{"id":105790,"date":"2019-05-26T02:00:26","date_gmt":"2019-05-26T09:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=105790"},"modified":"2019-05-24T20:14:46","modified_gmt":"2019-05-25T03:14:46","slug":"wnba-season-preview-las-vegas-aces-open-as-league-favorites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wnba-season-preview-las-vegas-aces-open-as-league-favorites\/","title":{"rendered":"WNBA Season Preview: Trade for Cambage Makes Las Vegas Aces League Favorites"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Las Vegas Aces<\/a> have emerged as the favorites to win the 2019 WNBA championship after make a blockbuster trade to acquire center Liz Cambage last week.<\/p>\n

\"WNBA
The trade of Liz Cambage to the Las Vegas Aces has changed the balance of power entering the WNBA season. (Image: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Aces are currently listed as a 13\/5 favorite according to William Hill, just ahead of the Washington Mystics (16\/5).<\/p>\n

Stewart Injury Opens Door for New Contenders<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Mystics were the top pick to win a title this year for most of the offseason. Washington reached the finals last year before being swept by the Seattle Storm. But Seattle lost 2018 league MVP Breanna Stewart for the season when she tore her Achilles tendon playing for another team overseas, and 11-time All-Star Sue Bird needs surgery to deal with a loose body in her knee.<\/p>\n

That opened the door for the Mystics, who not only brought back a roster led by 2015 MVP Elena Delle Donne and Kristi Toliver, but are also reintroducing Emma Meesseman, who missed all of last year while playing for Belgium in international competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have a good team coming back and you see the potential \u2013 and you know that you can grow from the experience you had last year \u2013 we have a lot to look forward to,\u201d Mystics coach Mike Thibault told ESPN.<\/p>\n

WNBA Could Be Wide Open in 2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

But when the WNBA started its season on Friday, it was Las Vegas<\/a> that took the role of favorite. That\u2019s almost entirely due to the addition of Cambage, last year\u2019s runner-up for the MVP award. The 27-year-old center made it clear in January that she no longer wanted to play for the Dallas Wings, and while she preferred a trade to the Los Angeles Sparks, she eventually opened to the idea of other moves.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone in the Aces family is excited to welcome Liz to Las Vegas,\u201d Aces head coach Bill Laimbeer said when the trade was announced last week. \u201cShe brings an attitude and physical presence that we need. There is no doubt about her physical ability, but what we respect most about her is her basketball IQ.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A poll of the WNBA\u2019s general managers also found that Las Vegas was seen as the favorite, with 33 percent of the GMs picking the Aces to win the title. They were closely followed by the Phoenix Mercury (8\/1), the Sparks (4\/1), and the Mystics.<\/p>\n

\n

Those results go to show just how open the WNBA is this year. Phoenix brings back All-Stars DeWanna Bonner and Brittney Griner, but will be missing Diana Taurasi to start the season while she recovers from back surgery. Los Angeles has one of the deepest lineups in the league, with Chiney Ogwumike joining her sister Nneka alongside Chelsea Gray and Candace Parker.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Several other teams are also considered to be in the mix, including the Atlanta Dream (13\/2), who opened their season with a win over Dallas on Friday, and the Connecticut Sun (13\/2). Even the Storm (18\/1) could play themselves into the mix, though it\u2019s hard to see them replacing the production of Stewart even if they get Bird back faster than expected.<\/p>\n

The WNBA regular season play through Sept. 8, with the playoffs running through early October.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Las Vegas Aces have emerged as the favorites to win the 2019 WNBA championship after make a blockbuster trade to acquire center Liz Cambage last week. The Aces are currently listed as a 13\/5 favorite according to William Hill, just ahead of the Washington Mystics (16\/5). Stewart Injury Opens Door for New Contenders The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":105791,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWNBA Season Preview: Las Vegas Aces Open as League Favorites<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The WNBA season began on Friday, with the Las Vegas Aces favored to win the league title thanks to their trade for star center Liz Cambage.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wnba-season-preview-las-vegas-aces-open-as-league-favorites\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"WNBA Season Preview: Las Vegas Aces Open as League Favorites\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The WNBA season began on Friday, with the Las Vegas Aces favored to win the league title thanks to their trade for star center Liz Cambage.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wnba-season-preview-las-vegas-aces-open-as-league-favorites\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-05-26T09:00:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-05-25T03:14:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/WNBA-Liz-Cambage.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wnba-season-preview-las-vegas-aces-open-as-league-favorites\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wnba-season-preview-las-vegas-aces-open-as-league-favorites\/\",\"name\":\"WNBA Season Preview: Las Vegas Aces Open as League Favorites\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wnba-season-preview-las-vegas-aces-open-as-league-favorites\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wnba-season-preview-las-vegas-aces-open-as-league-favorites\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/WNBA-Liz-Cambage.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-05-26T09:00:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-05-25T03:14:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"The WNBA season began on Friday, with the Las Vegas Aces favored to win the league title thanks to their trade for star center Liz Cambage.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wnba-season-preview-las-vegas-aces-open-as-league-favorites\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wnba-season-preview-las-vegas-aces-open-as-league-favorites\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wnba-season-preview-las-vegas-aces-open-as-league-favorites\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/WNBA-Liz-Cambage.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/WNBA-Liz-Cambage.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"The trade of Liz Cambage to the Las Vegas Aces has changed the balance of power entering the WNBA season. (Image: Getty)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wnba-season-preview-las-vegas-aces-open-as-league-favorites\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sports Betting\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Sports\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/sports\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"WNBA Season Preview: Trade for Cambage Makes Las Vegas Aces League Favorites\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\",\"name\":\"Casino.org Staff Writer\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0853bd574da5b217483afb1fbbee33a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0853bd574da5b217483afb1fbbee33a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Casino.org Staff Writer\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/corg-staff-writer\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"WNBA Season Preview: Las Vegas Aces Open as League Favorites","description":"The WNBA season began on Friday, with the Las Vegas Aces favored to win the league title thanks to their trade for star center Liz Cambage.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wnba-season-preview-las-vegas-aces-open-as-league-favorites\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"WNBA Season Preview: Las Vegas Aces Open as League Favorites","og_description":"The WNBA season began on Friday, with the Las Vegas Aces favored to win the league title thanks to their trade for star center Liz Cambage.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wnba-season-preview-las-vegas-aces-open-as-league-favorites\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2019-05-26T09:00:26+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-05-25T03:14:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/WNBA-Liz-Cambage.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Casino.org Staff Writer","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Casino_Org","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Casino.org Staff Writer","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wnba-season-preview-las-vegas-aces-open-as-league-favorites\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wnba-season-preview-las-vegas-aces-open-as-league-favorites\/","name":"WNBA Season Preview: Las Vegas Aces Open as League Favorites","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wnba-season-preview-las-vegas-aces-open-as-league-favorites\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wnba-season-preview-las-vegas-aces-open-as-league-favorites\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/WNBA-Liz-Cambage.jpg","datePublished":"2019-05-26T09:00:26+00:00","dateModified":"2019-05-25T03:14:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77"},"description":"The WNBA season began on Friday, with the Las Vegas Aces favored to win the league title thanks to their trade for star center Liz Cambage.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wnba-season-preview-las-vegas-aces-open-as-league-favorites\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wnba-season-preview-las-vegas-aces-open-as-league-favorites\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wnba-season-preview-las-vegas-aces-open-as-league-favorites\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/WNBA-Liz-Cambage.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/WNBA-Liz-Cambage.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"caption":"The trade of Liz Cambage to the Las Vegas Aces has changed the balance of power entering the WNBA season. (Image: Getty)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wnba-season-preview-las-vegas-aces-open-as-league-favorites\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sports Betting","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Sports","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/sports\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"WNBA Season Preview: Trade for Cambage Makes Las Vegas Aces League Favorites"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77","name":"Casino.org Staff Writer","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0853bd574da5b217483afb1fbbee33a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0853bd574da5b217483afb1fbbee33a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Casino.org Staff Writer"},"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/corg-staff-writer\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105790"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}