South Carolina Basketball: Gamecock star lands huge new contract

South Carolina basketball alum Aja Wilson has had a great week. Since last weekend, Wilson has been nominated for three ESPY awards (Best Female Athlete, Best Team, and Best WNBA Player), won the WNBA’s Western Conference Player of the Week, and was named the leading vote-getter (and a team captain) for the upcoming WNBA All-Star Game.

Things got even better for the Gamecock great on Friday. Wilson was re-signed to a 2-year contract extension by the Las Vegas Aces. Early reporting on the deal indicates that the contract is for approximately $200,000 per season.

That number is about 25% less than the max contract Wilson could have demanded. She and several Aces teammates have taken less money in order to give the Aces more flexibility to sign other talented players. That strategy has worked for Vegas as they have played in two of the last three WNBA Finals and won the 2022 WNBA Championship.

Wilson is coming off of her second WNBA Most Valuable Player award and is considered by many to be the best player in the game. In her six-year career as a professional (all with the Las Vegas Aces), Wilson is averaging 19.1 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.0 steals, and 1.7 blocks per game.

Wilson’s dominance has been ongoing for over a decade. The Columbia native was the number-1 high school prospect in the country out of Heathwood Hall and became the top player in the college game, as well when she won the Naismith National Player of the Year Award as South Carolina basketball’s top player.

Playing for coach Dawn Staley in college, Aja Wilson put up nightly averages of 17.3 points, 8.7 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 1.0 steals, and 2.6 blocks per game. That success led her to become the first pick in the 2018 WNBA Draft.

She is joined as an All-Star Game starter by fellow South Carolina basketball star Aliyah Boston.