Las Vegas Aces head coach Bill Laimbeer. Mary Holt-USA TODAY Sports
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The Las Vegas Aces had a brutal trip to Connecticut ahead of their matchup against the Sun.
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They flew to New Jersey, waited hours for bags, got into traffic, and arrived after restaurants closed.
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The team ate at Walmart, where coach Bill Laimbeer joked that he was looking for “the schnapps”.
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The Las Vegas Aces spent most of the day traveling across the country to a Connecticut street game.
And when they overcame flight delays, missing baggage, and traffic to reach their final destination, the # 1 Aces had no choice but to get food from Walmart as all local restaurants were already closed.
A’ja Wilson. AP Photo / John Locher
The reigning WNBA MVP and superstar from Las Vegas, A’ja Wilson, documented her team’s trip to the “Wally World” on Saturday evening on Instagram. She even caught head coach Bill Laimbeer joking that he was “looking for the liquor” after their infernal trip to the east coast.
Wilson’s mother was a fan of Laimbeer’s antics, and the coach’s daughter sympathized with her father’s feelings.
According to a report by Sam Gordon of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the Aces woke early that day to board their flight to Newark, New Jersey. They arrived at 2:30 p.m. local time, but instead of making the three-hour drive to the Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, the Las Vegas team had to wait a few hours longer at the airport for everyone’s baggage claim . And when they finally started their road trip on I-95, the Aces got into additional traffic – perhaps due to traffic jams leading up to Tropical Storm Henri’s landing in New England.
The not-so-easy trip adds to the oft-made argument that WNBA teams should charter planes, especially for large overland trips like Las Vegas this week. Had they ridden their own jet straight to a Connecticut airport, the Aces would certainly not have had dinner at Walmart.
The story goes on
Kelsey plum. AP Photo / Elaine Thompson
Perhaps that explains why Las Vegas star Kelsey Plum repeatedly said “Hey Cathy” during Wilson’s Instagram stories in an obvious appeal to WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert.
“Hey, A’ja,” Plum said at the beginning of the clip. “Tell Instagram we could have been in Europe!”
Other teams have faced similar travel challenges throughout the season. When New York Liberty star Jazmine Jones took to Twitter in July to discuss one such case, team owner Joe Tsai vowed to “solve this transportation problem for good.”
Perhaps new Aces owner Mark Davis – who also owns the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders – could follow Tsai’s lead. After all, Davis has an estimated net worth of $ 700 million and has pledged to use some of his fortune to upgrade his newly acquired franchise.
Check out a shot of Wilson’s Instagram story below, documenting the Saturday night Las Vegas adventure:
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