Little more than 24 hours into the WNBA’s newly-opened free agency period, and one thing is already clear: the road to the 2023 WNBA championship runs from Brooklyn’s Atlantic Avenue to the Las Vegas Strip.

The Las Vegas Aces made a splash days before the WNBA’s free agency period opened up, when two-time league MVP and former champion Candace Parker announced she would take her talents to the desert to join the 2022 WNBA champions.

But the skies opened up over Brooklyn this week, starting on Wednesday, the first day that players could sign contracts with teams. Longtime Seattle Storm forward Breanna Stewart, 2018 MVP and two-time WNBA champion in her own right (with two WNBA Finals MVPs, to boot), announced that she would be swapping coasts to join the New York Liberty, in the heart of her prime hooping years.

One day later, Courtney Vandersloot, a floor general who has been top-two in total assists eight times in her 10 WNBA seasons, leading the league six of those times, also announced she was joining the Liberty, creating a potential powerhouse at the intersection of Atlantic Avenue and Flatbush Avenue. 

Stewart’s deal with the Liberty, following a few weeks of cryptic all-emoji clues as to her free agency plans, tilted the balance of power (and the betting odds) away from Las Vegas. New York The Liberty were already led by third-year high-scoring guard Sabrina Ionescu, but adding Stewart and 2021 MVP Jonquel Jones, via trade, has made the Liberty a top challenger for the 2023 championship.

Vandersloot is the cherry on top. She has excellent court vision, able to thread the ball through the defense to create scoring opportunities for her teammates — and Stewart, Jones and Ionescu are each the kind of multi-level scoring threats that can give defenses fits all by themselves. 

In adding Parker, Las Vegas is bolting a supercharger to a high-powered lineup. The Aces won last year’s WNBA championship behind the play of forward A’ja Wilson and guard Kelsey Plum, both of whom were named to the 2022 All-WNBA First Team. Parker, who was also named to last year’s All-WNBA First Team, is an all-time great that will now stand alongside two of the league’s top stars — a third ace in Las Vegas’s hand.

Parker leaves her hometown Chicago Sky two years after bringing a championship home, and seven years from winning the championship with the Los Angeles Sparks, her first WNBA team.

The decision to join Chicago, she said, was borne of the opportunity to earn a title in her hometown, for a parade down the same streets the Chicago Bulls celebrated down. Signing with the Aces, rather, was a decision that afforded her both a chance to win a third ring, as well as an opportunity to be closer to her West Coast-based wife and children.

The Aces also signed two-time champion and defensive stalwart forward Alysha Clark to fill out their lineup.

The WNBA season tips off on May 19, when the Liberty begin their campaign against the Washington Mystics; the Aces play their first game on May 20, taking on the Seattle Storm.