As the Las Vegas Aces prepare to host Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever on Thursday, they are inching closer to securing another trip to the WNBA playoffs.
Las Vegas enters the matchup at 21-9, tied with the Golden State Valkyries for second place in the league standings and trailing only the Minnesota Lynx.
With 14 regular-season games remaining, the Aces have a playoff magic number of five to clinch their eighth consecutive postseason berth dating back to 2019. That number can be reached through five Las Vegas victories or a combination of Aces wins and losses by the ninth-place team in the standings.
However, the road to clinching may not come easily. Las Vegas faces one of the toughest stretches of its schedule over the next four days, beginning with Thursday’s matchup against the Fever before back-to-back games against the league-leading Lynx and the Commissioner’s Cup champion New York Liberty.
Beyond simply qualifying for the postseason, the Aces remain firmly in the race for one of the WNBA’s top two seeds, which would guarantee home-court advantage through the semifinals. They also maintain an outside chance of catching Minnesota for the No. 1 overall seed.
The Lynx currently sit atop the WNBA standings with a 25-6 record while Las Vegas trails their Western Conference rival by 3.5 games with two head-to-head meetings remaining over the final 14 games of the regular season.
While the Aces can still mathematically finish first, Minnesota controls the race. The Lynx need a combination of 11 wins and Las Vegas losses to clinch the league’s best record for the sixth time since 2015.
The more realistic battle appears to be for the No. 2 seed.
As the standings currently sit, the Aces are locked in a three-team race with the Valkyries (21-9) and the Dallas Wings (19-11).
The first tiebreaker is head-to-head record. Las Vegas owns that advantage over Golden State after sweeping the season series, but Dallas holds the edge after winning two of the teams’ three meetings this season, including both contests in Arlington before the Aces salvaged the finale at Michelob Ultra Arena.
With those tiebreakers in mind, Las Vegas’ path to the second seed remains challenging. The Aces would likely need to win nearly all of their remaining games while also receiving help from either the Valkyries or the Wings down the stretch.
However the opportunity to take a significant step toward raising another championship banner comes immediately.
Over the next eight days, the Aces will play five games, including the conclusion of their season-long five-game road trip this weekend before returning home for back-to-back games against the Washington Mystics on Aug. 11 and Aug. 13.
If Las Vegas wins all five contests, it could clinch a playoff berth as early as Aug. 13 in front of its home fans at Michelob Ultra Arena. Even if the Aces fall short during that stretch, the team’s magic number could continue to shrink with help elsewhere in the standings, putting the franchise on the verge of celebrating another postseason appearance.
Aces playoff tracker
Record: 21-9
Playoff magic number: 5
Games behind No. 1 Minnesota: 3.5
Lead over fourth-place Dallas: 2 games
Next game: Thursday at Indiana
