Game Preview: Regular Season Game 8 vs Las Vegas Aces

Date, Time, Location: Saturday, June 7th, 12:00pm PDT, Chase Center
Broadcast Information: ABC (full national), ESPN Deportes and ESPN+ (Spanish language), ESPN+ (streaming) KGMZ (radio), KWWN (away team radio)

After a very quick turnaround from Thursday night, the Golden State Valkyries returned home to get ready for a Saturday noon game against the Las Vegas Aces. The start to the Commissioner’s Cup schedule continues to be a tough one as they face another team expecting to make a playoff run. This game will also have plenty of storylines with ties between the two teams. The encounter has been selected a national TV game so neither team will have a local broadcast and network announcers will cover the game on ABC and ESPN Deportes.

The Valkyries

With a couple of games left before big roster changes, it would be nice for Golden State to have all of their players available for this game. Tiffany Hayes being healthy would also allow her to face the team she joined the Valkyries from in free agency. Kate Martin hitting her stride right now has gotten her ready to face the team where she started her career before she was picked in the expansion draft process. Natalie Nakase’s WNBA coaching experience all came as an assistant with the Aces before the Valkyries hired her as their first head coach.

The Opposition

The Las Vegas Aces had the first changes this past offseason to the core group that brought them two WNBA championships and it was not just on the assistant coaching front. A’ja Wilson is still their star in the post while Northern California native Chelsea Gray runs the show at point guard and Jackie Young provides incredible versatility on the wing. Kiah Stokes plays a very specific role for them at center while Kierstan Bell has also been present on their title teams as forward. Megan Gustafson is their other returnee this year, but she is still recovering from an injury.

Las Vegas made a big trade to fill their other guard spot, bringing in Jewell Loyd to add scoring, but she is still getting integrated into the lineup. The Aces also traded a pair of draft picks to bring in Dana Evans as the backup point guard. Their other move to add league experience was to sign Tiffany Mitchell in free agency to provide backup minutes on the wing. Crystal Bradford made the roster after training camp after several years of being out of the league. The team has two rookies, Aaliyah Nye, an excellent shooter who was the only one of their two draft picks to make it through training camp, and Elizabeth Kitley, a center who was drafted last year with the knowledge that she would miss the entire season due to injury and instead sign this season. Cheyenne Parker-Tyus is also on the roster after signing in the offseason, but she is on pregnancy and maternity leave to start the season.

The Aces started the season with a loss to the New York Liberty, but are now 4-2 overall. They come into this game with much more rest, having only played one Commissioner’s Cup game back on Sunday, avenging their other loss to the Seattle Storm. Their cup schedule gives them a chance at contending through the end of the qualification games and could kickstart their season so this will also be a big game for them. Las Vegas is still working on getting their newer players acclimated to the team and figure to be in strong position by the end of the season.