Aces’ Wilson Voted WNBA’s 2nd Unanimous MVP

On the day that the Aces begin their quest for their third championship in a row, their leader has earned the ultimate individual award. Wilson reigns supreme.

Las Vegas Aces superstar A’ja Wilson has been named the 2024 WNBA MVP in unanimous fashion, the league announced on Sunday. This is the third MVP award for Wilson, which is tied for the most all-time with some of the games greats, Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie and Lauren Jackson.

Wilson, who also took home MVP honors in 2020 and 2022, received all 67 first-place votes from the media panel, making her the first unanimous MVP since Cynthia Cooper in the league’s inaugural season back in 1997.

After falling short of the honor last season in a historically close race to Breanna Stewart of the New York Liberty, Wilson left no doubt in anyone’s mind this summer. She dominated and put together the best individual campaign the league has ever witnessed. Most notably, she became the first player to reach the 1,000-point plateau in a season, finishing with 1,021, and set the single-season rebounding record.

She also recorded the highest single-season scoring average ever with 26.9 points, breaking Phoenix Mercury’s Diana Taurasi’s nearly two-decade old mark of 25.3 in 2006, was the first player to lead the league in total points (1,021), rebounds (451) and blocks (98) in the same season, set the single-season record for consecutive 20-point games (15) and became the Aces’ franchise leader in points and rebounds.

“We always talk about, ‘Make your teammate great, and then in the process you become the greatest,'” Aces coach Becky Hammon said. “A’ja is a great example of that — just making everybody great around her. She’s the greatest, because she’s so authentically committed to that: pulling greatness out of other people.

“It’s been fun to coach her. She’s just a really, really gifted human being. I’ve kind of run out of adjectives. She’s amazing. She’s the best player in the world, and she’s one of the best people in the world.”

Over 38 games, Wilson averaged 26.9 points, 11.9 rebounds, 2.58 blocked shots and 1.79 steals in 34.4 minutes of action. She paced the WNBA in both points and blocks, second in rebounds, fifth in steals and fourth in minutes, setting career highs in all five per-game categories.

Adding to her lofty list of accomplishments, Wilson was named an All-Star for the sixth time, earned four Western Conference Player of the Month awards and helped Team USA win a gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where she was named MVP of the tournament.

Wilson’s elite play on both ends of the floor gave the Aces the boost they needed to stay afloat during a difficult beginning to the season in which they dealt with Candace Parker’s surprise retirement and their point guard Chelsea Gray’s foot injury. Eventually, they got back into the swing of things and won nine of their last 10 games to finish 27-13 and earn the No. 4 seed.

Their journey toward a threepeat will begin with a first-round matchup against Jewell Loyd and the Seattle Storm, which tips off on Sunday.

Rounding out the top five in the MVP vote this season were Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier, New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart, Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark and Connecticut Sun forward Alyssa Thomas. Players received 10 points for a first-place vote, seven for a second-place vote, five for a third-place vote, three for a fourth-place vote and one for a fifth-place vote.