{"id":522924,"date":"2026-03-14T09:54:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T09:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/522924\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T09:54:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T09:54:12","slug":"former-sky-guard-dana-evans-finds-peace-and-a-second-championship-with-the-aces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/522924\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Sky guard Dana Evans finds peace \u2014 and a second championship with the Aces"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHOENIX \u2014 Here\u2019s one play from the 2023 Sky season that doesn\u2019t mean much \u2014 except that it tells you all you need to know about Dana Evans. The Sky<\/a> were up big, running in transition. Guard Courtney Williams called for Evans to cut through and keep the offense moving. Evans ignored her and demanded the ball. Williams relented. Evans buried a 27-footer.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo moments are too big for [Evans],\u201d Aces guard Jewell Loyd said.<\/p>\n

As a rookie on the 2021 Sky championship team, Evans never was shy. Her eyes would meet the rim \u2014 often three feet beyond the arc \u2014 and she\u2019d let it fly. It probably wasn\u2019t the play call, but who could blame her? She shot 40% from three in her first year.<\/p>\n

Evans has grown up plenty since then. She has established herself as a spark plug off the Aces\u2019 bench and given opposing coaches headaches throughout the playoffs.<\/p>\n

In the semifinals, when asked what led to switching to a zone defense, Fever coach Stephanie White said: \u201cThe thinking was: We could not stop Dana Evans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evans was blasting by everyone and spraying out to shooters \u2014 a role she embraced on an Aces team loaded with firepower. There\u2019s A\u2019ja Wilson, the four-time MVP<\/a>. There\u2019s Chelsea Gray, the \u201cPoint Gawd.\u201d And Jackie Young, maybe the purest scorer in the league.<\/p>\n

Still, you can\u2019t take the scorer out of Evans. She\u2019s still working on finishing efficiently at the rim, but from deep, she has become downright dangerous.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat baby can shoot,\u201d Aces coach Becky Hammon said after Game 1. \u201cShe busts all my shooting drills.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evans had just scored 21 in the Aces\u2019 victory, so everyone wanted to know about these drills. Specifically, something called the Spurs 100 \u2014 a drill Hammon brought over from her NBA days. Reporters wanted to know Evans\u2019 exact score.<\/p>\n

\u201c86-89,\u201d Evans said confidently, pointing toward the final score of the game, assuming that\u2019s what everyone was talking about.<\/p>\n

The room burst into laughter. \u201cNot our score \u2014 your score!\u201d Hammon said.<\/p>\n

Evans\u2019 hand shot up to her mouth as she laughed. Seated next to Wilson, she couldn\u2019t believe she was still the center of attention.<\/p>\n

But she had earned it. Her three with 3:30 left had been the turning point. Now reporters wanted to know what the moment meant to her. How did it feel, having evolved from someone who believed that she could take over a Finals game to actually doing it?<\/p>\n

She answered like a pro \u2014 measured, deferential. She talked about doing whatever the team needed, about being a spark, about leading with her defense.<\/p>\n

Then she started talking about her teammates \u2014 Wilson, Gray, Young \u2014 and that\u2019s when the emotion showed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s more so [that we\u2019re] doing it for each other,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s brought us closer together. We wanna do it for one another.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clearly, this year brought relief for Evans. Her last one in Chicago was rough. She requested a trade midway through after being jerked around in the rotation and worn down by online abuse from Sky fans. All the outside noise made it hard to focus on basketball.<\/p>\n

She had to rediscover her joy for the game. She knows she\u2019s at her best when she\u2019s having fun \u2014 something her biggest supporter, her dad, has been reminding her of since last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe always talks about me having peace and being happy,\u201d Evans told the Sun-Times.<\/p>\n

Looks like he has a point. A joyful Evans made more than half her threes in the Finals \u2014 the Aces\u2019 most efficient shooter, even as Loyd, Gray and Wilson have all cleared 40% from deep. In the Aces\u2019 97-86 clincher, she drilled two daggers during the run that set the tone.<\/p>\n

Now Evans \u2014 the 5-6 kid from Gary, Indiana \u2014 is a two-time champion at 27.<\/p>\n

How\u2019s that for finding peace?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX \u2014 Here\u2019s one play from the 2023 Sky season that doesn\u2019t mean much \u2014 except that it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":522925,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-522924","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\/522924","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=522924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522924\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/522925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=522924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=522924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=522924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}