It will be an unconventional road back to the WNBA Finals for the Aces.

Their path to a third straight championship won’t be through Las Vegas this season. But first, the big picture: The Aces have home-field advantage in their first-round playoff series against an unfamiliar opponent.

That opponent may already be known before the start of the Aces’ final regular-season game against the Dallas Wings on Thursday at Michelob Ultra Arena.

The Aces (26-13) enter the final day of regular season one game behind the Connecticut Sun (27-12) for the No. 3 seed. The Aces made sure they can’t drop below No. 4 with an 85-72 win over the Seattle Storm on Tuesday.

Dreams of a top-three finish remained alive when the Sun lost 78-76 to the Minnesota Lynx on Tuesday. Minnesota secured second place with the win.

“Regardless of the number or the seeding, we’ve got to be able to play our best basketball,” Aces forward A’ja Wilson said. “We’re slowly starting to get there.”

Connecticut hosts the Chicago Sky at 4 p.m. Thursday. Chicago (13-26) is still in the hunt for eighth place despite being without rookie Angel Reese, who is out for the season after wrist surgery. The Sky must beat the Sun and suffer losses to the Atlanta Dream and Washington Mystics to make the playoffs.

If the Sun win, the Aces will finish fourth and play the Storm in the first round of the playoffs, which begin Sunday.

Should Connecticut lose and the Aces win, Las Vegas will host projected rookie of the year Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever in the game between the No. 3 and No. 6 seeds.

The Aces appear to be preparing for a win over the Suns. The “Core Four” of Wilson, Chelsea Gray, Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young were all listed as questionable on Wednesday, with “rest” as the reason.

The Aces have been the undisputed winners of the competition for the past two years.

They finished the 2022 and 2023 seasons with the best WNBA record, posting a league-record 34 wins last season en route to back-to-back championships.

The road to get there could be a bumpier one this season, as the Aces will not have home-field advantage if they advance to the semi-finals or final.

A fourth-place finish would all but guarantee a WNBA Finals semifinal rematch against top-seeded New York Liberty. The Aces defeated New York in four games in October to become the first team since the 2001-02 Los Angeles Sparks to win back-to-back titles.

Not since the Houston Comets won the league’s first four titles (1997-2000) has a team won three games in a row.

“We know we have an uphill battle ahead of us,” Aces coach Becky Hammon said. “We also know our best basketball is still ahead of us, and we also know we’re starting to click.”

The No. 3 seed could set up a semifinal matchup against the resurgent Lynx. Minnesota has won a franchise-record 30 games, an 11-win turnaround from last season, and has a legitimate shot at reaching the finals for the first time since winning its fourth championship in seven years in 2017.

Minnesota has won three of the four games against the Aces this season, with all three wins coming by double digits.

“I’m not worried about (other teams),” Wilson said. “As long as we’re in control of our own destiny, and we always will be, because I’m going to make sure that’s the case. The rest is just going out there and playing the game we love.”

Contact Danny Webster at [email protected]. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.

Next

What: Wings vs Aces

When: Thursday 7:00 PM

Where: Michelob Ultra Arena

TV: SSSSEN

Radio: KWWN (1100 AM, 100.9 FM)