This postseason, Chelsea Gray will shoot to continue being the Las Vegas Aces’ do-everything player

At some point during the WNBA playoffs, the Las Vegas Aces will surely find themselves in trouble. It’s not a doom and gloom prediction, just an inevitability.

The Aces might have romped through the regular season with the league’s best record in Becky Hammon’s first year as head coach, finishing 24-10 and securing the top seed in the eight-team postseason, but adversity will find them eventually. It happens to the best of squads, and it’s going to happen to Las Vegas.

And when it does, the Aces will turn to Chelsea Gray to set things right.

On a team loaded with All-Star talent at every position, Gray has helped take Las Vegas to a new level in 2022 by filling in the cracks. Whatever the Aces need on any given night, the eighth-year point guard delivers it.

Kelsey Plum and A’ja Wilson both rank among the top-five scorers in the league, but on nights when points are hard to come by, Gray is more than capable of looking for her own shot. She has chipped in 20 points or more on six occasions this season.

Hammon has installed a smooth, ball-movement system that has Las Vegas ranked first in offensive efficiency. But when things occasionally bog down, Gray can whip passes all over the court and step up as the team’s foremost playmaker. She leads the Aces with a career-high 6.1 assists per game.

Defensive lapses can become contagious for any team, but when opponents start to generate too many open looks, Gray can buckle down and disrupt the flow. She has recorded multiple steals in 15 games this season and paces Las Vegas with an average of 1.6 per game.

It’s that ability to adapt and hone her focus to the situation that makes Gray such a crucial contributor as the Aces prepare to chase their first championship.

It’s not something that can be planned ahead of time. Gray relies on her canny feel for each game to figure out how she can best help deliver the team to victory.

“A game will kind of reveal itself,” Gray tells the Weekly. “I can’t say that I go into a game being like, ‘I’m going to get this for the team.’ It’s just really what the team needs at that time.”

Gray’s most prominent role is as the team’s offensive maestro. Her mix of flashy behind-the-back passes and steady execution has unlocked Hammon’s offense; the Aces are No. 1 in the league in points (90.4 per game) while committing the fewest turnovers (11.1 per game).

After coaching her for a season, Hammon says she has complete faith in Gray’s ability to read the court and make the right decision as the action is unfolding.

“She’s one of my more cerebral players,” Hammon says. “She always understands what we’re doing, what we’re trying to accomplish. [She] really takes a lot of ownership on offense with playcalling. The defense is always going to give you something. It’s just about making the right read.”

Experience plays a big part in Gray’s intellectual approach. She has appeared in 29 postseason contests, including a run to the title with the Los Angeles Sparks in 2016. She has been through just about every do-or-die, elimination-game pressure situation.

It’s almost impossible to surprise her.

“I definitely think experience helps with that,” Gray says. “The way I think about the game now is different than how I thought of the game in 2016 or 2017. I consume the game a lot, watching a lot of film, watching other teams and players, so my IQ is always developing. So when you see different moments, you have something to fall back on. If you study enough, you get good grades.”

In other words, Gray is prepared for anything. And in order to win a championship, that’s exactly what the Aces will need from her.

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