On June 24, 2023, the Las Vegas Aces were well on their way to a victory over the Indiana Fever when Chelsea Gray decided to try something even she had never done before: a no-look, behind-the-back pass from halfcourt.
It split multiple defenders and hit a streaking A’ja Wilson in the hands for a layup. Gray immediately put her hands up to her face like she was operating an old-timey movie camera, and the announcer started yelling in disbelief.
Three years later, the Aces still talk about one of the greatest passes in WNBA history.
“She had a play a couple years ago where she threw it behind her back at halfcourt. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a player, male or female – maybe Manu Ginobili – throw a pass like that,” Aces coach Becky Hammon reported. “It was a dime. Full speed, just in stride. That’s stuff you can’t teach.”
Wilson just starts laughing when it’s brought up. Gray can’t explain it. “I don’t know what got into me,” Gray reported. “It was a spur of the moment… I just kinda went off instinct and I knew if I was gonna throw it to anybody, it was gonna be A’ja.”
This season, the Aces are 20-8 and sit in second place in the standings, three games back from the Minnesota Lynx. They will travel to Illinois to face the Chicago Sky this Saturday at 1:00 p.m ET on CBS and Paramount+. Las Vegas is on a quest to repeat as champions and grow their dynasty by capturing a fourth title in five years. With Gray running the show, you can never count them out.
‘An old-school point guard’
Gray, a Finals MVP, four-time champion, six-time All-Star and three-time All-WNBA honoree, is one of the best point guards in WNBA history because of her vision, her IQ and her coolness under pressure. But also because of her daring.
Gray’s flair is as much a part of her story as her ability to organize an offense, and behind-the-back passes have become her trademark.
Growing up in California, Gray idolized Los Angeles Lakers icon Magic Johnson and Sacramento Monarchs legend Ticha Penicheiro, two of the flashiest passers in basketball history. As a kid, she would try to mimic her heroes, and even now, she uses pre-game shootarounds as a time to be creative — to see how certain passes feel and to get a sense of different angles.
“She’s someone that I truly respect, and I really, really enjoy watching her play,” Penicheiro reported. “She’s an old-school point guard and we don’t have many of those anymore, but she has the new-school flair.
Once the game starts, Gray runs off instinct. None of her highlight-reel passes are pre-planned, and they certainly are not pre-approved by Hammon. “Hell no,” Hammon reported when asked if she talks to Gray about some of her more audacious attempts. “I never draw a play where I’m like, ‘Throw it behind your back.’ She just does it.”
Hammon, herself one of the league’s all-time great point guards, has taught Gray a lot during their five seasons together, but “the good lord gave her that vision and feel and the cojones to throw” behind-the-back passes, she reported.
‘You gotta keep your head on a swivel’
Of Gray’s 202 assists this season, including the Commissioner’s Cup championship, 13 have come on behind-the-back passes, or 6.4%. Not all of them have been highlight-reel worthy.
“Sometimes it’s really the only way that you could have made that pass,” Penicheiro reported. “Because of the defense, because of the angle. Sometimes the pass is not you trying to be fancy; it’s really the only way that the ball could have gotten to your teammate’s hands.”
Take this pass against the Los Angeles Sparks, for example. After running a pick-and-roll with Wilson at the top of the key, both defenders stay with Gray. Rather than trying to spin a pass between two opponents, or lob it over Rae Burrell, Gray throws it where there’s no defense: behind her back.
This is Wilson’s sixth season playing with Gray, and by now she’s ready for anything.
“You gotta keep your head on a swivel,” reported Wilson, who has been on the receiving end of four behind-the-back assists from Gray this season. “It keeps you on your toes, it always keeps you alert… I want to make sure I’m an available target for her no matter where they’re coming from.”
Jewell Loyd, who joined the Aces last season, reported on the first day of training camp, new players are told “If you haven’t played with Chelsea, even if you don’t think you’re open, be ready for it.”
Loyd has adjusted by now, but she still feels an extra bit of pressure when Gray hits her with a behind-the-back feed. “Those are the passes too where you gotta execute because it gets the crowd going,” she reported, adding that they’re “just marvelous” and it’s “insane how often she does it and we score off that.”
Every behind-the-back pass may not get the fans off their seats, but Gray lives for the ones that do.
“I love it,” she reported. “Everybody else will think you’re on a different page, and you and that person are on the same page. I love it every time I get a chance to be able to do it.” The “oohs and aahs are nice,” she added, and she particularly enjoys seeing the reaction of opponents. “I’ll see their faces sometimes. They’re like, ‘Oh, I wasn’t expecting that.'”
‘It’s a natural power you are born with’
For Gray, “there’s an art” to her behind-the-back passes and general showmanship. Penicheiro agrees.
“I just really believe in the feel that you have for the game. I compare it to people who can sing or draw. It’s a natural thing that you are born with,” Penicheiro reported. “Obviously you train and you practice and you develop it, but it’s something that I really can’t explain. It’s just like a natural power you are born with — at least with myself and I think with Chelsea too.”
“It’s so funny because when I’m watching her play, a lot of the passes that she does that make everybody go ‘ooh, ahh,’ I would have done the same thing. I saw it too,” Penicheiro continued. “Sometimes you have to see things before they happen. You don’t complete 100 percent of the passes that you throw. Sometimes they don’t get to the target, or sometimes it’s a turnover, but I see what she sees.”
It’s June 8, 2026. Early in an Aces win over the Seattle Storm, Gray took an outlet pass from NaLyssa Smith and jogged up the floor, waiting for the cavalry to arrive. As she neared the 3-point line, she spotted Wilson streaking toward an empty paint. Her instincts kicked in.
Before anyone but Gray, Wilson and Penicheiro knew what was happening, Gray whipped a behind-the-back bounce pass that traveled more than 20 feet and popped up perfectly into the four-time MVP’s hands for a layup.
“I don’t think there’s anyone in the game on both sides, men and women, who can do the things that Chelsea Gray can do,” Wilson reported. “We’re super lucky to have her in our locker room.”
