It is all coming together for sixth-year guard Kelsey Plum. The Las Vegas Aces star is second in the WNBA in scoring this season at 20.1 points per game, eighth in assists per game (5.3) and has connected on more 3-pointers (88) than any player in the league.
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Earlier this month, Plum earned MVP honors at the WNBA All-Star Game after scoring a game-high 30 points on 12-of-18 shooting. The performance tied her with Maya Moore for the most points in All-Star Game history.
Plum gave thanks to God in an interview with ESPN’s Holly Rowe after the game.
The Marathon Continues 🏁@Kelseyplum10 // #WNBAAllStar pic.twitter.com/cuukTE537l
— Las Vegas Aces (@LVAces) July 10, 2022
One week later, she agreed to a contract extension with the Aces. Plum then led all scorers with 24 points and dished out six assists Tuesday night as Las Vegas beat the defending champions and league-leading Chicago Sky to win the second edition of the Commissioner’s Cup, an in-season competition involving all 12 WNBA teams.
Kelsey Plum has SIX 3's tonight 🎯
(via @WNBA)pic.twitter.com/dcl7ZjqJcL
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) July 27, 2022
The leading scorer in women’s college basketball history and No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 draft, Plum entered the WNBA with plenty of hype surrounding her. Struggles early in her career brought her closer to God.
“I kind of had to go through life and figure out what’s important,” she said in a 2019 Sports Spectrum Magazine feature. “It takes a lot of failure and mistakes and humility to be able to see that I need a relationship with God.”
She missed the entire 2020 season with a torn Achilles, which led to a great deal of reflection as she recovered. Plum came back in 2021 with a different mindset and scored a career-best 14.8 points per game in the WNBA while also leading the U.S. 3×3 Olympic basketball team to a gold medal.
“I feel like [the Achilles injury] was just a great time of peace and being alone with no noise,” she said in a recent interview with Just Women’s Sports. “I thank God for it every day. It’s the best thing that ever happened to me in my career — probably in my life so far.”
It was certainly a bumpier road than she envisioned, but Plum is living up to the lofty expectations placed upon her and is at peace with where she’s at in her career. The former Washington Husky came on the Sports Spectrum Podcast in February 2020 and discussed how her faith has grown through the adversity she’s experienced.
“I’m super grateful because I think that He’s always really been very precise about exactly where He wanted me to be and He’s put certain people in my life to really help me,” Plum said on the podcast. “I’m just super grateful, so I think for me, as I continue to grow into a woman and a woman of faith, I try to make sure that I’m a light.”
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With the regular season winding down, the Aces are 20-8 and one game back of the Sky for the best record in the league. Las Vegas has reached the semifinals each of the past three seasons and should be favored to do so again in 2022.
In the interview with Just Women’s Sports, Plum expressed gratitude to God for the phase of life she currently finds herself in.
“I’m having so much fun in life right now. This team is unbelievably fun and wild and it’s just a joy. It’s pure joy,” she said. “I feel like God has given me so much in this life, and in any situation, wherever I am, I feel like I try to bring a light and a joy to life.”
The Aces have eight regular-season games remaining, starting with road contests against the Indiana Fever on Friday and Sunday.
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