Amid one of the biggest WNBA seasons ever, the Paris Olympic games take place. There are four women on Team USA Basketball from the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces: A’ja Wilson, Kelsey Plum, Jackie Young, and Chelsea Gray. From the outside looking in, it’s quite the flex. What does it say about your squad that four players from it make up a third of the women representing the U.S.?! It means you all are unequivocally, damn good. But on the flip side, these same players have a basketball season to finish once they leave Paris. Can this help or hurt them?

In a season of 40 games, we’re slightly over the halfway mark in the WNBA. This Saturday is the WNBA’s all-star game. Afterward, the league will be on pause until the end of the Olympics. During that stead, any players who aren’t on Team USA will effectively be on a mid-season vacation. They’ll be able to rest. That won’t be the case at all for the stars of the Aces. They’ll be playing the best the world has to offer, on the biggest stage of sports in our world.

There are a couple of ways that we can look at this. With the ladies of the Aces playing, they might be able to stay in rhythm. If they did, they would be tough to stop upon their return. That’s especially the case if the rest of the league isn’t continuing to put in work in the gym. Many critics don’t expect Team USA Women to come across heavy competition in the Olympics. So one may surmise that playing extra games during this time will be of no physical consequence. However, with the rest of the league pretty much chilling, The Aces will be up against from fresh legs in late August.

Of course, we want the best for the ladies in Paris. I want them to return healthy and without injury. But the question will loom, whether or not the Olympics negatively affects them or not. There’s more of a microscope on this because the Aces are also the reigning and defending WNBA champions. The whole league is gunning for them. So the level of intensity of every one of their regular season games is high.

Now some would say that the same pressure probably exists in the Olympics. But it seemingly doesn’t. The media makes it seem as if Team USA Women’s Basketball winning gold is as close to a formality as you can get. If we were to take that as gospel, then the Aces can’t afford to not come back to the States on a lull. They will have to hit the floor with gusto and play with force. To me. this is just yet another storyline to help weave the narrative of this amazing WNBA season. If it were up to the Aces, I know they wouldn’t come out and phone it in. So seeing how this Olympic run pans out is as fascinating as wondering if they will three-peat as well. Much more will be contained after WNBA All-Star weekend in Phoenix. And I can’t wait to see the results.

WNBA All-Star Game

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