‘Chasing a legacy here’: Aces point guard signs contract extension

Point guard Chelsea Gray has signed a contract extension with the Aces, the team announced Tuesday.

The deal adds one year to her current agreement, providing a fully protected $196,267 for 2025, according to Richard Cohen of Her Hoop Stats. That figure was the league max in 2022, when Las Vegas extended her to a two-year deal.

Gray, 31, averaged 15.3 points and 4.0 rebounds last season, her third with the Aces after being signed as an unrestricted free agent. Her 7.3 assists ranked third in the WNBA last year.

“I love this franchise, this team and the city of Vegas,” Gray said in a statement. “It’s become my home. It’s my family’s home. I’m about championships and chasing history. We’re so close and we’ve created a trust, a bond, and want the best for each other all the time. I get to play alongside some future hall of famers that love winning as much as I do. We’re chasing a legacy here in Vegas.”

Gray injured her foot in the 2023 WNBA Finals and missed the title-clinching Game 4 against the New York Liberty.

The 2022 Finals MVP has attended each practice during the team’s training camp this week, but she hasn’t participated because the team is taking “precaution” with her return, Aces coach Becky Hammon said Tuesday.

But Gray, nicknamed “the Point God,” is still making an impact from the bench.

“She’s the brains behind the business,” Hammon said while sitting next to Gray after practice. “She has a great way about her, great leadership. (She knows) when to get involved, when to step back, when to push others forward, and then when it’s her turn. It’s nothing I taught her, she came in with that. You’re kind of born with that kind of feel.”

The Aces have shown an inclination to keep their core intact, so Jackie Young and Kelsey Plum could be next in line for extensions.

Day 3 of camp

The four players the Aces acquired in the WNBA draft earlier this month were starting to overcome their nerves and ask more questions Monday, Aces star A’ja Wilson said.

By Tuesday, Syracuse guard Dyaisha Fair, Iowa guard Kate Martin and Jackson State center Angel Jackson were all involved in team scrimmages that pushed the Aces over their allocated practice time.

The games featured mixed lineups of the rookies, veterans and male practice players. They were so competitive that each team would call timeouts for an edge in the close matchups.

From Hammon’s perspective, the practice was perfect.

“If you’re sitting there and you’re making a list of, ‘You have to have this in order for me to want you on my team,’ it’s competitiveness,” she said. “So we had a really good, energetic group today.”

Review-Journal reporter Callie Lawson-Freeman can be reached at clawsonfreeman@reviewjournal.com. Follow her at @CallieJLaw on X.

A previous version of this story incorrectly said that rookie Elizabeth Kitley participated in the team scrimmages.