Because the expertise across the WNBA improves, Las Vegas Aces middle A’ja Wilson retains elevating her stage. That is how Becky Hammon sees it. However one factor issues the Aces coach in relation to Wilson’s probabilities to maintain including to the 4 league MVP awards she has earned.
“I simply don’t desire folks to maintain shifting the bar on A’ja,” Hammon informed ESPN. “And for those who’ve obtained voter fatigue, you should not be voting. I do not let somebody who performs drained preserve enjoying; they have to come back out of the sport.
“I am like, ‘Do not get bored with A’ja.’ As a result of what you are watching is superb.”
Voter fatigue did not have an effect on Wilson this season. She acquired 51 of 72 first-place votes in incomes MVP. Wilson has now gained the MVP award in half of her eight WNBA seasons. Every of the honors is particular, however how do they rank?
1. 2024: A unanimous alternative
Wilson was so dominant final season that there was no suspense round who could be MVP. And it is not simply the most effective MVP season for Wilson; we ranked it as the most effective MVP season in WNBA historical past a yr in the past.
Wilson set the league file for scoring common (26.9), whereas additionally averaging profession highs in rebounds (11.9) and blocks (2.6). She notched her second-highest area purpose proportion (51.8). She acquired each first-place vote, solely the second unanimous MVP alternative in league historical past, becoming a member of Houston’s Cynthia Cooper in 1997, the league’s inaugural season.
Disappointment from not successful the 2023 MVP fueled Wilson all through the 2024 season. In 2023, she not solely did not win in a decent three-way race with New York Liberty ahead Breanna Stewart (the winner) and then-Connecticut Solar ahead Alyssa Thomas (runner-up), however Wilson obtained a much-maligned fourth-place vote and completed third general. That appeared to eat at her as a lot as not successful the award did.
Wilson and the Aces did not win the WNBA title in 2024, falling to eventual champion New York within the semifinals. However Wilson individually was the season’s famous person with stats that might be robust for anybody to duplicate.
2. 2025: Sturdy ending kick
What stands out most with this yr’s MVP? How essential each sport was down the stretch run of the season to safe the No. 2 seed for Las Vegas. Wilson put the Aces on her again and ran up a mountain from a 14-14 file to a 16-game successful streak to shut the common season. It is exhausting to discover a comparable workforce turnaround in league historical past, and that captivated MVP voters.
Wilson averaged 23.4 factors and 10.2 rebounds, making her the primary WNBA participant to common a minimum of 20 factors and 10 rebounds in a number of seasons. She was co-Defensive Participant of the 12 months with Minnesota’s Alanna Smith.
Wilson, 29, stated she nonetheless finds methods to enhance, and that is a part of what retains her so enthusiastic.
“I simply need to be the most effective for my workforce,” Wilson informed ESPN. “I do not need to depart any questions or asterisks, or have anybody ask, ‘What occurred?’ I do not ever need my efficiency to be questioned, like I did not put together properly sufficient.”
3. 2022: An MVP and a championship
It was a two-player race between Wilson (31 first-place votes) and Stewart (23). This was Hammon’s first season as Aces head coach, and she or he thought it was practically a lifeless warmth.
“Clearly, I needed A’ja to win, however I used to be like, ‘You might make a extremely good argument for Stewie to win it.’ I assumed this was the closest race,” Hammon stated. “For my part, 2023 should not have been shut — I assumed A’ja ought to have gained — and in 2024, A’ja was historic.”
After a crushing semifinals loss to the Phoenix Mercury in 2021, Wilson was on a mission to win the primary championship for Las Vegas in 2022. She averaged 19.5 factors and 9.4 rebounds within the common season, main the Aces to a 26-10 file. They then beat the Solar 3-1 within the WNBA Finals.
4. 2020: Breakthrough season
Wilson was the WNBA’s No. 1 choose and Rookie of the 12 months in 2018, made the playoffs for the primary time in 2019, then gained the MVP in her third season. The league performed in a COVID bubble that yr in Bradenton, Florida, with a 22-game common season.
Wilson and Stewart had been the highest MVP candidates, however Wilson dominated the poll with 43 of 47 first-place votes. She averaged 20.5 factors, 8.5 rebounds and a pair of.0 blocked pictures.
However Stewart, who was with Seattle from 2016 to 2022, obtained the most effective of the postseason in 2020. She and the Storm swept Wilson and the Aces 3-0 within the WNBA Finals.
One stat actually stands out from Wilson’s first MVP season in comparison with her different three. She did not try a 3-pointer in 2020. She made 31 3-pointers in 2022, 19 in 2024 and 25 this yr.