammates on the Las Vegas Aces, 11 stand out to Gray.
She heard them in June, when nothing was going well for the Aces, Gray or Wilson. Las Vegas, among the preseason favorites to win the 2025 title, was hovering around (or below) .500, and Gray remembers Wilson calling out to her.
“I should never have more assists than you,” Gray recalled Wilson telling him.
The words stung.
Through the end of June, the reigning WNBA MVP had dominated the “Point Gawd” in six games, and the Aces flipped the schedule to July with an 8-8 record. At the time, the 32-year-old Gray, who filled hours of video with flashy passes over the course of his career, averaged 4.3 assists.
“Our relationship is extremely honest and raw,” Gray said. “I cried in front of her. She cried in front of me.”
From July until the end of the regular season, Gray averaged 7.1 assists, including a season-high 14 in an August game against Dallas when the Aces were in the midst of a 16-game winning streak. In the postseason, Gray pushed that average up to 7.8, the highest postseason average of his career. She has 10 assists in three of the Aces’ 10 playoff games so far.
His response to Wilson’s challenge helped the Aces take a 2-0 lead over the Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA Finals, two wins away from their third championship in four years. Game 3 is Wednesday in Phoenix (8 ET, ESPN).
“It’s that kind of bond that allows us to have conversations in the middle of the game,” Gray said. “And we understand where we’re coming from.”
GRAY TAKES THE TRANSFER along the sideline and moves towards an open area. She sits on the bench, holding up a marker and a dry-erase board. It’s game 1 of the finals and the score is tied 23-23 with 8:49 left in the second quarter. Gray designs the play she wants so her teammates can see her thoughts.
After the Aces’ 79-76 victory, Gray was quick to point out that she was not using coach Becky Hammon’s personal chart. Even she’s not that bold. “They have two boards there,” Gray said. The one she used doesn’t do it technically belong to Gray. She happens to be the one to ask an assistant coach.
Gray began taking control of the board in huddles and occasional timeouts when she arrived in Las Vegas in 2021 after spending her first six seasons in Connecticut and Los Angeles.
She had already built a reputation as a player with extraordinary vision and a high IQ, and she has only built on that reputation since.
“When she picks up the clipboard, everyone goes for it,” said Aces guard Dana Evans, who had 21 points in the Game 1 victory. “We know she’s about to make some valid points. She’s not doing it just to do it.”
For Gray, it’s about helping her teammates see what she or Hammon are talking about. It’s something she’s done more frequently this year.
“They sometimes have to see it on the board rather than just saying it,” Gray said. “It’s made me a better player and a better leader, being able to explain things. And people listen. It’s made our groups a little tighter.”
Ceding some control to Gray is an easy decision for Hammon when the results are huge. Hammon can call for an out-of-bounds play, but if Gray sees something different, she has the power to create another.
That was the case in Game 3 of the Aces’ semifinal series against the Indiana Fever. With 3.6 seconds left in the third quarter, the referee handed the ball to Gray from the sideline on his side of half court. Gray acknowledged that Jackie Young had influence over his defender, who inadvertently gave Young a free throw to the basket. Young took off and Gray threw the ball down the field. It fell into Young’s hands immediately and she put it down.
“My thing is I always want them to have an aggressive character,” Hammon said. “Those possessions where it’s like they’re running over it, that’s the kind of rhythm I want all the time. So when they do it without me saying it, I love it.”
GRAY HITS THE BALL out of the air and onto the ground. The Aces lead by 17 midway through the fourth quarter of Game 2. As Gray trots toward the Aces’ basket, Young flanks her on the outside. Young gets a head start on Mercury Kahleah Copper’s guard and accelerates.
Gray sees the beginning of the separation and turns her head away from Young as she throws a perfectly weighted bounce pass past Copper’s outstretched fingers. Young recovers the ball in stride and puts it back for two of his 32 points of the day. The basket was Gray’s 10th assist, marking his second career Finals game with 10 points and 10 assists. Only three other players have played several matches of this type in their career: Alyssa Thomas, Courtney Vandersloot and Sue Bird.
Gray finished with 10 points, 10 assists, 8 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 blocks in the Aces’ 91-78 Game 2 win.
“She does so many little things,” Hammon said Sunday. “Her passing is elite, but it’s all the other little things she does that really helped us win the basketball game.”
A year ago, Gray was recovering from a broken left foot suffered in the 2023 WNBA Finals. She lacked her usual mobility and power. She couldn’t get the separation she needed for her precise passes, and she couldn’t get the lift she needed to hit her fadeaway jumper. The Aces lost to eventual champion Liberty in the semifinals.
Gray suffered injuries late in his college career at Duke that bled into his professional career. A fractured right kneecap sidelined her for her entire 2014 rookie season with Connecticut. But until that broken foot, she hadn’t been seriously injured as a professional and she had never returned mid-season before.
She wasn’t herself physically last season, but Gray said that changed this year. She said she is in her best shape since the 2023 championship.
“It really helps our team,” Gray said. “I am able to play longer at a high level, both offensively and defensively.”
Gray, who will play in her 20th WNBA Finals game on Wednesday, the most among active players, shows why she is the only pure point guard to ever win Finals MVP, which she did in 2022. She is shooting 45% from 3-point range this postseason, up from 37% during the regular season, and her best percentage in the postseason since that 2022 run. Practical defense creates opportunities and additional possessions. Gray averaged 1.4 interceptions in the regular season, but averaged 2.2 interceptions in the playoffs.
Mercury’s assistant, Kristi Toliver, knows how difficult it can be to slow Gray down. Toliver watched his development closely when Gray was the starting point guard in Los Angeles for the 2016 season, Gray’s first in a Sparks uniform.
“She’s not afraid of anything,” Toliver said. “She’s within reach and wants that moment. She wants that smoke.”
What Gray doesn’t want is another game in which Wilson can highlight his lack of production. If Gray wanted, she could blame the co-Defensive Player of the Year for outplaying her in Game 2. That is, after all, the kind of relationship they have. The kind of relationship that champions have.
“She will always be herself, and that allows you to be your true self,” Wilson said. “I think that’s always been our friendship and our bond. She’s calm despite the storm. I’m so grateful to her for being our leader.”
