Aces, Mercury rehaped rosters en route to berths in WNBA Finals

(Photo credit: Patrick Breen/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

LAS VEGAS -- In an era of women's basketball largely defined by new blood, the WNBA Finals will feature two familiar franchises in the Las Vegas Aces and Phoenix Mercury that are no strangers to collecting hardware.

However, they were no lock to reach this year's finals, a best-of-seven series beginning on Friday. In fact, for b