The Las Vegas Aces entered Thursday night’s road game against the Dallas Wings as a team still finding its footing at 4-2. They left it at 4-3, outscored 50-34 in the second half, and their head coach was at the postgame podium with something to get off her chest.
Becky Hammon did not wait long to redirect. Asked about the Aces’ defensive collapse, she pivoted to the free-throw line and let it fly. A’ja Wilson, the reigning MVP, shot one free throw in 35 minutes. Chennedy Carter and Jackie Young shot none in a combined 52 minutes. Wings forward Awak Kuier, who came off the bench, went four-for-four from the stripe in 19 minutes. Hammon laid it out plainly after the game.
“A’ja Wilson shoots one free throw, Chennedy Carter zero, Jackie Young zero. I’m f——- tired of that b——-. I’m not saying they didn’t earn their 22 down there, but when Awak Kuier shoots more free throws than A’ja Wilson, Jackie Young, and Chennedy Carter all combined, that’s a problem. We’re not getting the same whistle. Give me my fine,” Becky Hammon said before walking away from the podium.
Dallas shot 22 free throws and made 19. Las Vegas shot 12 and made 7. Wilson attempted 15 of her 24 shots inside the paint. Young took 10 field goals in the paint as well. Neither got to the line. The Aces finished with 58% from the stripe; the Wings converted at 86%. That gap was the margin of the game.
Becky Hammon did not let her team off the hook either. She was direct about Las Vegas’ defensive effort falling apart in the second half, calling out the Aces’ slippage on that end as a compounding problem.
“I think our defense sucked,” Becky Hammon said. “Did a nice job in the first quarter, and then you just have slippage, and that slippage compounds, and you don’t have enough timeouts to even stop the bleeding. And then we stopped moving the ball offensively, so it compounds. We started taking some uncharacteristic shots there, and yeah, that’s what happens when you don’t play defense.”
“It sucks when you lose on self-inflicted things,” she said. “We know what we did wrong, and we’ve got to come out and do better than that.”
The Aces entered Thursday tied for last in the league in free-throw attempts per game at 18.3. Wilson alone averages 6.3 attempts per game on the season, which makes her single attempt against Dallas an outlier that goes beyond one unlucky night. The Wings, who ranked 13th in free throws drawn entering the game, nearly doubled Las Vegas at the line.
Becky Hammon’s Fine Is Coming, But The Bigger Question Is Whether the League Listens
Becky Hammon is no stranger to this territory. She was fined $1,000 in September 2025 after publicly backing fellow coach Cheryl Reeve’s criticism of officials. Last postseason, she flagged the physicality as “out of control” during the Aces’ semifinal series against the Indiana Fever. Her willingness to absorb financial punishment for speaking on officiating is now a pattern, not an outlier.
The WNBA will almost certainly respond with a fine. What it will not easily answer is why a four-time MVP playing 35 minutes and attacking the paint gets to the free-throw line once, while a reserve going half that time gets four attempts.
Las Vegas has given up at least 94 points in four of seven games this season. The road trip continues Sunday against the Golden State Valkyries and then Tuesday against the Los Angeles Sparks, who already beat the Aces 101-95 earlier this week. If the defense does not tighten and the whistle stays uneven, Becky Hammon may need a bigger fine fund than she budgeted for.
