🏆 CHASING GREATNESS

Las Vegas Aces are closing in on the finish line

The story of the 2025 season is A’ja Wilson.

When you have the best player in the game, anything is possible.

• Terrible start to the season? Gotta hang on and trust that the superstar will guide you through the storm.

• The team sticking together and climbing their way back up the standings? Proof of concept that the superstar can get you back on your feet after being knocked down.

Now the Las Vegas Aces are one game away from winning a third WNBA championship in four seasons, and the game’s best player, A’ja Wilson, had her most significant moment (to date, anyway).

Fresh off a unanimous 2024 MVP season that ended in disappointment at the hands of the eventual champion New York Liberty, Wilson has carried her organization through various storms and troubles this year. She’s already set a record for most points in a single postseason, and this game-winner serves as the ultimate coronation for Wilson’s excellence.

The road here was especially bumpy for Wilson, as Andrew Giuntini-Haubner noted at No Cap Space:

Las Vegas leads 3-0
Game 3 recap by David Veenstra, Desert Wave Media

The Phoenix Mercury showed fight in Game 3. They entered the fourth quarter down 17 points, and all hope seemed lost.

However, thanks to 11 fourth-quarter points from Kahleah Copper and DeWanna Bonner, turning the clock back one more time, Phoenix got the game tied at 86 in the final moments.

For the Mercury, they might look back at this series with their fair share of regrets. As Alyssa Thomas noted in postgame, the Mercury’s first half defensive effort was “unacceptable.”

Phoenix had its worst defensive half of the season, and it made its comeback efforts all the more difficult. Their play in the second half might give them enough of a boost, but it’s going to be a tall task to beat this Aces team.

They’ll also have to do it without Satou Sabally. She will miss this game with a concussion after she took an accidental knee to the head in Game 3.

Copper and Bonner will assume additional scoring responsibilities, and Nate Tibbetts will need to devise ways to create easy shots for them to help get this series back to Las Vegas.

Will we see more minutes for backup bigs like Kathryn Westbeld and maybe even Kalani Brown? Will the real Sami Whitcomb stand up?

When your season is on the line, you throw everything at the wall and hope something sticks.

 🤝 TRYING TO REPAIR THE BRIDGE

IT’S A PEOPLE BUSINESS

In the last edition of the WBB Roundup, I wrote:

“It can take a lifetime to build a good relationship, but it can take seconds to destroy one. Engelbert's learning that lesson as she navigates this crisis.”

It turns out it’s even deeper than I thought.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver mentioned that while he thinks a CBA deal will get done, the back-and-forth between the players and WNBA league office has become “too personal.” Satou Sabally was asked about that prior to Game 3:

Sabally is right. When you mess with people’s money, it becomes personal as you’re messing with people’s safety and livelihood.

After that back and forth, ESPN’s Katie Barnes published a feature story on the decaying relationship between the players and Engelbert. Initially, Engelbert positioned herself as a partner to the players and various causes. However, that changed over time, and she put more of a focus on the business and less on the people on the court.

"Players felt like she talked like we should constantly be in a position of gratitude versus a partnership," Elizabeth Williams told Barnes. "Her language and intent may have said 'partnership,' but unfortunately, it didn't necessarily come off that way."

From Napheesa Collier’s comments to various bits of reporting, it appears that Engelbert is terrible at engaging with the workforce. She seemingly doesn’t know how to talk to people, and that colors her dynamic with players.

With less than three weeks to go before the current CBA expires, Cathy has a narrow window to get things back on track and salvage the situation before it becomes completely untenable.

 📰 WHAT WE’RE READING

At Black Rosie Media, we love to give flowers to other writers and creators in the women’s basketball community.

Here’s what we’re reading:

• 2025 WNBA Finals: Sami Whitcomb's offensive spark must return if Mercury hope to extend series in Game 4 by Erica L. Ayala, CBS Sports

• The Morning After: In a game of creating space, it was A'ja Wilson and the Aces who landed the final blow by Nekias Duncan, Yahoo Sports

• Everyone watches Natasha Cloud by Jazmine Hughes, High Snobiety

• [VIDEO] WNBA Negotiations Might Need to START FROM SCRATCH. A Former NBA Player's Association Exec's Take... by Andrew Giuntini-Haubner, No Cap Space

• As sports betting explodes, should states set more limits to stop gambling addiction? by Karen Brown, NPR

• We Got It 4 Cheap, Vol. 2 Turns 20 by Tom Breihan, Stereogum

• IT'S JUST DIFFERENT VALLEYS, THAT'S ALL by Holly Anderson, Channel 6

💰 MONEY MOVES

BIG BETS, BIG RISKS

When the United States Supreme Court legalized sports betting in 2018, it opened the floodgates. Every time you turn on your television, open an app, listen to one of your favorite sports podcasts, etc. you’ll likely see an ad for a sports betting. Legends like LeBron James and Lisa Leslie are prominently featured in commercials with bettors like DraftKings and DK is the official partner of the WNBA.

As we move into an uncertain future, sports betting is here to stay. Now, it will become accessible to one more group of people.On October 8, the NCAA announced that college athletes will be allowed to place bets on professional sports.

Betting is still banned in college sports, and these new changes are due to go into effect sometime in November. There have been various debates across time about the effectiveness of prohibition and abstinence-only policies, and the NCAA believes that abstinence would create more problems than it would solve.

"Abstinence-only approaches to social challenges for college-aged individuals are often not as successful as approaches that focus on education about risks and open dialogue," NCAA chief medical officer Dr. Deena Casiero said.

"The NCAA will continue to collaborate with schools to help them provide student-athletes with meaningful education and other resources for student-athletes who choose to participate in betting on professional sports. This harm reduction approach gives schools an opportunity to help student-athletes make educated decisions, prevent risky behavior, and seek support without fear of impacting their eligibility."

That point is crucial when considering the recent sports betting scandals that have plagued the NCAA. If you allow betting on pro sports, does that mean athletes won’t have the urge to bet on college games, let alone their own?

That’s what the NCAA is hoping for.

Barring a major shift in American society, we’re going to be living with legalized sports betting for the rest of our lives. Even when people go over the line and threaten coaches and athletes, that hasn’t slowed it down.

For college athletes in particular, they’ve been on the receiving end of threats and various forms of harassment by bettors. As sports betting becomes available to them, they have to do well to avoid becoming the very people who have made life hell for others.

The NCAA must ensure it provides as much support as possible to prevent these kids from becoming addicted to betting or engaging in questionable activities for the sake of a bet.

⛹🏽‍♀️ UPCOMING GAMES

Here’s the schedule for the next few days (Eastern Standard Time)

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