“yall should’ve neva counted me out, yaw kno God don’t play about me!!!” wrote Las Vegas Aces’ NaLyssa Smith in the aftermath of her team’s recent championship win. Well, there’s nothing quite like proving people wrong while standing on top of the world. So, of course, Chelsea Gray didn’t waste any time jumping on the bandwagon. 

The 33-year-old recently took to her official X account to share a tweet with her 47,300 followers. All she wrote in it was “Fewffffff we da champs. People gotta eat their wordsssssss”. After all, that is all that was needed to be said.

As USA Today highlighted, the Las Vegas Aces were the team “nobody wants to see in the WNBA playoffs”. Despite being the back-to-back champs in 2022 and 2023, and the semi-finalists last year, A’ja Wilson and co were quietly, and then not so quietly, written off due to an awful start to the season. After the All-Star Break, the team lost 3 of their first 6 games, with 2 of them against the Minnesota Lynx. The first loss was by a whopping 31 points, while the second was worse, with the game being lost by a 53-point margin!

By that point, the Aces were 14-14 in the regular season. As it turned out, however, that major loss gave the Aces the motivation to turn things around. The Aces went on a 16-win streak, boasting the third-best scoring defense and fifth-best offense in that span. The team surged from 8th to 2nd in the standings in just 24 days. They highlighted that same prowess in the playoffs too, narrowly avoiding a loss against the Indiana Fever to then defeat the Phoenix Mercury 4-0 in the Finals!

Chelsea Gray wasn’t at her best back in the 2024 season, as she averaged just 8.6 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 4.9 assists over the course of just 27 games (started in 25). However, after a dominant performance in Unrivaled 2025, when asked about what she wants people to say about her now, she replied, “Keep that same energy”. On top of that, she later added, “I got the receipts who’s talking —-, so.”

Sure enough, Gray later appeared in all 44 games in the 2025 WNBA regular season, and averaged 11.2 points, along with 3.9 rebounds and 5.4 assists, through 3.8-8.8 (43.9%) field goals, 1.4-3.9 (36.8%) 3-pointers, and 2.1-2.4 (88.5%) free throws. In light of this, she can gloat all she wants to.

Chelsea Gray was, without a doubt, one of the most valuable contributors for the Las Vegas Aces this season. However, her contributions in the Finals might not have been as good had she not received some criticism from a valued teammate.

Chelsea Gray Revealed Getting Motivated By A’ja Wilson’s Criticism Against Her Assists

During a recent interview, A’ja Wilson was asked about what she told herself when looking in the mirror as a leader this year. She revealed that the biggest thing was “I had to get everybody on board. And it’s gonna look different for everybody. And I think that’s what I struggled with as a leader is understanding that everyone, obviously, is coming from different paths in the way they obtain information, or need motivation. It’s different, but I need everybody in the same book, same chapter”.

While it certainly must have been a struggle, Wilson was at least able to reel in Chelsea Gray through this ideology.

As ESPN reported, Wilson once told Gray that “There’s no way I should ever have more assists than you”. The words reportedly stung Gray. However, she didn’t take them negatively for too long. After all, as Gray said, “Our relationship is super honest and raw. I’ve cried in front of her. She’s cried in front of me.”

As ESPN claimed, Wilson’s criticism was “The biting barb that spurred Chelsea Gray and the Aces”. Gray averaged 7.1 assists from July till the end of the regular season. However, that number went up to 7.8 in the playoffs. Through that, Gray set the highest post-season average of her career!

Before Game 3 of the WNBA Finals, the point guard had 10 assists in 3 of the Aces’ first 10 postseason games. 2 of them were the Finals matchups themselves. In Game 2, Wilson scored 28 points, and was helped greatly by Gray contributed with the game-high 10 assists.

The same Wilson who had given the tough love to her teammate was then in awe of her. She gave her praise to Gray in a statement, saying that “She’s always going to be her true self, and it allows you to be your true self. I think that has always been our friendship and our bond. She’s calm through the storm. I’m so grateful for her to be our point guard.”

Chelsea Gray is filled with motivation and the mindset to shut down any haters that come her way. With the player set to return for Season 2 of Unrivaled, it remains to be seen just how much the same will motivate her through the tournament.