Chelsea Gray’s Stunning Comeback Fuels Las Vegas Aces: Highlights, Key Stats & What’s Next

Las Vegas Aces star point guard Chelsea Gray says she expects to be “ready to roll” for Game 1 of the 2025 WNBA Finals after limping off with a right-ankle scare in Tuesday’s overtime win against the Indiana Fever. The 31-year-old floor general returned to finish that semifinal clincher and, speaking to reporters Thursday, downplayed any lingering pain, calling the tweak “nothing major.” Her words—and the way she closed the game with 17 points and eight assists—eased fears that Las Vegas might enter its title defense shorthanded. Gray rolled the ankle when Fever guard Odyssey Sims inadvertently stepped on her foot early in the third quarter, sending the All-Star to the locker room for evaluation. Team trainers retaped the joint, and she re-joined the action five minutes later, immediately drilling a pull-up three that ignited a 9-2 Aces run. The quick return matters: Las Vegas opens the best-of-five Finals at home Saturday night against the surging Phoenix Mercury, a team that has blitzed opponents with aggressive traps aimed at opposing point guards. Gray’s elite vision and 44.1 percent three-point clip are pivotal to breaking that pressure and freeing MVP candidate A’ja Wilson in the paint. Over two regular-season meetings with Phoenix, Gray averaged 18.5 points and 9.0 assists while posting a 63 percent effective field-goal percentage, underscoring her value to the Aces’ spacing and late-game shot creation. Head coach Becky Hammon confirmed that Gray practiced fully on Thursday and will not carry a minutes restriction. “She’s the engine that makes us go,” Hammon said, noting that the club is otherwise at full strength for the first time since the All-Star break. Gray’s availability also preserves Las Vegas’ dominant crunch-time lineup—Gray, Wilson, Jackie Young, Kelsey Plum, and Alysha Clark—which owns a league-best plus-22.7 net rating in clutch situations. Against a Mercury squad powered by Diana Taurasi’s shot-making and Brittney Griner’s interior presence, the Aces will rely on Gray’s pick-and-roll orchestration to force Phoenix’s bigs into perimeter switches and exploit mismatches. Beyond the immediate series, Gray’s ankle health looms large for Team USA’s Olympic preparations next summer. The veteran guard is projected to reprise her role as the national team’s primary distributor after leading the Americans in assists during the 2024 World Cup qualifiers. Tip-off for Game 1 is scheduled for 9 p.m. ET from Michelob ULTRA Arena, with ESPN carrying the broadcast. With Gray cleared, Las Vegas enters as a 6.5-point favorite, seeking to become the first back-to-back WNBA champion since the 2001–02 Los Angeles Sparks.