Days After “Defense Sucks” Comment, Becky Hammon Doubts “Trust” Among Aces Teammates

The Las Vegas Aces are finding themselves in unfamiliar territory. The back-to-back champions have now been at the receiving end of adverse situations on the court with 3 consecutive losses in the Commissioner’s Cup. Anyhow, for head coach Becky Hammon, there is a bigger issue circulating in the camps.

Becky Hammon, Kelsey Plum, and A’ja Wilson gave a glimpse of the disheartening mood of the squad when they interacted with the media after their loss against the Minnesota Lynx. During this, a surprising revelation was made by the boss. Seemingly, Hammon said, via the postgame interview, “We’re a fun group, but losing sucks. We got to put the work first. The trust, I’m not quite sure why the trust isn’t there. But that’s something we know we can fix and work on. We know each other well. We’ve been through battles.”

Not so long ago, Hammon expressed dissatisfaction regarding the team’s defense. The comment came to the surface in the Aces’ home fixture against the Seattle Storm. Apparently, she wasn’t pleased with the fact that the team was trailing by 8 points by the halfway mark. Eventually, they went on to lose that game 78-65 which was the beginning of their aforementioned losing streak.

Moreover, this loss has also resulted in an unwanted headline attached to the franchise.

Becky Hammon experiences a rare first for her

Tuesday’s loss was the first time in Becky Hammon’s reign that the Aces have been on the losing side on a third consecutive occasion. Before this, the team went through three straight losses between Aug. 23 and 27 in the year 2019. As per  Elias Sports Bureau, Las Vegas has gone 143 games without a single-season three-game losing streak.

As it turns out, this becomes the second-longest stretch in WNBA history between such streaks. Bill Laimbeer, the former head coach of Las Vegas Aces, faced a similar sore spot back in August 2019. Las Vegas has played 143 games in between. Interestingly, the Houston Comets, whose four-peat Becky Hammon is trying to achieve are the other team to record such a feat. With the Comets, the streak was 224 games, and the gap was from the inception of the league in 1997 to 2003.

Seems like even in loss, Becky Hammon is amongst the greatest teams. It will be truly amazing when the team finally finds its defense and solves its issues by trusting each other. Until then, there is no denying that the Aces is quite an experienced team and is in perfectly capable hands.

Stay tuned for more such updates, and to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, has to say about the Reese-Clark rivalry and more, watch this video.