Aces vs. Fire: A'ja Wilson Returns With 32 and 10 as Las Vegas Never Trails in 88-80 Win at Portland

Las Vegas spent three games finding out what life looks like without A'ja Wilson. It lost the Commissioner's Cup Championship in New York, needed overtime to get past Chicago at home, and then got beaten 84-68 by Indiana. Thursday night in Portland, the reigning MVP came back and needed all of about 12 minutes to remind everybody why that was such a bad idea.

Wilson's 32 points and 10 rebounds led the way, Jackie Young chipped in 19 points and 11 assists, and the Aces handled the Portland Fire 88-80 at Moda Center. The final score undersells it. Portland never led, and the last 10 points of its rally came after most of the Aces' starters had sat down.

Ten and Then Ten More

Wilson's return looked a lot like her departure, in that she did whatever she wanted. She scored the first basket of the night and had 10 of Las Vegas' first 20 points. Carla Leite tried to keep Portland in it on her own, getting to the line repeatedly and scoring eight of the Fire's first 12, which tied it at 12. Then Las Vegas pulled away on an 11-2 run, with Jewell Loyd hitting two threes, and took a 23-18 lead into the second.

The second quarter was more of the same. A Bridget Carleton three got Portland within 23-21, and that was the last time the Fire would be that close. Las Vegas answered with eight straight, six of them from Wilson on a three and three free throws. NaLyssa Smith finished a three-point play for a 39-26 lead, and Wilson's second straight 10-point quarter sent the Aces to the break up 45-33.

Portland made its one real push right after halftime. Emily Engstler and Carleton hit threes, and Leite's three-point play made it 50-43, a seven-point game with the home crowd finally involved. Then Young went to work. She scored eight in the third, including two threes, and the lead was back to 61-52 with under a minute to go.

Thirty Seconds, Eight Points

That's where the game ended, even though the clock said there were 10 more minutes left. Brianna Turner scored with 28.9 seconds on the clock. Next came Kierstan Bell, who drilled a corner three with 5.9 to go. Portland coughed it up right after that, Chelsea Gray drew a foul while shooting from deep, and she calmly sank all three free throws with 1.4 seconds showing. A 61-52 game had become 69-52 in the time it takes to order a coffee. For a team trying to stay in a nine-point game, that's about as demoralizing as a half minute of basketball gets.

Portland cut it to 69-57 early in the fourth, but Young scored five straight in a 7-0 run that made it 78-59. The lead peaked at 20. With the Aces up 86-70 and under three minutes left, Becky Hammon pulled four starters, and the Fire closed on a 10-2 run against the reserves to make the score look friendlier. Holly Winterburn's 26-footer with 13.7 seconds left made it 88-80, and that's as close as it got.

The Numbers Behind the Comeback

Wilson shot 10 of 19, made 11 of her 13 free throws and added three assists, two steals, two blocks and a plus-25 in 30 minutes without committing a foul. It was her seventh 30-point game of the season. The Aces' postgame notes had a whole buffet of milestones: she became the first player in 2026 to reach 500 points, now sitting at 521, and this was her 100th career 20-point double-double, a list on which only Tina Charles (110) sits ahead of her.

Young might have been even more efficient. She made 8 of 11 shots, hit 3 of 5 from three, set a season high with 11 assists and had three steals. Smith was a steady third option at 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting, and Gray ran the show with seven assists and three steals of her own.

Portland got 13 from Leite, who went 9 of 11 at the line but just 2 of 6 from the field, with five turnovers. Megan DiLeo and Teja Oblak each scored 11, and Engstler had 10 points, seven rebounds and five fouls. The Fire's bench outscored the Aces' 29-13, but much of that came after the outcome was settled.

Zero Lead Changes

• 25-20: Las Vegas' edge in points off turnovers, on 17 Portland giveaways.
• 42-28: The Aces' margin in the paint, with Wilson and Smith doing most of the work.
• 13: Las Vegas steals, spread across six players. Gray and Young each had three.
• 23 on 31: Aces assists on made field goals. That's what happens when a defense has to send help toward Wilson.
• 0: Lead changes in the whole game. Portland's largest lead was zero.

Tied for First at 16-6

Las Vegas moves to 16-6 and an absurd 10-2 on the road, climbing into a first-place tie with Minnesota. According to the team, this win also sewed up the head-coaching job at the 2026 WNBA All-Star Game for Hammon. The Aces go home for a back-to-back, starting with Phoenix on Saturday and then Indiana on Sunday.

Portland falls to 9-13 and 6-6 at home, and this is now its second home loss to Las Vegas after a 105-89 result back in June. The Fire go to Atlanta on Saturday.

You Can Tell Who Sold the Tickets

There's a version of this game that gets very interesting without Wilson. We saw that movie three times in the last two weeks, and two of those ended badly. Every touring act can get through a night with the understudy, but everybody in the seats knows who they paid to see. Wilson shows up, takes the first shot, gets 10 points before anyone has settled in, and the whole thing suddenly makes sense again. Las Vegas didn't just get its best player back on Thursday. It got its identity back, and the rest of the top of the standings should probably take notes.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details as reported by the Associated Press, WNBA.com and the Las Vegas Aces.