Aces’ Kierstan Bell rediscovered her zeal for life, basketball after a tough start to the season

At the beginning of the WNBA season, Las Vegas Aces forward Kierstan Bell said it felt like she was on the phone with her mom every night crying.

This year has been a roller coaster for Bell, who is in her fourth season with the Aces. On the court, early in the season, she was a target for critics who questioned her place on the roster after a tough start to her WNBA career. The criticism grew louder after Las Vegas’ sluggish start to the season.

Off the court, Bell was carrying an immense weight as she grieved the loss of three people close to her. In late 2024, one of Bell’s childhood friends died. In January, Bell lost her father, Perry Bell. In April, her uncle died.

“What am I doing wrong?” Bell would ask her mom. “Why is life so hard?”

There were days when Bell questioned her place in the WNBA. She questioned her ability to play basketball – and even questioned whether she still wanted to play.

“I questioned if I was good enough,” Bell said.

Staunch support from her teammates and inner circle, though, combined with an enhanced on-court role for the now-surging Aces has helped to turn Bell’s year and confidence around.

“It’s cool to look at her now and see how far she’s come,” said Aces guard Jackie Young, who calls herself a close friend of Bell’s. “It was a difficult period for her in her life, but she has that joy back, that smile back on her face.”

Bell, who has a self-described “goofy” personality, is known for her animated nature and positive light. That light was briefly dimmed for a portion of the season as she dealt with life. There were instances when Bell would come to practice and just emotionally shut down. She couldn’t simply go through the motions as she continued to grieve the loss of those close to her.

“To wake up every day and to go through something personal and then go to your job, and you don’t want to be there, but you got to be there because that’s the job you’re getting paid to do,” Bell said. “But then on the back side, it’s like damn, like, for one, do I even feel like I should be here? Do I deserve to be here? Am I meant to be here?”

Bell found herself comforted by Aces head coach Becky Hammon and teammates such as Young and center A’ja Wilson.

“They just kept reminding me, like, ‘Yes, life is hard, but lean on us. Lean on this organization. As Coach said, lean on your teammates,’” Bell said. 

Bell also leaned on players outside of the Aces. Indiana Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell, whose father died in 2024, has been a big resource for Bell. Mitchell and Bell are from Ohio and have walked similar paths from the youth basketball circuit to Division I college basketball and now the WNBA. The WNBA players grew closer through playing in Athletes Unlimited, a stateside women’s professional league that began its 2025 season shortly after Bell’s father died.

“We kind of lived the same life: her father passing away, my father passing away. It helped bring us a little bit closer,” Bell said. “The last time [the Aces] were in Indiana, we had a long talk about her dad, about mine. We talked about how proud they would be of us.”

Bell also has been in close contact with Washington Mystics forward Alysha Clark. Clark, who played with Bell in Las Vegas for two seasons, described Bell as her “little sister for life.” She makes sure to check in on Bell through text, FaceTime or dinner when their teams meet.

“I know what it’s like, how hard it is to go through things after losing someone you love so dearly,” said Clark, whose father died in 2022. “I know her teammates there are doing a great job of making her feel loved and supported, but just giving her that extra little dose of it.”

When asked how she would describe her father to a stranger, Bell replied that to know her was to know her dad. 

“If you see me as a goofy person who’s always full of energy, who’s always dancing and laughing, I said, ‘That’s literally him,’” she said.

Bell didn’t understand just how alike she was to her father until some of her first interactions with him following his release from prison. Perry Bell was imprisoned for the majority of Bell’s life for various convictions. 

When he was released in 2023, he spent time with Bell in Las Vegas. When Bell picked him up from the airport, it was her first time seeing her dad as a free man. 

Bell recalled an eye-opening outing with her father at a restaurant. When a waiter asked Perry if he desired ketchup with his meal, Bell’s eyes darted at her dad across the table. He declined the condiment.

“I don’t like ketchup, so when he said he doesn’t like ketchup either, I’m like, ‘Oh, OK!’” Bell said. 

When the Ohio natives went to the soda fountain for some “pop,” Bell found herself pleasantly surprised again.

“When I’m drinking pop, it’s only root beer,” Bell said. “When I saw him pouring root beer in his cup, I said, ‘So you like root beer?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, that’s my favorite pop.’ I’m like, oh, this might be my daddy then.”

Bell is grateful for the brief time she spent with her father before his passing. It was time spent and memories created that at one point in Bell’s life she never thought she would experience. She said she never thought she would interact with her dad outside of the prison system.

“I was just happy for the first year. Like, I actually get to experience life with my dad,” she said. “It was tough hearing that he had passed away, but I just continue to say that I was grateful for the time that I did have with him.”

Perry Bell was in the stands when his daughter won her second championship with the Aces in 2023, and he attended the parade in Las Vegas. Even while imprisoned, he had closely followed Bell’s career, exchanging letters with her as she ascended from high school to the pro level.

“I’m so glad that he was able to experience a championship,” Bell said.  

Leading into the season, critics flooded Bell’s social media with comments calling for her to be moved by the Aces, expressing anger over the organization’s decision to exercise the fourth-year option on her rookie contract. Some even went so far as to create fake graphics of her being cut from the team.

While Bell didn’t respond to the many comments directed toward her on social media, she still consumed them. It caused her to question her self-worth as people questioned her work ethic, her ability and her place in the league.

“I think people forget that we aren’t just basketball players, you know, that we’re humans, too, and we have feelings,” Young said. “I think it was a lot early on.”

For the most part, Bell blocked out the noise – except for one instance.

In May, while streaming on TikTok, Bell did respond after reading a comment from a user who said they were “going to law school to look at” Bell’s contract.

“Go ahead,” Bell replied. “Have fun. Ain’t s— you can do about it. Have a blast.”

This, perhaps, isn’t exactly how Bell saw the beginning of her professional basketball career unfolding – even after winning two championships in her first two seasons.  

Bell was the 11th overall pick in the 2022 WNBA draft after ending a standout college tenure at Florida Gulf Coast. In high school, she became the first player in Ohio state history to be named Ms. Ohio Basketball three times. Bell had been a top option on whatever team she played on. Her experience in the WNBA, at least so far, has been unfamiliar.

That hasn’t impacted Bell’s presence on the team, though, Young said, adding that despite the adjustment period, Bell has always brought a joyful presence to the gym. 

“You go from obviously playing a lot in college, you’re one of the best people on your team, you’re getting a lot of minutes until coming to the pros and, like, everything changes,” Young said. “Just the smile that [Kierstan] keeps on her face and the joy that she plays with is what separates her from a lot of pros.”

Bell’s main objective this season hasn’t been about proving others wrong but proving to herself that she’s where she’s supposed to be.

“I just continue every day to talk to myself and speak positive things to myself,” Bell said. “And every day my teammates remind me that I’m meant to be here and I’m meant to be on this team, and I’m good enough.”

On an afternoon in July in between game days for the Aces, Bell was on her way to a massage, trailing Wilson. As Bell approached, Wilson turned in her direction with a message to deliver. 

The Aces had just come off a 31-point loss to the Minnesota Lynx and found themselves in need of a shakeup after suffering their sixth loss in 12 games. 

“After that Minnesota game, Coach [Hammon] was like, ‘S—, y’all can figure this out. Y’all make the game plan, and we’ll go with it,’” Bell said. 

As Wilson faced Bell, she told the Aces guard to get her mind right. 

“I’m like, ‘What are you talking about?’” Bell said. “She said, ‘Well, you’re starting tomorrow.’ I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa.”

The Aces had made the decision to move veteran guard Jewell Loyd, who had arrived in Las Vegas as one of the biggest acquisitions of the WNBA offseason, out of the starting lineup. After a slow start to the season, Loyd, for the first time since 2019, would come off the bench, with Bell starting in her place. 

“It was definitely shocking,” Bell said. “I think that lineup change, it kind of put the pressure off of [Loyd]. It kind of put a little bit more pressure on me, but it honestly made me want to step my game up. … You got to go out there and show why you should be playing.”

Bell made her first start of the season against the Dallas Wings the following night. In 21 minutes, Bell posted a career-high 19 points, three rebounds and one assist in the Aces’ 106-80 victory.

“It gives you a lot of confidence when you definitely see the ball going in the rim or you see you’re having a really good game,” Bell said. “Every game I go out there and just try to be the best version of myself. I think it’s just been working out for us.”

The decision to swap Bell and Loyd has proven to be the key to turning around the Aces’ season.

Since that 31-point loss to the Lynx on July 25, Las Vegas have won 19 of their last 20 games. Bell averaged 4.7 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 15.8 minutes during that span. In the Aces’ Game 1 win over the Seattle Storm in the first round of the playoffs on Sunday, Bell played 15 minutes, totaling five points and a rebound.

“I think that just shows she’s a true pro just being ready whenever her number’s called,” Young said. “She just brings a lot of energy to the floor.”

The Mystics’ Clark said Bell’s growth has been “amazing” to witness.

“It hasn’t been an easy road for her, but she’s remained humble through it all,” Clark said. “She’s worked hard and now you see it’s paying dividends.”

When Bell is on the floor for the Aces, they expect two things of her: bringing energy and getting down and defending. They need Bell to bring pace, space the floor and be confident in everything she does on the court, whether that’s as a cutter or rebounder or on-ball defender.

“If I go out there and score zero but I make an impact in other ways, then I know I did my job,” Bell said. 

As the Aces begin their playoff journey, they’re happy to have their energetic spark plug in Bell. Her is confidence is reloaded, and she is returning to her familiar self.

“I’ve been doing really well,” Bell said.