Wilson exits with head injury as Aces fall to Sparks

Three-time WNBA MVP A'ja Wilson exited the Las Vegas Aces' 97-89 loss to the Los Angeles Sparks with what the team said was a head injury.

Wilson was struck on the face as she went up to defend a drive to the basket by the Sparks' Dearica Hamby. Wilson took herself out of the game with 1:17 left in the third quarter and immediately pulled a towel to her nose. Wilson did not return.

"She was bleeding," Aces coach Becky Hammon said after the game. "She's going to go to the doctor tomorrow and see what's going on. I don't have anything beyond that."

Wilson finished with 13 points after going 2-of-12 from the field and 9-of-10 from the free throw line in 28 minutes. She also had 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 blocks. Jackie Young had 34 points and Chelsea Gray had 28 to lead Las Vegas.

Hammon called out team's effort on both ends, but especially the defense, which allowed the Sparks to shoot 56.9% from the field.

"We score 89 points, and we only had two good offensive production nights: Chelsea and Jackie. Everybody else were stinkers," Hammon said. "The bench was a stinker. But 89 points should be enough to win a game. You can't give up 50 points at halftime. We're still searching for that 40-minute game. It's like a damn unicorn."

Rickea Jackson had a career-high 30 points for the visiting Sparks, who improved to 4-7.

The Aces, WNBA champions in 2022 and 2023, are now 4-4. They lost to the expansion Golden State Valkyries 95-68 on Saturday in San Francisco.

Guard Jewell Loyd, the WNBA's scoring leader in 2023, continued to struggle in her first season with the Aces after 10 seasons in Seattle, finishing with seven points on 3-of-9 shooting Wednesday. She has scored in double figures in just three of the Aces' eight games and is shooting 29.4% from the field.

"I think she's getting good looks, she just has missed them," Hammon said. "She got in foul trouble, so that's always a little bit of a hindrance in somebody's playing time. But she's doing a lot of other things right."

Asked if there was a consideration of moving Loyd out of the starting lineup, Hammon acknowledged, "Yes, it's been talked about. Brought up by her."

Loyd has started almost all her career, other than 11 games her rookie season in 2015 and six games in 2019 when she was dealing with an ankle injury.