A’ja Wilson has won the WNBA’s Most Valuable Player award for a record fifth time, becoming the first player in league history to win it three years in a row. The Las Vegas Aces center received 65 of 74 first-place votes from a national panel of sportswriters and broadcasters, finishing with 713 points.
Wilson averaged 26.2 points per game to lead the league in scoring for a third straight year, along with 9.4 rebounds, a career-best 3.2 assists and 1.9 blocks — leading the league in blocks for the fifth time in six seasons. She became the first WNBA player to average at least 25 points while shooting 50 percent from the field and 40 percent from three-point range, and her scoring average ranks second in league history only to her own mark from two years ago. Minnesota rookie Olivia Miles finished second in voting with 442 points, followed by Indiana’s Kelsey Mitchell and Caitlin Clark.
No other WNBA player has won more than three MVPs. Across American team sports, five MVPs places Wilson in rare company — alongside names like Michael Jordan and Bill Russell in the NBA, while Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s six remains the basketball standard. Wilson learned of the award when the league’s commissioner handed her a phone carrying a congratulatory message from a former vice president.
Wilson said this one moved her more than the others, reflecting that as a teenager she was dreaming about surviving the world rather than collecting trophies. Her Aces, seeded third after a 31-13 season, continue their semifinal series this weekend — with Wilson choosing to skip a pregame ceremony in her honor to keep the focus on extending the season.
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