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On July 27, Jewell Loyd did something she had not done in nearly six years: she came off the bench in a 26-point win over the Dallas Wings.
Loyd, a six-time All-Star with two WNBA titles to her name, could not have seen this coming when she was traded to the Las Vegas Aces in February. In 2023, Loyd was named All-Star Game MVP and led the WNBA in scoring at 24.7 points per game; two years later, the former Seattle Storm star is a reserve on a Las Vegas team that has struggled to find its way in 2025.
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But Loyd's move to the bench has hardly been a demotion. Instead, it has keyed the Aces' most consistent stretch of basketball this season.
Las Vegas has won four of its past five games -- the sole blemish, a 53-point defeat to the Minnesota Lynx. The Aces bounced back from that humbling with consecutive wins over the Golden State Valkyries, Loyd scoring a combined 41 points in those two games and sinking seven 3-pointers in a 101-77 victory on Sunday.
Jewell Loyd 2025 season splits
As a reserve:
16.2 PPG, 50.9% FG, 43.6% 3PT
As a starter:
10.4 PPG, 36.3% FG, 35.4% 3PT
Aces are 4-1 with Loyd coming off the bench.
Though Loyd's 11.4 points per game average is the lowest since her rookie season in 2015, she ranks sixth in The W with 63 made 3-pointers -- sinking more than a quarter of those in the past five games. With the Aces (16-14) now within a game of the #5 seed, it appears that head coach Becky Hammon's gamble with Loyd is paying off.
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