Former U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris was among the prominent figures celebrating A’ja Wilson after the Las Vegas Aces center captured her third consecutive WNBA Most Valuable Player award—and fifth overall—on Thursday.
Wilson, renowned for refining her shooting touch after every practice since entering the league as the No. 1 overall pick in 2018, received a voice message from Harris congratulating her on redefining excellence across the league.
“Obviously, that is an honour,” Wilson said. “A woman of our history, and I’m so appreciative to be able to share that moment with her through the phone call and the message of her delivering that I won my fifth MVP.”
Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, Aces owner Mark Davis, and team President Nikki Fargas joined Wilson’s mother, Eva, in presenting the trophy. Flanked by all five MVP awards, Wilson reflected on the emotional weight of the latest honor.
“Each one of these has not been taken lightly,” Wilson said. “In my heart, they’ve always been so special. But this one here, I cried a little bit harder. This one here is just a little bit different. When you dream as a young girl, you dream so big and you write your goals out, and you just never imagine that you were able to just check them off. And when you’re able to check them off—small wins, big wins—it truly means a lot. And so I think that’s why I cried a little bit harder on this one, because 15-year-old A’ja wasn’t sitting up here dreaming about being a five-time MVP. She wasn’t dreaming about being a three-time champion. She was dreaming about surviving this world.”
The 30-year-old once again paced the league in scoring at 26.2 points per game on nearly 53 percent shooting, while adding 9.4 rebounds, a career-high 3.2 assists, and 1.9 blocks per contest.
Wilson has guided the defending champion Aces back to the WNBA semifinals for the eighth straight season, though Las Vegas trails the best-of-five series against Golden State 2-0. Game 3 is scheduled for Friday.
“This is great. I love it, not going to take for granted, shine her up, let’s do it,” Wilson said Thursday. “But tomorrow, when it comes to hoisting it in front of the fans, I love the fans, but I doubt I will be doing that. I’ll be warming up with my team. Everyone in this room knows the competitor that I am. Everyone knows what my main focus is, and that is to get a game.”
Wilson garnered 65 first-place votes and nine second-place votes for 713 total points from a national panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. Minnesota’s Olivia Miles finished second with six first-place votes and 40 second-place votes (442 points), while Indiana guards Kelsey Mitchell and Caitlin Clark followed with 287 and 212 points, respectively.
No other WNBA player has collected more than three MVP awards; Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie, and Lauren Jackson each won three. In NBA history, only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (six) surpasses Wilson’s five, while Michael Jordan and Bill Russell each matched the total with five apiece.
“A’ja Wilson is one of one,” Fargas said. “She’s now standing in a category that no other WNBA player in the history of the league has accomplished. She’s in the conversations with the Michael Jordans and the Wayne Gretzkys of the world—where she belongs.”
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