A 58-111 slap to the face against the Minnesota Lynx on August 2 made the Las Vegas Aces allergic to losses. The Aces buckled up after that loss and haven’t since. That form continued to the postseason as they beat down the Seattle Storm 102-77 in Game 1 of the playoffs, continuing their winning streak to 17. While 2025 MVP frontrunner A’ja Wilson has grabbed the headlines as the heart, Jackie Young has been the spine for the Aces. However, coach Becky Hammon has to keep her bull in check. 

Young is all grit, sometimes chasing wins even at her own risk.“I love playing alongside her because she’s so selfless,” Wilson has said. “She’s willing to take herself out sometimes, to help others.” At times, that becomes a negative for the Aces coach, Becky Hammon, like at the 2024 playoffs, where Young entered bruised and battered from the entire season, along with the Paris Olympics, but she couldn’t gauge her fitness. 

The conversation struck while a reporter pointed out the contrasting health of the Aces squad in 2024 and 2025. In 2024, they had an injured Chelsea Gray trying to come back to her best, Kiah Stokes missed a couple of games through a concussion, and Jackie Young was battling an undisclosed injury. In 2025, they will have Cheyyene Parker Tyus adding to their strength.  

Hammon said, “Well, it’s nice to have everybody healthy. I mean, you know, Jackie is someone who’s have to pull information out of her sometimes. Sometimes she can be hurting more than she’s letting on.I mean, everybody was a little bit dinged up. Last year it was a different kind of season.”Young has been notably fit for most of the last few WNBA seasons. In 2024, she missed only three games due to illness, and not any physical issue. However, Young revealed she was playing through a severe injury since the Olympics. 

“I mean, we actually weren’t telling anyone,” Young said on October 8 in 2024. “So yeah, obviously (I’ve) been dealing with something since the gold medal game (on Aug. 11). I did a lot of treatment. Just doing whatever I can to help my team win. Kind of trying to put that behind me and just give it all out.”

She ultimately played through the rest of the season despite the unknown injury. If you look at her season-wide numbers, you wouldn’t know about her injury at all. She averaged 15.8 points and 5.3 assists in 2024 as the Aces lost to the Liberty in the semifinals. She relied on the team’s lead rehabilitation specialist, Jerrica Thomas, pushing for a hard rehab while staying aggressive with her training on the court and in the locker room. 

And it has worked for the most part. This year, she has had a hip injury scare, but yet again, she championed through and played in all regular-season match-ups. Now, whether she is playing through it or she is recovered remains under wraps, but her output is on the rise, being the best player in the squad apart from Wilson. 

Jackie Young Fuels Aces’ Finals Push.

The road ahead is relatively simple when it comes to what they need to do. Keep doing what worked over the last 17, and the WNBA title comes into view. A’ja Wilson will obviously play a huge part in their postseason run, but Wilson has never been a problem for the Aces. The issue has always been upping the production around Wilson, and that’s where Young has come in. 

At 16.2 points and 5.1 assists per game, she is the second-best scorer and creator on the team. In the last 15 games through their winning streak, the numbers are even better; she averaged 16.2 points and 6.3 assists, and she has finally gained some recognition. Going from being the “Silent Assassin” to being widely acknowledged, Coach Hammon is delighted. 

She told the media, “I think the world is starting to learn how good Jackie Young is. Um, we’ve kind of known it here all along. Uh, but to kind of see her go to that next level, but also get the recognition, you know, she’s on all WNBA team, I think is great because of the work that she’s put in. And we’re not sitting here without Jackie. I know we talk a lot about A’ja and Chelsea, but Jackie has been phenomenal for us.”

In their first postseason game against the Storm, Young finished with 18 points, 7 and 4 steals along with 5 rebounds. Game 2 shouldn’t give them any trouble in this form. In the semifinals, they will face either the Atlanta Dream or the Indiana Fever. Either could prove to be a tough task, but momentum could just tip the scales towards Jackie Young and the Aces. The Aces could have a clear shot at the 2025 title, but the finals can go either way with the Liberty and Lynx in the mix.