The Las Vegas Aces will try to shake off a deflating start to the 2026 season when they visit a Los Angeles Sparks team tipping off its campaign on Sunday.

Reigning WNBA champion Aces (0-1) gave up huge runs in the second and third quarters of their regular-season opener on Saturday against the Phoenix Mercury, resulting in a 99-66 blowout loss.

“I don’t think we’re in good enough shape to play at the level that we need to,” Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon said following the rout. “The defense, it looks like we haven’t worked on it. We’ve been doing it an hour-and-a-half every day in practice.

“The little details that we talk about that are separation factors, we’re not doing them,” she added. “And until we decide we want to do them, we’ll continue to get our butt kicked like this.”

The Aces’ defensive woes to begin the campaign included surrendering 11-of-24 3-point shooting. Las Vegas was among the WNBA’s best 3-point defenses in 2025, holding opponents to 31.6% on the year.

Along with the struggles on defense Saturday, Las Vegas lacked consistent offense around four-time league Most Valuable Player A’ja Wilson. Wilson finished with 19 points while Jackie Young went for 12

Las Vegas looks to bounce back against Los Angeles, which had the WNBA’s most porous defense a season ago. The Sparks allowed 88.2 points per game in 2025 and a league-most 10.1 3-pointers a contest.

The Los Angeles side welcoming the Aces for the Sunday matchup looks a bit different, however, having added veteran forward and 2016 MVP Nneka Ogwumike.

Kelsey Plum — a key contributor to Las Vegas championships in 2022 and 2023 before signing with the Sparks last year — said to the Los Angeles Times that Ogwumike’s presence is a game-changer for the squad.

“I don’t think that last year I realized how big of a decision I made,” Plum told the Times. “When Nneka signed this year, I was like, ‘OK, I’m not crazy. They’re seeing the vision I am seeing.'”

Ogwumike averaged 18.3 points and seven rebounds per game last season for the Seattle Storm. She joins a frontcourt with another former Aces player, Dearica Hamby, who averaged 18.4 points and 7.9 rebounds an outing in 2025.

The Los Angeles frontcourt also features Cameron Brink, the No. 2 overall draft pick in 2024 and a promising defensive presence whose floor time has been limited due to injuries. Brink has appeared in 34 games combined over her first two WNBA seasons, averaging 6.1 points and 4.8 rebounds.

–Field Level Media

The Phoenix Mercury will jump right from the microwave into the frying pan Sunday night when they complete a season-opening road back-to-back with a visit to the Golden State Valkyries in San Francisco.

One day after the Valkyries traveled north to secure a 91-80 win at Seattle on the WNBA’s Opening Night, the Mercury stunned the Las Vegas Aces 99-66 on the defending champion’s home court.

Golden State and Phoenix will return to the court on Sunday night.

The Valkyries, an expansion team that snuck into the playoffs last year, were in such disarray in the preseason that coach Natalie Nakase scheduled just one preseason game so that she’d have time to reintroduce her players to one another.

Still, the club opened without last year’s top pick, Juste Jocyte, who is completing an obligation to her Spanish League team, and one of last year’s top players, Iliana Rupert, who is pregnant. The Valkyries then lost starting guard Tiffany Hayes to a dislocated pinkie finger and key reserve Cecilia Zandalasini to a concussion.

All four have been ruled out of Sunday’s game, but Nakase, the WNBA’s Coach of the Year last season, expects a better performance than in Seattle.

“My expectations are high for us defensively,” Nakase said after the win, during which last year’s top defensive team statistically allowed 24- and 27-point quarters.

“We just have to be smarter. There’s a lot of corrections that we can make. They know it, too; they know that’s not our best defensive effort.

“But I also believe we’re not even there yet as a team, because some of the players have only come to three or four practices. So I told them, ‘I’m going to give you guys a space to evolve in the next couple of days.'”

Janelle Salaun had 20 points and Veronica Burton added 16 in the win.

While the Valkyries had familiarity in mind as they took the court, the Mercury was more dialed in on the opposition. After all, not only had they lost to the Aces in the 2025 WNBA Finals, but the team then had to endure Las Vegas’ ring ceremony before the nationally-televised affair.

Alyssa Thomas led the way with 20 points, but the Mercury had a secret weapon available for the rematch – Jovana Nogic. The Serbian forward who had been playing in Russia set the tone on the visitors’ ceremony-crashing effort with 19 points — all in the first half.

Phoenix coach Nate Tibbetts credited the league’s new higher-paying collective bargaining agreement for attracting a higher level of talent to the WNBA this season.

“This is a player that hasn’t come over, because maybe it wasn’t worth it, right? A lot of these European players,” Tibbetts noted to the media after the win. “(Nogic has) been someone that our front office has talked about the last couple of years. She had an awesome start; I’m really happy for her.”

–Field Level Media

Victor Wembanyama is on the fast track to super stardom and doesn’t seem to want to wait his turn. Instead of reaching top-five player status in his mid-20s, the San Antonio Spurs’ big man is taking over at just 22 and he’s rattled most of the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Spurs lead the Western Conference second-round series 2-1 entering Sunday’s Game 4 in Minneapolis. Wemby has blocked 19 shots in the series – including a postseason-record 12 in Game 1 – and altered countless others.

The New York Knicks are looking to close out their Eastern Conference second-round series against the Philadelphia 76ers. Philadelphia rallied from a 3-1 deficit to slay the Boston Celtics in the first round but no NBA teams have ever recovered from a 3-0 deficit as the 76ers face.

SAN ANTONIO SPURS AT MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES

Wembanyama put on a show for the ages in San Antonio’s 115-108 win in Game 3 by recording 39 points, 15 rebounds and five blocked shots. That made him just the fourth different player in NBA history to produce at least 35 points, 15 rebounds and five blocks in a playoff game since the NBA began tracking blocks at the start of the 1973-74 season.

The others in that club are Hall of Famers Shaquille O’Neal (three times), Hakeem Olajuwon (three times) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (twice). Wemby was impressed — “It’s good to be along with the big fellas,” he said – and he’s listed at (27-plus points, -113), (13-plus rebounds, -112) and (five-plus blocks, +127) for Game 4.

Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards, who was limited in the first two games with a hyperextended left knee, was lethal on Friday with 32 points, 14 rebounds and six assists. Minnesota is going to need some big efforts from Edwards (26-plus points, -106) to win this series, starting with Game 4.

It will be interesting to see how much the Timberwolves rely on Julius Randle (18-plus points, -111) and Jaden McDaniels (17-plus points, -108) after their anemic shooting outings in Game 3. Not sure if ‘Wembyitis’ is an official term but McDaniels (17 points) was just 5-of-22 shooting and Randle (12) made only 3 of 12 shots.

Spurs minus 4.5-point spread, -115 (DraftKings)

NEW YORK KNICKS AT PHILADELPHIA 76ERS

New York has won six consecutive playoff games after posting a 108-94 victory in Friday’s Game 3 at Philadelphia. Completing the sweep would give the Knicks plenty of rest before the conference finals but the 76ers figure to put up a good fight.

Look, everybody knew New York would win the series after it steamrolled Philadelphia by 39 points in Game 1. But the heart the 76ers showed in the Boston series was impressive so avoiding the sweep and not having the series end at home does provide motivation.

However, Jalen Brunson (28-plus points, -106) has done whatever he’s wanted in this series with outputs of 35, 26 and 33 points. OG Anunoby (hamstring) missed Game 3 and is questionable for Sunday and that’s tough news for Philadelphia if he plays as he’s shooting 61.9% from the field and averaging 21.4 points and 7.5 rebounds in eight postseason games.

Sixers star Joel Embiid (26-plus points, -122) has fared well after an appendectomy gave him a late start this postseason and Tyrese Maxey (25-plus points, -117) figures to go all out. Look for Philadelphia to survive to play one more time this season.

76ers plus 1.5-point spread, -110 (DraftKings)