LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The valley is celebrating the Las Vegas Aces winning back-to-back championships. The Aces are the first WNBA team in 21 years to win back-to-back titles. They defeated the New York Liberty in four games to win the 2023 championship.
The champs will head down Las Vegas Boulevard in a special victory parade starting at 5 p.m. followed by a rally at Toshiba Plaza.
Have photos or videos of the Aces' parade and celebration? Send them over to photos@ktnv.com for a chance to be featured on-air and online!
RELATED LINK: Know before you go: Route, prohibited items, parking and more for Las Vegas Aces' championship parade
Channel 13 is tracking the latest as festivities get underway and we have crews along the entire route.
Las Vegas is ready for another championship parade! Let’s go, @LVAces! pic.twitter.com/rNyFILhxr4
— Justin Hinton (@justinhintontv) October 23, 2023
Las Vegas getting ready to celebrate the 2x World Champs @LVAces:#WNBA #WNBAChampions pic.twitter.com/cqg0mOIn8h
— Tina Nguyen (@ttinanguyen) October 23, 2023
You can watch the parade and rally live on our sister station Vegas 34.
What are you seeing on the parade route and at the rally? Send us your photos and videos to photos@ktnv.com.
5 P.M.
The Las Vegas Aces are officially on their way down the parade route.
And the @LVAces are off 🤩 pic.twitter.com/CYhJFxZhM0
— WNBA (@WNBA) October 23, 2023
Our Johnny Resendiz also spoke with Clark County Commissioner Michael Naft who will be presenting the team the Key To The Las Vegas Strip tonight.
5:15 P.M.
Buses carrying the Las Vegas Aces, Raiders and Aces owner Mark Davis, and former Nevada governor Steve Sisolak have pulled up to Toshiba Plaza and players are getting ready to walk down the red carpet.
The 2023 WNBA trophy has entered the chat 🏆 pic.twitter.com/FdFvOUofgR
— WNBA (@WNBA) October 24, 2023
5:30 P.M.
A'ja Wilson, Chelsea Gray, and Alysha Clark have arrived at the red carpet.
5:45 P.M.
The team has officially been introduced and Mark Davis, Nikki Fargas, and Natalie Williams are speaking to fans.
"It's hard to win a championship, even harder to repeat," Davis said. "But when you've got great women running an organization and you've got 12 badass women that know how to play basketball and you surround them with an organization that knows one thing, just win, that's what you get. Las Vegas, we are still the world champions."
He said the Aces have the best fans in the league.
"You helped us win this championship and we expect to see y'all back next year."
5:55 P.M.
Head coach Becky Hammon takes the stage and thanks fans for their support.
"I don't have enough adjectives to talk about their grit, their determination. They just happen to be sick ass basketball players," Hammon said. "Las Vegas, thank you very much for coming out and supporting. We had a slogan this year. It was Aces vs. Everybody."
6:05 P.M.
Sydney Colson is now thanking fans.
"I believe that we have the best fans, not just in the WNBA, in the world," Colson said. "The way that y'all support us and our faces on social media, the way y'all ride for us, the way you show up wherever I play, y'all don't understand how much we love y'all. We don't always have time to sign everything or take every picture but we hope y'all know how much we appreciate you and love you."
Alysha Clark said this team was special and she appreciates being given the opportunity to come to the valley.
"Coming into this year, I was told I was too old. I wouldn't make the transition. When Becky Hammon called me in my free agency period and said they want me in Vegas, I was like oh. These women up here wanted me in Vegas here with them," Clark said. "They believed in what I still had left. Each and every woman up here wanted me on their team. When I have a legend on my phone saying she wants to play with me, when I got all these other legends on my phone saying they wanted to play with me, when I got this Hall of Fame coach on my line, Facetiming me picking up her boys from school, saying they wanted me. I was like listen, I'm going to Vegas."
6:20 P.M.
Kiah Stokes, Candace Parker, and Jackie Young have given their speeches. Next up, it's Kelsey Plum.
"Las Vegas, I love y'all man. You guys have become part of our family and we're so grateful because when we go out and play, it's bigger than us. It's all of us," Plum said. "This year has been a hard year for me. My husband's across the country and I'm so grateful for this group because we're a family and we got through it together. I don't have much to say. I just know we're going to keep coming back and everyone hates it. Let's go baby."
For Chelsea Gray,
"This is an amazing franchise. We got the greatest coach in the world. We got the greatest fans in the world and the league messed up and let us win again," Gray said. "They messed up when they didn't give league MVP to our girl. They messed up when they left KP off the All-WNBA team. They messed up when they left Jackie off the first team. So I'm going to talk mad **** because we won. We're just getting started. Run that **** back."
6:30 P.M.
A'ja Wilson thanked her team, staff, and the fans for another memorable and special season.
"A lot of people doubted us but boy, we had a mighty, mighty bench mob. We already know what happened. We won Game Four," Wilson said. "We know how nice that first ring was. This second one is about to be blinging."
Hammon also called Wilson the "GOAT of the GOATS".
"I'm trying to think of an NBA comp or a WNBA comp but there is no one in the world like A'ja Wilson," Hammon said. "She put the team on her back and said follow me and we did."
6:45 P.M.
Queen's "We Are The Champions" is playing while fireworks are going off over Toshiba Plaza.
