Kierstan Bell is having the season she promised she would.<\/p>\n
As she faced reporters for the team\u2019s media day in May, the 6-foot-1-inch forward had an immediate answer when asked what she was most looking forward to accomplishing in the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year I fell short,\u201d Bell said. \u201cSo I think just being able to come out and just prove who I am, what I can be, and what I can do. Not just for myself but for my team \u2026 in the (WNBA) it\u2019s tough to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a reason the commitment to a prove-it year resonated.<\/p>\n
Bell averaged 2.5 points during her first two seasons for the Aces. In her third campaign with the team, she played in only six games because of a lower right leg injury as the Aces failed to win a third straight championship in 2024.<\/p>\n
In turn, Bell spent the offseason in the sights of frustrated fans who knew her fourth-year option being extended meant her roster spot in 2025 was guaranteed. Less than 24 hours before media day, she set up her phone on a bathroom counter and went live on TikTok to interact with them.<\/p>\n
Usually playful, Bell didn\u2019t find any humor in one of the comments she saw pop up on the screen. A user wrote that they were going to law school to find a way out of her contract.<\/p>\n
\u201cGo ahead. Have fun. Aint sh- – you can do about it, Bell told the camera after reading the comment out loud. \u201cSo have a blast. Have a ball, actually. Throw a party.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a starter for the Aces in 12 of their past 13 games, Bell can look back on that moment with vindication. She\u2019s a factor in the WNBA\u2019s longest active win streak, which the Aces extended to 11 with a win over the Chicago Sky on Monday to become the second team to clinch a playoff spot.<\/p>\n
\u2018A natural fit\u2019<\/p>\n
Before the Aces made their run from eighth in the league standings to third, they were struggling to incorporate blockbuster trade acquisition Jewell Loyd into the starting <\/a>lineup<\/a>.<\/p>\n Loyd, a veteran guard, was meant to take Kelsey Plum\u2019s place as a key scorer alongside A\u2019ja Wilson, Jackie Young and Chelsea Gray, but the situation reached a turning point after she was held scoreless in a loss to the Minnesota Lynx on July 25.<\/p>\n Afterward, Loyd convinced Aces coach Becky Hammon to move her out of the starting lineup, and Hammon said she immediately knew Bell should be the one to take her place.<\/p>\n \u201c(Bell) was a natural fit. I think she knows our system the best,\u201d Hammon said. \u201cShe\u2019s actually a very good cutter, which helps with our ball movement and body movement a lot of times. When I\u2019ve been consistent with her minutes, she\u2019s been pretty solid for us.\u201d<\/p>\n Bell proved Hammon right in her 2025 starting debut, recording 19 points as Loyd came off the bench to score 20.<\/p>\n It was a career high for Bell, the Aces\u2019 last surviving first-round pick after being drafted 11th overall in <\/a>2022<\/a>.<\/p>\n Bell won the 2020-21 Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Award after averaging 24.3 points for Florida Gulf Coast. She averaged 22.8 points and 7.3 rebounds the following year.<\/p>\n Before Bell\u2019s breakout performance, Hammon would often say that all it took was a green jersey at practice pitting Bell against the Aces\u2019 starters to make her the best player in the gym.<\/p>\n First-year Atlanta Dream coach Karl Smesko knows Bell\u2019s strengths just as well as Hammon as the former coach at Florida Gulf Coast. He coached her for two seasons after she transferred from Ohio State.<\/p>\n \u2018It\u2019s been great to see her play well, get an opportunity and make the most of it,\u201d Smesko said. \u201cShe was obviously an outstanding player for us and an exceptional cutter. \u2026 She has an energy that people like to be around. She loves to play, she loves to compete. She gets excited about being out there. Teammates always enjoy playing with her.\u201d<\/p>\n Contact Callie Fin at cfin@reviewjournal.com.<\/a> Follow @CallieJLaw<\/a> on X.<\/p>\n Up next<\/p>\n Who: Aces at Atlanta Dream<\/p>\n When: 4:30 p.m. Tuesday<\/p>\n Where: Gateway Center Arena, College Park, Ga.<\/p>\n TV: KMCC-34, NBAtv<\/p>\n Radio: KKGK (1340 AM, 98.9 FM)<\/p>\n Line: Dream -3\u00bd; total 162\u00bd<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kierstan Bell is having the season she promised she would. As she faced reporters for the team\u2019s media…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":112836,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-112835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}