A'ja Wilson, Aces Teammates Troll Becky Hammon After Fever Win
The Las Vegas Aces improved to 24-13 on the WNBA season Friday after defeating the Indiana Fever by a score of 78-74.
It was a good team win from Las Vegas, who saw double-digit scoring efforts from four players (Jackie Young, A'ja Wilson, Kelsey Plum, and Chelsea Gray). This is a great sign for Las Vegas, who have struggled to find cohesion and consistency on offense for most of the season.
Despite their problems on the court earlier this year, the Aces have always appeared to have great chemistry off the court. This is proven by the number of big personalities their roster boasts and some of the pranks they've played on members of the team and coaching staff, such as when they pretended to ditch rookie Kate Martin at the restaurant after a team dinner in June.
shoutout to emma for showing the ending to this thrilling saga
— maia (@lessiirusso) June 5, 2024
kate was, in fact, NOT left behind pic.twitter.com/SOy55zpO4w
The most recent victim of the Aces' pranks was their own head coach, Becky Hammon.
After Friday's win against Indiana, A'ja Wilson posted a video of her and the other Aces trolling Hammon with the viral TikTok 'Just Give Me My Money' prank on her Instagram.
Per Forbes, "The prank involves two or more people standing in a circle or a line. One at a time, they chant 'Just give me my money,' often in a funny voice with dramatic flair. Each declaration elicits enthusiastic applause from the other participants. But when the person who’s not in on the joke jumps in with their version of the phrase—that almost always happens last—they’re met with awkward silence."
The Aces' version started with Wilson saying the chant, then Martin, then Kelsey Plum, then Alysha Clark, then Chelsea Gray, then Sydney Colson, then Kierstan Bell, then then Kiah Stokes, then Jackie Young (who did a hilarious silent version, which depicts her personality perfectly), and then finally Becky Hammon.
Once Hammon finished, her entire Aces team went silent until they couldn't contain their laughter a few seconds later.
Hammon appeared to be a good sport about the joke, laughing along with her Aces players at the end. And she's surely willing to bear the brunt of more jokes if her team keeps winning.
Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.