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A’ja Wilson wins a WNBA record fourth MVP.

A'ja Wilson reacts to a play in the third quarter of Game One of the 2023 WNBA Playoffs semifinals against the Dallas Wings at Michelob ULTRA Arena on September 24, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada

Photo: Getty Images

Las Vegas Aces center-forward A'ja Wilson has been named the 2025 Kia WNBA Most Valuable Player. It’s a historic feat in WNBA history, as it cements Wilson as the first player to ever win four MVP awards in the 29-year history of the WNBA and her second in a row. After claiming her fourth MVP, Wilson now breaks a tie with three-time MVPs Sheryl Swoopes (2000, 2002, and 2005), Lisa Leslie (2001, 2004, and 2006), and Lauren Jackson (2003, 2007, and 2010).


Wilson received 51 of 72 first-place votes and 21 second-place votes for a total of 657 points from a national panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. Wilson finished ahead of other WNBA stars such as Minnesota Lynx forward and runner-up Napheesa Collier (534 points), followed by Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas (391 points) in third place with Atlanta Dream guard Allisha Gray (180 points) in fourth place, and Indiana Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell (93 points) in fifth place.

In her eighth WNBA season, Wilson averaged 23.4 points, 10.2 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 2.3 blocked shots, and 1.6 steals in 31.2 minutes in 40 games—the second-best per game averages of her career. She led the league in scoring for a second straight season with 937 and the highest efficiency rating (29.2) in the WNBA, along with leading the league in blocks per game (2020, 2022-25), where she won her third Defensive Player of the Year Award of her career.


This season, she set a WNBA single-season record for games scoring 30 or more points (13) and led the league with 25 games scoring 20 or more points, along with achieving 21 double-doubles that included 16 games with over 20 points. After a subpar 11-11 record entering the All-Star break, Wilson displayed why she’s the league’s best by leading the Aces to a 19-3 finish to propel them to a No. 2 seed in the playoffs and the forefront of the MVP conversation.


Let's not forget her historic 30-20 game, the first in WNBA history.

The league surprised Wilson on Friday, as WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert and Wilson’s boyfriend, Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo, presented the trophy to her at the end of the Aces practice.


"It hasn't been easy for us. They counted us out," an emotional Wilson said to her teammates after receiving the award. "They wrote us all off, but we showed up every single day. ... It has my name on it, but it's all of us. There is no [award] without each and every last one of you guys."


Winning her fourth MVP in five years and the first with four, her head coach, Becky Hammon, had nothing but high praise for the star.


"There's no Mount Rushmore," Hammon said she told Wilson. "You are the only one. You're Everest."


“By the time it's all said and done, she will be the greatest to ever do it," Hammon told ESPN's Michael Voepel. "Four [MVPs] already says she is. In a league that has continued to get much better, she keeps getting better.”


Ironically, Wilson didn’t even like basketball growing up, as she didn’t begin playing the sport until she was 11 years old.


"I was a young girl that didn't even like the sport. I didn't want to play; I don't like to sweat, but now my name's in the history books forever," Wilson said Sunday. "These are the moments that I'm like, 'No, this is why you wake up every morning and do what you do.'"


She's just getting started.

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