Las Vegas Aces Play 'Atrocious' Defense As They Lose At Home To Seattle Storm

Power forward A'ja Wilson came back from injury and recorded a double-double. However, she struggled at the foul line and had seven turnovers as the Las Vegas Aces dropped to 5-7 on the season with the loss to the Seattle Storm.

Jun 20, 2025; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Las Vegas Aces guard Jackie Young (0) passes the ball against Seattle Storm guard Skylar Diggins (4) during the first half of a WNBA basketball game at Michelob Ultra Arena. | Lucas Peltier-Imagn Images

Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon was not pleased with what she saw Friday night from her team defensively. In her post-game news conference she answered a few questions and then picked up and left rather abruptly.

The Aces fell to 5-7 on the season as they blew an 11-point third-quarter lead and lost to the Seattle Storm by the final score of 90-83 Friday night at the Michelob Ultra Arena.

"It's gross. It was atrocious," Hammon said. "Nothing is off the table. I have to talk to my assistant coaches and see what we can do differently. Our defense was atrocious in the third quarter. The first five couldn't get any worse."

The only player Hammon praised after the game was reserve guard Aaliyah Nye who played tough defense coming in the second half. The Aces played their second unit throughout most of the second half.

"She gets minutes because she plays hard," Hammon said. "I can't say that down the line."

The game marked the return of power forward A'ja Wilson, who recorded another double-double with 20 points and 14 rebounds. However, Wilson was unreliable from the free-throw line as she missed 5-of-13 attempts. Wilson was averaging 91 percent from the line coming into the game. Jackie Young led the team with 22 points.

Wilson drew Hammon's ire after the game with her seven turnovers.

"I thought she was a little bit rusty tonight." Hammon said. "The turnovers were uncharacteristic of her play."

Wilson agreed with her coach.

"I have to stop giving the ball to the other team," Wilson said after the game. "That's not how I wanted to come back."

Hammon was extremely disturbed most by the lack of defensive effort put forth by the Aces starting five as a whole.

"The bigger issue is our defense," Hammon said. "They [Seattle] looked like they were doing warmup drills all night. They did whatever they wanted."

Wilson said the team will have to make adjustments before the Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark come to town on Sunday.

"It's on each and every one of us to play a good 40 minutes," Wilson said. "We are gonna continue to get our (expletive) beat until we clean it up."