Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Taurasi teaches Aces a lesson in Mercury win

Las Vegas Aces vs Atlanta Dream

Sam Morris/Las Vegas News Bureau

Las Vegas Aces center A’ja Wilson (22) reacts to being called for a foul against the Atlanta Dream during their WNBA game Friday, June 8, 2018, at the Mandalay Bay Events Center. The Drem won 87-83.

The Las Vegas Aces hope Sunday’s loss to the Phoenix Mercury was a glimpse into the future.

Rookie center A’ja Wilson scored 21 points and once again looked the part of a burgeoning star, but Mercury guard Diana Taurasi showed what being a current superstar is all about as she poured in 28 to lead Phoenix to a 92-80 victory.

Taurasi may be in her 14th year in the WNBA, but the former MVP and three-time champion is still at the height of her powers. She drilled six 3-pointers, handed out seven assists and calmly stomped out every Las Vegas comeback attempt to help improve Phoenix’s record to a league-best 10-3. And she made it seem effortless.

It was the second time in a week that Taurasi and the Mercury have beaten the Aces (3-9), but after the game Wilson said Taurasi’s master class was the ultimate learning experience.

“You have to play the best to be the best,” Wilson said. “Even though she’s not my position, I still look up to her basketball IQ, her knowledge of the game, the way she communicates with her teammates. It’s amazing just to watch, just to be out there and hear her talking. That’s something I look up to, that later on after my rookie year, after my sophomore year, to be able to communicate with my teammates and have that trust with my teammates and build from there.”

The Aces franchise is putting its faith in Wilson and building around the 6-foot-4 lefty in hopes she can deliver team success similar to Taurasi’s decade-and-a-half run with Phoenix. It’s a tall order – Taurasi is the best and most accomplished player in WNBA history – but Wilson possesses the pure talent necessary to imagine such a comparison.

Wilson is now averaging 20.5 points and 7.5 rebounds through her first 12 games, and she notched her seventh 20-point performance of the season on Sunday.

Taurasi said the rookie is playing beyond her years.

“It’s pretty impressive,” Taurasi said. “I’ve been in this league for a long time now, and your rookie year there’s always a transition period where you have to get used to certain things, whether it’s your opponent or style of play. But after we played her the first time, she plays and acts like she’s been in the league for 10 years. The kid is a really good player. She has great court presence. She acts like a veteran, plays like a veteran, and she’s going to have an amazing career in this league and all over the world, really.”

Building a championship-caliber team around Wilson will take time, however, and that’s something Taurasi knows from experience. After leading the storied UConn program to three straight college championships, Taurasi was selected first overall in the 2004 WNBA draft and was supposed to lead Phoenix to similar heights right away. When that didn’t happen, she had to grind for years until she and her team were ready to contend.

Wilson led her South Carolina squad to the 2017 NCAA championship and was the national Player of the Year in 2018, but Taurasi cautioned against setting such high expectations for the young phenom.

“It is tough,” Taurasi said. “There’s a lot of pressure. I know in Phoenix I didn’t make the playoffs my first three years, and I thought that was the most devastating thing ever. But you kind of just have to stay in your bubble of working hard, of not letting other things distract you. I think she’s going to be great. I think she’s in a place where she’s going to have great pieces around her. A’ja is a wonderful teammate and she’s won at the collegiate level, so she knows what it takes. It’ll take time, but in this league things can turn around really quick.”

While Wilson said she embraces everything that comes with being a franchise cornerstone, she doesn’t feel pressure to deliver titles immediately.

“I don’t feel it,” Wilson said. “It’s probably there but I definitely don’t feel it. Coach [Bill] Laimbeer really helps me not feel it. He stays in the moment. I really take everything in the moment. I don’t look too far ahead, and I think everyone knows this is a new program, this is a new franchise.”

The Aces hope that a decade from now, it will be Wilson casually dispatching opponents and compiling championships by the handful. If that day comes, Wilson will be able to look back to those early meetings with Taurasi and remember how she learned from the best.

Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.

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