Sun @ Aces preview: Welcome, Aaliyah Edwards (maybe)

The Sun are ready for three games in four days, which also involves a cross-country flight, and such situations have not necessarily ended well for WNBA teams these days, and - at the least - we hope Connecticut can keep its injury report as clean as it has been the last couple weeks.

Also unfortunate for the Sun, the Las Vegas Aces appear to have turned a corner, winning three straight for the first time all season and finally starting to click around A’ja Wilson. Even though they’ve struggled with the rest of the league, the Aces have dominated the Sun in three 2025 meetings, none of which have been close.

But the big story for Connecticut Sunday will be the debut of Aaliyah Edwards after being acquired this week for Jacy Sheldon. Edwards started 17 games for a bad Washington team last season in a crowded frontcourt, but fell behind Shakira Austin on the depth chart this season. Her advanced stats show her potential: a 23.6% defensive rebounding rate, a good free throw rate, and even a solid 11.1% assist rate in 2024, all of which you would expect to get better in her second year, but she hasn’t seen the floor much.

Aaliyah Edwards was an All-American at UConn and sixth
pick in the 2024 WNBA draft (Eric Gay / AP)

Her fit with the Sun is a little unclear, especially long-term, but she just turned 23 and seems to have a much bigger upside, so why not take a shot? As I mentioned after Friday’s game, the three players that will likely be directly impacted are Tina Charles, Olivia Nelson-Ododa, and Aneesah Morrow.

Charles just needs to play less minutes, and Morrow’s long-term future in the WNBA is likely going to have to be at the 3, so that leaves Nelson-Ododa, whose minutes have dropped a bit in recent weeks and struggled at the offensive end, but the advanced metrics have her as the Sun’s most valuable player this season.

Neither Nelson-Ododa nor Edwards is an outside threat at all, so playing both of them together is going to be very difficult and the last 15 games of the season will probably give some kind of idea whether they can co-exist going forward. We would certainly love them to, but we shall see.

What else can we look for Sunday night in Sin City?:

 

SUN @ LAS VEGAS ACES

Time: Sunday, 9 p.m. EDT

Place: Michelob Ultra Arena; Paradise, Nev.

Records: Connecticut 5-24; Las Vegas 17-14

TV: WNBA League Pass, NBA TV

Line: Las Vegas -13.5 

Absences: Connecticut - Aaliyah Edwards (questionable, just joined team).

Las Vegas - NONE.

 

History between them: As mentioned earlier, Las Vegas has won all three meetings this season easily. The 18-point loss on July 6 was the closest of the three and Leila Lacan’s debut. Back on May 20 at Mohegan Sun Arena, the Aces obliterated the Sun 87-62, leading 52-29 at the half and 78-46 after three quarters. It was by far their biggest win of the season to date until June 25 when the Aces scored the first 19 points en route to an 85-59 win. Las Vegas swept all three games last season from Connecticut, but the Sun lead the overall series 33-26 (not all of them as the Aces). However, the Aces won both playoff series, the final in 2022 (in four games) and the semifinal in 2020.

What to look for: I already mentioned the factors that are working against the Sun heading into Sunday, the Aces have kind of gotten back to basics in their win streak. Adding NaLyssa Smith has seemed to help balance them, and - ironically - an A’ja Wilson-Smith duo doesn’t exactly give much outside shooting, either (although Wilson was 1-for-1 from behind the arc Friday), so maybe it’s a blueprint for how Nelson-Ododa and Edwards can work together.

Las Vegas doesn’t force too many turnovers and doesn’t really play at great pace, so it will be up to the Sun to try to speed them up whenever possible, which is kind of fun to watch, actually. Leila Lacan is averaging 2.3 steals per game, and if they can’t force mistakes, they’re likely to be picked apart by Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young. For whatever reason, the Aces have been able to do what they wanted to in the first three meetings, so hopefully for the Sun, the fourth time is the charm.

Key players:  Connecticut: Olivia Nelson-Ododa - There’s some pressure now on ONO with Edwards’ arrival and she’s been struggling a little bit. She will have her work cut out for her trying to guard Wilson, but she is one of the better defenders of players like Wilson and certainly the best chance the Sun have to slow her down at all.

Las Vegas: Jewell Loyd- Loyd has moved to the bench, but it is largely for show and Kiersten Bell got only 8 minutes Friday, while Loyd had 26. She is shooting the ball better, and didn’t have any trouble shooting against the Sun this season (hitting 7 three-pointers in one contest) anyway, so she could be in for a big night.

Advanced stat:  12.3% - Number of shots taken outside of 15 feet by Olivia Nelson-Ododa this season after she attempted just 1 shot from that range last season, so clearly she’s trying to expand her range, alas she’s hitting just 27% from that range as well.

Tactical spotlight: Dominique Malonga gave Las Vegas all kinds of fits with her athleticism on Friday, and while the Sun don’t have anyone like her, they have been active on the offensive glass of late. I had my doubts earlier in the season that this was the way to go, but the Sun almost definitely need to run in this one. There’s obviously a chance that could backfire spectacularly, but have you seen the Sun’s record?

Hopefully Nelson-Ododa gets enough minutes to see if she can contain Wilson, she matches up pretty well size-wise. Where the Sun stick Marina Mabrey will also be interesting, probably Chelsea Gray, who isn’t overly quick, thankfully, but could still make Connecticut’s life difficult.

Inside the numbers: 1 - Number of road wins for the Sun this season (1-12), so obviously something that will need some work in the future as well.

Prediction: 88-72 Las Vegas