The Las Vegas Aces are embarking on a mission to secure their third consecutive WNBA championship, with star forward A’ja Wilson leading the charge after being awarded the league’s highest honor. On Sunday, Wilson was crowned the 2024 WNBA MVP, becoming only the second player in history to receive the award unanimously and the first since Cynthia Cooper-Dyke of the Houston Comets in the inaugural 1997 season.
The fact that Wilson clinched the award comes as no surprise. Her performance this season was arguably the most dominant in WNBA history. Setting a new WNBA single-season scoring record with an average of 26.9 points per game, Wilson also smashed records with 1,021 total points — making her the first player to surpass the 1,000-point milestone — and 451 total rebounds. She also became the first player to lead the league in total points, rebounds, and blocks (98) in a single season.
Aces coach Becky Hammon expressed her admiration for Wilson’s exceptional skills, stating, “I don’t want it to ever get lost on how good (A’ja) is. She just does it all. She’s in the middle of a run that sometimes I want to shake her and say, ‘Do you know how good you are?’ But then I don’t want to shake her because I don’t want to wake her up. She can just stay in whatever zone she’s in.”
Records shattered. Milestones conquered.
A’ja Wilson claims her third MVP title with a historic season for the ages
2024 @Kia WNBA MVP #KiaMVP pic.twitter.com/5fDSXwkYzf
— WNBA (@WNBA) September 22, 2024
With this triumph, Wilson now has three MVP titles in her seven WNBA seasons, including 2020 and 2022. She joins the ranks of Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie, and Lauren Jackson as the only other three-time MVP recipients. Wilson also has the potential to join the elite club of three-time Defensive Player of the Year winners (Swoopes, Tamika Catchings, and Sylvia Fowles) when that award is announced later this postseason.
Last year, Wilson claimed the third spot in the MVP voting in a tightly contested race, trailing Breanna Stewart of the New York Liberty and Alyssa Thomas of the Connecticut Sun. Wilson found motivation in receiving a fourth-place vote, declaring, “Whoever you are out there that voted me fourth (for MVP), thank you. Thank you so much. I wanna say I appreciate you, ’cause that just means that I got a lot more work to do.”
The moment
“I cannot thank you all enough. I hope you guys understand how much you mean to me. I hope you guys know that this trophy is nothing without y’all. We’ve been through the ringer – and we gon’ continue to go through the ringer – but one thing y’all don’t ever have… pic.twitter.com/NOnm0BP4yr
— Las Vegas Aces (@LVAces) September 22, 2024
Apart from Wilson, there was little doubt regarding the runner-up in the MVP voting. Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier garnered 66 out of 67 votes from a national panel of sportswriters and broadcasters to claim second place. Stewart received the remaining second-place vote and finished third overall.
Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark secured the fourth spot in the voting with 130 points, with Thomas trailing in fifth place with 83 points. Players were assigned points based on their ranking in the voting.
During the 2024 regular season, Wilson was named the Kia WNBA Western Conference Player of the Month on four occasions (May, June, July, and September) and the WNBA Western Conference Player of the Week six times. Should she clinch the MVP title again in the future, she would become the first player in WNBA history to secure it four times.
Wilson and the Aces are gearing up for their postseason journey, commencing on Sunday. As the No. 4 seed, Las Vegas will go head-to-head against the No. 5 Seattle Storm, with tipoff scheduled for 10 p.m. ET.
Required reading
(Photo: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)
