A’ja Wilson unanimously named WNBA MVP: How the Aces star earned the league’s honor for a third time

September 22, 2024

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A’ja Wilson unanimously named WNBA MVP: How the Aces star earned the league’s honor for a third time

As the Las Vegas Aces begin their quest for a third consecutive WNBA championship, their star player, A’ja Wilson, will lead the team after receiving the league’s highest honor. On Sunday, Wilson was named the 2024 WNBA MVP, becoming only the second player ever to win the award unanimously and the first since Cynthia Cooper-Dyke of the Houston Comets in the league’s inaugural season in 1997.

That Wilson took home the award was no surprise. Hers was arguably the most dominant season in WNBA history. She set a new WNBA record for single-season scoring (26.9 points per game) and also set single-season records with 1,021 total points — the first player ever to surpass the 1,000-point mark — and 451 total rebounds. Wilson was also the first player to lead the WNBA in total points, rebounds and blocks (98) in a single season.

“I don’t ever want it to be lost on how good (A’ja) is,” Aces coach Becky Hammon told reporters in mid-September. “She just does everything. She’s in the middle of a run and sometimes I want to shake her and say, ‘Do you know how good you are?’ But I don’t want to shake her because I don’t want to wake her up. She can just stay in the zone she’s in.”

Records broken. Milestones reached.

A’ja Wilson wins her third MVP title with a historic season for the ages 🌟

2024 @Kia WNBA Most Valuable Player #KiaMVP photo.twitter.com/5fDSXwkYzf

— WNBA (@WNBA) September 22, 2024

With the win, Wilson has now won the MVP in three of her seven WNBA seasons, including 2020 and 2022. She joins Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie and Lauren Jackson as the only other three-time MVP recipients. Wilson could also join a trio of three-time Defensive Player of the Year winners (Swoopes, Tamika Catchings and Sylvia Fowles) when that award is announced later this postseason.

Wilson finished third in last year’s MVP voting in a historically close race, behind Breanna Stewart of the New York Liberty and Alyssa Thomas of the Connecticut Sun. Wilson received one fourth-place vote, which she later said she used as a form of motivation.

“Whoever you are that voted me fourth (for MVP), thank you. Thank you very much,” Wilson said at the Las Vegas Championship Rally last fall. “I want to say I appreciate you guys, because it just means I’ve got a lot of work to do.”

The moment ✨

“I can’t thank you enough. I hope you understand how much you mean to me. I hope you know that this trophy is nothing without you. We’ve all been there before – and we’ll go back again – but there’s one thing you’ll never… photo.twitter.com/NOnm0BP4yr

— Las Vegas Aces (@LVAces) September 22, 2024

Besides Wilson, there was little drama over who would finish second in the MVP voting. Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier (467 points) received 66 of 67 votes from a national panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. Stewart received the other runner-up, finishing third overall (295 points).

Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark finished fourth in the voting (130 points) and Thomas finished fifth (83 points). Players received 10 points for first place, seven for second, five for third, three for fourth and one for fifth.

During the 2024 regular season, Wilson was named Kia WNBA Western Conference Player of the Month four times (May, June, July and September) and WNBA Western Conference Player of the Week six times. If she wins MVP again in her career, she will become the first player in WNBA history to do so four times.

Wilson and the Aces begin their postseason run on Sunday. Las Vegas is the No. 4 seed and hosts the No. 5 Seattle Storm, with tipoff set for 10 p.m. ET.