August 5, 2026 - 4:37 pm

As the Las Vegas Aces prepare to face Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever on Thursday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, they are inching closer to securing another trip to the WNBA playoffs.

Las Vegas enters the matchup at 21-9, tied with the Golden State Valkyries for second place in the league standings and trailing only the Minnesota Lynx (25-6).

With 14 regular-season games left, the Aces have a playoff magic number of five to clinch their eighth consecutive postseason berth dating to 2019. That number can be reached through five Las Vegas victories or a combination of Aces wins and losses by the ninth-place team in the standings.

However, the road to clinching might not come easily. Las Vegas faces one of the toughest stretches of its schedule over the next four days, beginning with Thursday’s matchup against the Fever (19-11) before back-to-back games against the league-leading Lynx and the Commissioner’s Cup champion New York Liberty (19-13).

Beyond qualifying for the postseason, the Aces remain in the race for one of the WNBA’s top two seeds, which would guarantee home-court advantage through the semifinals. They also maintain an outside chance of catching Minnesota for the No. 1 seed.

The Lynx sit atop the WNBA standings while Las Vegas trails its Western Conference rival by 3½ games with two head-to-head meetings left over the regular season’s final 14 games.

While the Aces still mathematically can finish first, Minnesota controls the race. The Lynx need a combination of 11 wins and Las Vegas losses to clinch the league’s best record for the sixth time since 2015.

The more realistic battle appears to be for the No. 2 seed.

The Aces are locked in a three-team race with the Valkyries (21-9) and the Dallas Wings (19-12).

The first tiebreaker is head-to-head record. Las Vegas owns that advantage over Golden State after sweeping the season series, but Dallas holds the edge after winning two of the teams’ three meetings this season, including both contests in Arlington, Texas, before the Aces salvaged the finale at Michelob Ultra Arena.

With those tiebreakers in mind, Las Vegas’ path to the second seed remains challenging. The Aces likely would need to win nearly all of their remaining games while also receiving help from either the Valkyries or the Wings down the stretch.

However, the opportunity to take a significant step toward raising another championship banner comes immediately.

Over the next eight days, the Aces will play five games, including the conclusion of their season-long five-game road trip this weekend before returning home for back-to-back games against the Washington Mystics (17-12) on Aug. 11 and Aug. 13.

If Las Vegas wins all five contests, it could clinch a playoff berth as early as Aug. 13 in front of its home fans at Michelob Ultra Arena. Even if the Aces fall short during that stretch, the team’s magic number could continue to shrink with help elsewhere in the standings, putting the franchise on the verge of celebrating another postseason appearance.

A previous version of this story incorrectly reported which team was the home team.

Aces playoff tracker

Record: 21-9

Playoff magic number: 5

Games behind No. 1 Minnesota: 3½

Next game: Thursday at Indiana

Up next

Who: Las Vegas Aces (21-9) at Indiana Fever (19-11)

When: 4 p.m. Thursday

Where: Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Indianapolis

TV: Prime Video

Line: Fever -1½; 195