Coach Becky Hammon glanced to her left and offered an apology she knew wasn’t really necessary.
“Sorry about the 40,” Hammon said to Las Vegas Aces guard Jackie Young, who had just played every minute of the team’s series-clinching victory Thursday in the first round of the WNBA playoffs.
“If there’s somebody who’s going to do 40, it’s her,” Hammon said. “She’s just built for these moments: physically built, mentally built, emotionally built.”
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Young has been that reliable since the Aces began this journey of eight consecutive WNBA semifinal appearances since 2019, the season she was drafted No. 1. She has appeared in 286 of the Aces’ 292 regular-season games and all 59 playoff games since then. Over the past six seasons, Young has averaged more than 30 minutes per game.
Now as the defending champions seek to even their semifinal series against the Golden State Valkyries in Game 2 on Wednesday night (9:30 ET), Young will be as important as any Aces player.
“She does everything really, really well on both sides of the ball,” said guard Caitlin Clark, who played with Young on the U.S. World Cup team that won gold in Berlin in September -- and whose Indiana Fever lost to the Aces in the first round.
“She passes the ball and finishes through contact really well. She’s strong, she’s physical, she shoots the ball at a really high clip, too. I don’t really think there’s a single flaw in her game.”
However, none of the Aces played very well in Sunday’s 71-60 Game 1 loss to the Valkyries, with Young limited to 11 points on 4-of-15 shooting, with four rebounds and five assists. The Aces need Young to play more like herself if they hope to go back to Las Vegas for Game 3 tied 1-1.
Young has barely left the court in Las Vegas’ first four playoff games, and likely won’t for the remainder of the postseason. When there is a title up for grabs, Young is usually in the vicinity. She has won championships in high school, college and the WNBA, plus Olympic gold medals for Team USA in 3x3 and 5-on-5.
Now Young hopes to lead the Aces back to the WNBA Finals, where they could win a record-tying fourth championship.
Young is introduced in the starting lineup as “Special Agent Zero” at home games, a nod to her jersey number and an amusing Vegas-like moniker for a player whose game is rooted not in flashiness but in Midwest fundamentals. Born and raised in Princeton, Indiana, part of the greater Evansville area, Young was a prep superstar who went to Notre Dame and helped the Fighting Irish win the NCAA championship in 2018.
Young isn’t the perennial MVP candidate like A’ja Wilson or the “Point Gawd” like Chelsea Gray, her teammates for the past six seasons in Las Vegas. Yet Young plays like an MVP and averaged the third-most assists in the WNBA this season.
“She’s such a good scorer, they’ve got to bring a double on her,” Gray said of the elevation of Young’s elite playmaking. “I also think she’s gotten riskier with her passing. It’s not just a simple chest pass or a bounce pass. They’re more difficult passes, and they’re on time and on target.”
Young had her best overall regular season this year, averaging career highs in points (18.9), assists (6.8), 3-pointers per game (2.3) and free throw percentage (92.8). She was key in the Aces’ 2-1 first-round series win over the Fever, registering 18 points, eight rebounds and seven assists in the deciding Game 3.
“The ball is in my hands a little bit more this season, but it’s also about making the right play,” Young said. “It’s just continuing to put in the work, and then just being confident.
“All the hours I’ve put into the gym to be able to play my game, and also watching film, the game has slowed down for me.”
Young’s belief in herself has grown since her three seasons with Notre Dame, where she averaged 12.4 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.5 assists. She was age-eligible to declare for the draft a year early.
That 2019 draft -- which included Asia Durr, Arike Ogunbowale, Napheesa Collier, Alanna Smith, Brianna Turner and Ezi Magbegor -- stands as one of the best in WNBA history. And even though she wasn’t rookie of the year that season, needing more time to find her comfort zone with the Aces, Young has proved to be a worthy top pick from that talented draft class.
She has worked hard to improve different areas of her game. Young made 36 3-pointers at Notre Dame. She totaled just 22 in her first three WNBA seasons. That changed dramatically in 2022, when she made 50 and the Aces won their first championship. She has tallied 89, 70, 80 and 100 3-pointers since.
That required overhauling her shot mechanics, along with believing in herself. Former Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said the mental aspect of Young’s growth as a pro player stands out to her more than anything.
Young set an Indiana high school career scoring record at Princeton with 3,268 points. But McGraw laughed remembering that when she watched Young then during the recruiting process, all she could think was, “Shoot more!”
“She was always passing, keeping her teammates involved,” McGraw told ESPN. “Even here at Notre Dame, she was always someone who could do anything, but would kind of defer to other players.
“The biggest change Jackie has made -- and I credit her working with Becky for a lot of this -- is the mindset. Now she’s coming down and pulling up for the 3, and I love it. I don’t think she saw herself as, ‘I’m the one.’ Now she sees herself more in that role.”
Hammon sees it, too.
“There’s a certain presence that she carries with her, a certain assurance that she has in herself,” Hammon said Tuesday of Young. “That kind of confidence can be contagious. With Jackie, it’s interesting because she’ll have these nights where she might be struggling. ...
“And then, boom, she’ll go on a two- or three-minute run where she can have 15 points. That ability to take over a game is always there.”
McGraw said Young moved the best without the ball among all the players she coached at Notre Dame, which has been nicknamed “Guard U” by WNBA followers because of its number of successful pro perimeter players. Young was also strong on defense as a collegian, something she has continued in the WNBA.
“It’s hard to be the best defender and then also a top scorer and passer, too, because it takes a lot of energy,” McGraw said. “But she’s able to do that. She’s just really smart. She can figure out how she needs to guard you. She knows your tendencies. She’s always just in the right spots.”
Young and the Aces have been right for each other the past eight seasons. She will be a free agent for 2027, and -- having just turned 29 in September -- will be coveted. But for now, her mind is on this series with Golden State and how to push the Aces forward. This is her time of year, and championships are her thing.
“It is special to have won at every level,” Young said. “Somebody told me recently to try to enjoy that while I’m in it. So I try to think about all I’ve accomplished, while knowing there’s still a lot more left.”
Kendra Andrews contributed to this report.