With five players making up more than 75% of the team’s total minutes played this season. The Aces have one of the smaller rosters in the WNBA. Their squad averages 9.8 points, which is by far the lowest in the league. They are supported by three performances of 20 or more points in routs.
Along with its most recent two games against the Sparks and Wings, Las Vegas has won three games. It’s a far cry from the squad that featured the previous three Sixth Women of the Year. All of whom in their award-winning seasons exceeded that bench performance on an individual basis.
Hamby was an All-Star in 2021 when she played 24.5 minutes a game; in 2022, she is even more effective while getting six more minutes each game. She is hitting the two-point, three-point, and free throw line better than she did a year ago, and she is posting career highs in both total points and rebounds as well as rebounds per 36 minutes.
She is perhaps the best runner in the league among big women and averages 3.9 fast break points per game, next only to Kahleah Copper. But Hamby understood she’d have to be a threat from behind the arc to fit perfectly into the new head coach Becky Hammon’s system, so her main emphasis throughout the offseason was hitting threes. Although Hamby only hit four of the 18 threes she attempted in May, she is already hitting half of her attempts in June.
Given that Theresa Plaisance and Kiah Stokes are the only backups that Hammon genuinely trusts, Hamby is used as a small forward. Hamby must be a reliable spacer within these lineups to give the offense breathing room.
Plum’s task is to get buckets, whilst Hamby’s job is always changing. Plum is presently second in the WNBA in scoring (20.1 points per game) behind Breanna Stewart after returning to the starting lineup after a brief absence and averaging the most minutes of her career.
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