Calls Mount Against Chelsea Gray After Aces Concedes Season’s 11th Loss vs Mystics

Life without A’ja Wilson officially began for the second time this season for the Las Vegas Aces. The result? Another loss. This makes it 3 losses and 1 win for the Aces without the league’s reigning MVP. Despite leading most of the way, they collapsed late, allowing the Mystics to go on a 12-2 run in the fourth quarter and steal a 70-68 win. A big loss for Becky Hammon and Co. So, frustration is clearly building among the fans, and much of it is being directed at none other than Chelsea Gray.

And there is good reason for it. Chelsea Gray went on to finish the game with 13 points on 6-10 shooting from the field. She also had 7 rebounds and 3 assists. Now these are good numbers; she was efficient as well. But numbers never tell the whole story, do they?

With 5 seconds left on the clock and the Mystics leading by 1, Gray had the opportunity to help seal the game for the Aces. She could’ve gone for the shot or found an open teammate to keep the play alive. But instead, she did the unthinkable! Gray lost her footing and turned the ball over. Just like that, the game was over.

Fans had every reason to be upset. This marked the Aces’ 11th loss of the season. Fans aren’t used to seeing Aces below .500 ever since Hammon took over, so this indeed is unfamiliar territory for them. Things clearly aren’t going well for them, and such mistakes are only going to pile on more pressure. After the game, social media was flooded with reactions, with most of them directed at Chelsea Gray.

Fans react to Chelsea Gray’s turnover in clutch time

“Chelsea Gray doing all that damn dribbling instead of immediately resetting the play after that rebound is exactly what I be talking about. And Jackie Young started the game missing layups and ended the game missing a layup terrible foreshadowing………,” one fan commented regarding the entire playing sequence to end the game. Another fan joined in to talk about how bad Gray has been this season, saying, “Chelsea Gray’s decision making this season has been horrendous thus far, just naive, zero sense rookie errors!!!”

Gray’s turnover in the clutch time was definitely costly, but it wasn’t the end of the world. The Aces still had a shot if they could foul quickly and hope that the player taking it would miss the free throws. Jackie Young did exactly that, sending Brittney Sykes to the free-throw line. And as fate would have Sykes hit just one of them, making it 70-68. The Aces had the final possession and a chance to either tie or win it. But Jackie Young missed the game-winning layup, and the game was over.

Now look, Gray hasn’t been having the best of seasons. She is averaging 12.7 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 4.3 assists per game. She is also averaging a career high of 3.4 turnovers per game. “Get Chelsea Gray off my team,” one fan said, looking at how Gray has been playing lately. But the dip in form actually dates back to last year. Injuries have played a major part in it. Gray missed the first 12 games of last season due to a foot injury. Her production took a big hit last season when her points per game came down from 15.3 to 8.6.

It was later revealed in a documentary released by the franchise that she needed an experimental orthotic that limited her midfoot movement. It forced her to change her shot and play almost entirely flat-footed. On top of that, she even needed hip injections just to stay on the court.

So when a fan says, “Chelsea Gray really having an awful season. She wasn’t even this bad last season when she was coming back from her injury,” they also need to understand the full picture. Gray has been dealing with a string of injuries since the 2023 WNBA Finals, and her road to recovery has been anything but easy.

It wasn’t just the Aces guard fans were unhappy about; there were some other players as well. “…. It’s time for Becky Hammon to get rid of Kiersten Bell, Kia Stokes, and Chelsea Gray. 🏀🏀💯💯” Kiah Stokes stepped in as the starting center in A’ja Wilson’s absence, but it wasn’t her night. The 6’3” big recorded just 3 rebounds and failed to score a single point against the Mystics.

Kiersten Bell also had a game to forget after going 0-7 from beyond the arc in 9 minutes and getting just 2 points out of her 9 field goal attempts. The bench is clearly not helping the Aces out like the yesteryears, which had the likes of Alysha Clark, Tiffany Hayes, and Sydney Colson, who were reliable difference makers.