Folks, she's done it again. On Thursday, Las Vegas Aces and former South Carolina Gamecock star A'ja Wilson took home the 2026 WNBA MVP Award, marking the fifth time she's done so in her career. No other player in league history has won five MVPs.
Wilson received 65 of the 74 available votes to win it, marking her third MVP in a row. Minnesota Lynx rookie Olivia Miles finished in second place, getting six first-place votes with 442 points.
In third was Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell, who had 287 points with two first-place votes, and her teammate, Caitlin Clark, came in fourth with 212 points and a first-place vote. Breanna Stewart of the Liberty finished fifth with 171 votes.
The 5th one just hits DIFFERENT 🥹
— WNBA (@WNBA) October 8, 2026
The moment A’ja Wilson learned she was officially a 5x @Kia WNBA Most Valuable Player.#KiaMVP | #WNBASeason30 pic.twitter.com/HYzsbhxixC
"As a girl you dream so big, and you write your goals out, and you just never imagine that you will be able to check them off," Wilson said via ESPN after getting the award on Thursday evening. "That's why I cried 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. So for me to sit up here surrounded by these trophies ... it means a little bit more to me."
Perhaps most impressive? Wilson joins an elite group of players in the WNBA and NBA to win five MVP awards. She joins NBA legends in Michael Jordan, Bill Russell and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as th only players to have won five:
The only NBA & WNBA players to win 5+ MVP trophies in their careers:
— StatMuse (@statmuse) October 8, 2026
— Bill Russell
— Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
— Michael Jordan
and A'ja Wilson. pic.twitter.com/xvwFFPsTlZ
Wilson is having one of the best seasons of her WNBA career in 2026. She's averaging 26.2 points per game with 9.4 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game. The Aces are in an 0-2 hole in the playoffs against the Golden State Valkyries, with game three set for Friday night at 9:30 p.m. ET. The elimination game will air live on Peacock and NBC Sports Network.
Although typically MVP winners are honored with a pregame ceremony, Wilson has chosen to lock in and warm up with her teammates instead.
Wilson has been in the league since 2018, spending her entire career with the Aces. She was drafted No. 1 overall out of South Carolina, where she helped lead Dawn Staley and the Gamecocks to their first-ever national championship in 2017.
Congrats to Wilson on her fifth MVP!
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