The Las Vegas Aces have been dealt a tough hand ahead of Game 4 of the 2023 WNBA Finals. The team announced Tuesday that they will be without starting point guard Chelsea Gray, and starting center Kiah Stokes Wednesday night. The Aces are up 2-1 in a best-of-five series with the New York Liberty in the WNBA Finals. Las Vegas won its first title last season and looks to repeat, while the New York Liberty – an original league franchise – seeks its first WNBA title.
Gray injured her left foot in the fourth quarter of Sunday's 87-73 loss to the New York Liberty. She was seen wearing a boot and using a knee scooter at the team practice at Barclays Center on Tuesday afternoon. Stokes was wearing a walking boot on her right foot and using crutches.
"Just pain in the left foot," Gray told media Tuesday. "That's kinda what it is, waiting to hear more." Gray also confirmed it was a non-contact injury. The two-time WNBA champion scored 11 points before her late-game injury. She was contained to only two assists, well under her 7.3 average per game.
Stokes' injury came on gradually. "I honestly couldn't even tell you what happened," Stokes said Tuesday afternoon at Barclays Center. "Playing all year 'round, you know, shit's just gonna catch up to you." Stokes averages only 2.8 points per game in the WNBA Finals but is a key part of the Las Vegas defense.
How will the loss of Gray and Stokes impact the Fanduel Sportsbook odds for Game 4? To answer that, we spoke to CBS Sports WNBA contributor Calvin Wetzel.
Erica L. Ayala: What are some things that stood out to you in game three, either from the Liberty or the Aces?
Calvin Wetzel: The Liberty changed up their defensive matchups in Game 3. They put Betnijah Laney on Jackie Young. Sabrina Ionescu had been guarding Jackie Young, and we saw Jackie really explode in those first two games with an average of 25 points. She only had eight points in Game 3, so that matchup worked out really well for New York.
Erica: You mentioned the defensive assignments were different, and that included Sabrina Ionescu on Kiah Stokes. Kiah Stokes was held scoreless in Game 3, though that's not necessarily an anomaly.
Calvin: Yeah, exactly. I think that was a great call on Sandy Brodello's part because Sabrina had been struggling to defend Jackie Young. Stokes, even though obviously she's a big against Sabrina as a guard, because Kiah is so much of what she contributes is on the defensive end, you can get away with putting one of your weaker defensive guards on her. So, I think that worked out really well. And you know, we're not going to see Kiah Stokes in Game 4. If we did, I probably would have expected that same matchup again.
Cayla George, if she starts for the Aces, is probably a little bit of a better shooter than Stokes but definitely not anywhere near the offensive threat of Jackie, Kelsey Plum, or A'ja Wilson.
Erica: Sabrina also had two blocked shots – I don't think they were on Kiah – on Sunday. She told CBS Sports reporter Terrika Foster-Brasby that she didn't want to be a defensive liability. She wanted to make sure she was upping her game defensively. So that's definitely something to look out for. Since we mentioned the injuries, we might as well continue down that route. What are your thoughts on those absences and how that might impact the Aces?
Calvin: I'm sure Sydney Colson is going to get a lot of action, whether she starts or not. Because you definitely need another ball handler in there. Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young can do a lot of that as well. But it's really tough because the Aces depth – or lack thereof – has been the story for the last two seasons. They added some depth this year when they brought in Alysha Clark and Candace Parker. But now, with Parker, Stokes, and Gray hurt, they're back to where they were in the lack of depth department. You're probably going to see Kelsey Plum, Jackie Young, and maybe A'ja Wilson all play 40 minutes in this game unless it turns into a blowout. Their conditioning is going to be tested, and their death is going to be tested for sure.
Erica: So let's get down to the FanDuel Sportsbook business of it all. The game is Wednesday at 8 p.m. Eastern Time at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. What is FanDuel telling us about this game, and does this impact overall who they think will win the series?
Calvin: They still have the Aces as the favorite to win the series just because the Aces only need to win one of the remaining two games, and the Liberty would have to win both, including going on the road to win Game 5, if they get there. But in terms of this next game, FanDuel does have the Liberty favored by 5.5 points, which is a pretty big difference when you look at Game 3, where they had the Aces slightly favored by 1.5 points. The only difference is that now you're looking at the Aces without Chelsea Gray and without Kiah Stokes. They're saying that is worth about six points difference in terms of who's favored in this game, which I think is about right. When you talk about the impact that those two players have, that should change who's favored and change the line quite a bit.
Erica: You mentioned that the series is still in favor of the Las Vegas Aces. Of course, should the Liberty get this win, we go to a winner-take-all Game 5. Are you expecting some of those odds for the series to change?
Calvin: Definitely. I think if the Liberty do take Game 4, you might see pretty close to 50/50 odds. Obviously, the Aces will get home-court advantage back, but it depends on if Kiah Stokes and Chelsea Gray come back. Especially in Gray's case, it didn't look very good. I hope I'm wrong, but I'd be surprised if she comes back, and if you're without her – and especially without both of them in Game 5 – I think the Liberty probably would have the advantage just in terms of talent and depth and personnel on the court. But with the Aces having home court, that could cancel some of that out.
Erica: Let's talk about a few other odds. I'm going to look at 3-pointers and top scorers. When you look at some of the scoring lines, you look at scoring 15 or more points, 20 points, or even 25-plus points. You have the usual suspects, Kelsey Plum, Jackie Young, Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones, Sabrina Ionescu, and Betnijah Laney, but we don't see. A'ja Wilson until 30-plus points, which arguably some people think she might have to drop for the Aces to win. What's your take on the points odds here?
Calvin: It's interesting that she doesn't show up until you get to 30. I think that's probably because FanDuel Sportsbooks knows she's so likely to score those lower amounts – the 15 and the 20 – that they might as well not even offer it. It's almost a lock. Especially with Chelsea Gray out of the lineup, A'ja, Jackie, and Kelsey Plum are going to see all the scoring load that they can handle. I think all three of those are really good bets to go over their point total or to score 25-plus or 30-plus, whatever number. We saw the Aces' core four score 91 points combined in Game 1. Now you take Chelsea Gray out of that equation, and I think the remaining three are going to do a similar thing in terms of just scoring a huge percentage of the Aces points.
Of course, the New York Liberty will want to stave that off as much as possible, which I think is interesting when it comes to three-pointers made. Three or more three-pointers made, FanDuel has Betnijah Laney and Breanna Stewart, both played for the New York Liberty. But again, you don't start seeing Aces players until you get up to four or five-plus three-pointers made. Is it a similar situation to Wilson?
Calvin: The only caveat to that would be assuming the Liberty put Betnijah Laney back on Jackie Young. Obviously, Laney did a great job on her in Game 3 and could limit her a little bit. But Jackie is still going to get more volume and more shots than she did in Game 3, I'm sure. So I think that you're going to be seeing both of those players launching from three. I would feel more confident in Kelsey Plum, just because, like I said, Jackie is probably gonna have a good defender on her, and Kelsey Plum might be able to get free more for some better looks.
Erica: Any other odds that you're looking at here over on FanDuel that stand out ahead of the WNBA Finals Game 4 between the Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty?
Calvin: Yeah, you and I talked about this for Game 1, and it didn't happen, but I would go back to what we talked about Jonquel Jones over rebounds. I think that number for game one was 11.5. Terrika and I both liked that she had nine in the first half. And Jonquel looked well on her way. She only had one rebound in the second half. But now, even though she didn't quite get there in those first few games when you take your Stokes off the floor and put Cayla George, or if they go small and put Sydney Colson and Alysha Clark, that's just that much harder for the Aces to stop Jonquel Jones on the boards. So I would go back to it now because at over 10.5 instead of 11.5, I think that's a great bet.
Erica: Well, Calvin, this series certainly has taken a turn with some of these injuries and the Game 3 win by the New York Liberty, but hey, that's why we have a five-game series. You took the Liberty in five games. Are you sticking with that?
Calvin: I did take the Liberty and five, and after two games, I was not feeling nearly as great about it, but they took Game 3. The Aces are struggling with injuries. Now it feels like that might be back in play. So, I'm sticking with Liberty in five.
