July 12, 2026

Valkyries Daily: The Tie Lasted One Day, and the Aces Won by 48

The first-place tie Golden State pulled into Friday lasted one day. Both teams ahead won Saturday, the Aces by a franchise-record 48, and the Valkyries (17-7) wake up 0.5 games back in third. Indiana is at Las Vegas tonight on NBC.

The tie dissolved overnight

The Valkyries did not play Saturday, and it cost them the piece of first place they had earned Friday night in Connecticut. Both teams Golden State had pulled even with in the loss column won at home, so the math flipped back: Las Vegas is 17-6 (.739), Minnesota is 17-6 (.739), and Golden State is 17-7 (.708), a half-game back in the loss column and third by percentage (WNBA standings, StatMuse). The seven-game win streak is still the longest in the league and the longest in franchise history, but streaks do not move the standings on days off.

The Aces did not just win. They beat Phoenix 106-58, a 48-point margin that matches the third-largest victory in WNBA history and is the largest in the Aces franchise's history (Review-Journal). The all-time record is 59, set by Minnesota over Indiana in 2017. A'ja Wilson had 21 points and 15 rebounds in 25 minutes, a double-double by halftime, and Chelsea Gray added 15 and 11 assists while sitting out the fourth quarter. Las Vegas had 30 assists and led 29-9 after one quarter, 57-22 at the half, and by 54 in the fourth. The four-time MVP did not need to play a single minute of garbage time to put up a historic number.

One detail worth flagging for the standings race: the Aces lost 111-58 to Minnesota last season in the second-largest margin in league history, then won 16 straight to close the regular season and won the title. Becky Hammon's teams have a track record of turning a blowout loss into a runaway. The version of Las Vegas that just won by 48 is the one Golden State is chasing.

The Lynx held serve too, and a door closed on Burton

The other co-leader would not let the Aces run away alone. Minnesota edged the Liberty 90-85 in Minneapolis, with Kayla McBride scoring 14 of her 25 in the fourth quarter and Olivia Miles adding 23 in her first game back from the calf injury that cost her two (ESPN). Miles had a steal with 1:21 left and hit two free throws to push the lead to five with 53 seconds remaining. The Lynx are 17-6 and still doing this without Napheesa Collier, who has not played all season after offseason ankle surgery.

The Miles return matters beyond the standings. She is an All-Star starter, and her absence had opened one possible injury-replacement path for Veronica Burton to reach Chicago on July 25. With Miles back and A'ja Wilson back, the only remaining open slot runs through Kelsey Plum, who is out longer term with a lower-leg injury. Burton's 17-point, six-assist start in place of Gabby Williams on Friday strengthened the case, but the case now has one door left, and it depends on Plum's status.

Film room: what a 29-9 first quarter says about the gap

The Aces did not need a signature run to bury Phoenix. Their longest scoring run Saturday was nine points, per the Associated Press. They just never stopped, hitting five threes in the first quarter while the Mercury went 3-of-17 with five turnovers, then extending the lead to 37 before halftime. Wilson had her double-double before the break, and Gray had the offense humming with 11 assists in three quarters.

That is the offensive ceiling Golden State's defense is built to suppress, and it is the reason the Valkyries are the team in the top three that can stay with the Aces even when Wilson goes off. Golden State allows a league-best 76.2 points per game, fewest in the WNBA, and on Friday held Connecticut to six points in a quarter, the fewest the franchise has ever allowed in any period, without Williams on the floor. The contrast is the whole race in one image: Las Vegas just scored 106, and Golden State's season low for an opponent is 49. That league-best-offense-versus-league-best-defense matchup is what the rest of this race turns on.

What changes today: Fever at Aces, 6 p.m. PT, NBC

The race moves again before the Valkyries take the floor. Indiana is at Las Vegas tonight, 6 p.m. PT on NBC and Peacock (how to watch), and the result reshapes Golden State's deficit. An Aces win pushes them to 18-6 and drops the Valkyries to 1.5 games back. A Fever upset keeps Las Vegas at 17-6 and leaves Golden State at 0.5, with the same Indiana team coming to Gainbridge Fieldhouse for the Valkyries on Wednesday.

Caitlin Clark is available tonight on a 20-to-25-minute restriction, up from the 16 she played in her return Wednesday, and coach Stephanie White said the plan is to drop the three-minute-burst substitution pattern that left Clark unable to find a rhythm against Los Angeles (Yahoo/IndyStar, WISH-TV). She sat Thursday in Phoenix as a predetermined rest night on the back-to-back and practiced Saturday in Las Vegas. How she looks tonight, on more normal stints, is the clearest preview of what Golden State will face Wednesday.

Next: Wednesday at Indiana, the road-trip finale

Golden State is idle through Tuesday. The next game is Wednesday at Indiana, 5 p.m. PT (8 p.m. ET), on USA Network with the local KPIX/KOVR broadcast and Audacy radio, the finale of the five-game road trip that stands at 4-0 after wins at Washington, Toronto, and two in Connecticut (broadcast schedule). It is the last regular-season meeting with the Fever, and the season series is split. Indiana is 13-9, 3.5 games behind the Valkyries, and Clark should be another several days into her ramp-up by then with no back-to-back to manage.

Injury watch

Gabby Williams remains day-to-day with the back contusion from her hard fall in Toronto on July 8, and her status for Wednesday in Indiana is undecided. She missed the first game of her season Friday, the first absence for the team's leading scorer and only All-Star starter, and Nakase downplayed long-term concern after the Toronto game (Yahoo/USA TODAY). Burton starting in her place showed the roster can absorb a short absence, but Williams at 15-plus points a night and first-team All-Defense is the one the Valkyries cannot lose for long. With the All-Star Game on July 25, her availability for both Golden State and Chicago is the status to watch this week.

Tracking

• A'ja Wilson is back and looking like the MVP favorite again, 21 and 15 in 25 minutes Saturday after 32 and 10 in her return Thursday. The award race she leads is the one that frames every Golden State-Aces comparison the rest of the way.
• Olivia Miles returned for Minnesota and immediately dropped 23, reaffirming the rookie's case near the top of the MVP ladder and closing the Burton All-Star replacement door. Plum's status is the last one left.
• The Aces' blowout moved within range of league history: the 48-point margin is third all-time, behind only Minnesota's 59-point win over Indiana in 2017 and Minnesota's 53-point win over the Aces last year.
• Golden State's 11-2 record over its last 13, with the only losses to Minnesota at home and at Las Vegas, is the form of a contender. The next two chances to prove it against the teams ahead come at Indiana on Wednesday and then back home July 18 and 20 against Washington.