Thursday’s game against Connecticut at Michelob ULTRA Arena is San Antonio Stars Legacy Night, the second Legacy Night of the Aces’ 30th season.
The night gives Las Vegas a chance to recognize the San Antonio chapter of a franchise that began as the Utah Starzz in 1997, moved to Texas in 2003 and became the Las Vegas Aces in 2018.
Few people connect those eras more directly than Aces head coach Becky Hammon.
Hammon spent eight seasons with the San Antonio Silver Stars and Stars before eventually returning to the same franchise as its head coach in Las Vegas. Asked Thursday about her memories of San Antonio and how far the organization has come, Hammon immediately went back to the people and the place.
“San Antonio was good to me,” Hammon said before the game. “I loved playing there and loved being part of that community, so I’ll always have love for San Antonio.”
She also remembers a very different WNBA.
“When I was playing in San Antonio, we were basically practicing in a church gym,” Hammon said. “Now, I walk into a building as a coach, and I have an office. The players have lockers, and they don’t have to take their shoes and belongings with them.”
Hammon’s recollection is supported by the record. A 2007 Silver Stars team release listed the Antioch Baptist Church Sports Complex and Community Center as the team’s training-camp practice site, and the facility continued to serve as a practice home during her San Antonio years.
Today, the Aces operate from a dedicated headquarters that the franchise describes as the first complex built solely for use by a WNBA team.
A star in San Antonio
Hammon arrived in San Antonio in 2007 and immediately became one of the defining players of the franchise’s Texas era.
She averaged 18.8 points and five assists that season, earned All-WNBA First Team honors and finished second in MVP voting. The following year, San Antonio went a franchise-best 24-10, posted the best regular-season record in the WNBA and reached the Finals for the first time.
Hammon spent eight seasons with San Antonio, appearing in 223 games and starting 222. She averaged 15.6 points and 5.1 assists while shooting 38.8 percent from 3-point range during her time there.
The 2008 run remains one of the high points of the franchise’s pre-Las Vegas history. San Antonio beat Los Angeles in the Western Conference Finals before falling to Detroit in the WNBA Finals.
Hammon remembers the support surrounding those teams, too.
“There were times in San Antonio when we were selling out the AT&T Center,” she said. “We had some really great moments there.”
The franchise remained in San Antonio through 2017 before MGM Resorts International purchased the team and moved it to Las Vegas for the 2018 season.
Then came another turning point.
Investment changes the standard
Mark Davis purchased the Aces from MGM Resorts in 2021 after receiving unanimous approval from the WNBA and NBA boards of governors.
Hammon believes what followed mattered far beyond Las Vegas.
“When Mark took over, the investment was there upfront, and I think you’re now seeing the dividends on the back end,” she said.
Davis’ ownership coincided with an aggressive investment in the organization, including the Aces’ dedicated headquarters and training facility. The franchise has since won WNBA championships in 2022, 2023 and 2025.
For Hammon, the significance goes beyond banners.
“He was kind of the first owner to step up, give us a practice facility and really elevate the level,” Hammon said. “In this case, a rising tide raises all ships, and now everybody has to have one.”
That change is particularly visible to someone who lived through the other end of the league’s development.
Hammon played 16 WNBA seasons, made six All-Star teams and earned four All-WNBA selections. She experienced the league as a player when dedicated facilities were far from standard, then spent years on the San Antonio Spurs’ coaching staff before returning to the WNBA to coach the franchise she once played for.
Now she walks into a building designed for her team.
“It has leveled up a lot, which is great,” Hammon said. “We’re starting to see that there’s a real appetite for women’s sports and for investing in women.”
On a night devoted to the San Antonio Stars, the old uniforms and memories provide the nostalgia.
Hammon provides something else: a firsthand measure of just how much has changed.
“The women deserve it,” she said. “They’ve worked a long time for that.”
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Dice City Sports editor Mark Hebert covers the Las Vegas Aces, Vegas Golden Knights, Las Vegas Raiders, Athletics, and UNLV baseball and softball. He has 24 years of journalism experience, is also a senior reporter at Exhibit City News, and previously covered the Dallas Stars and Texas Rangers. Follow him on X or connect on LinkedIn.
