Unanimous! South Carolina basketball legend A'ja Wilson earns every WNBA MVP vote
By Kevin Miller
South Carolina basketball legend A'ja Wilson is the unanimous MVP for the 2024 WNBA season. The official announcement from the WNBA came on Sunday morning.
Wilson joins Hall of Famer Cynthia Cooper as the league's only unanimous winners of the top season award (Cooper was the unanimous top player in 1997, the WNBA's first season). She also joins Hall of Famers Lisa Leslie, Sheryl Swoopes, and Lauren Jackson as the only 3-time winners of the MVP award. Wilson is the first player to win three MVPs in her first seven seasons in the WNBA.
The MVP voters had their easiest job in quite some time this season as A'ja Wilson put up the best overall season in league history. Setting all-time single-season records for points scored, points scored per game, rebounds, and PER (Player Efficiency Rating), Wilson also led the league in blocks, field goals made, and free throws made and found herself near the league leaderboards in steals, field goal percentage, and free throw percentage.
In short, A'ja Wilson was a dominant force all season.
Even though Wilson was the league's best defensive player this season, the future Hall of Famer was snubbed from the AP Defensive Player of the Year Award in favor of the Minnesota Lynx's Napheesa Collier. She was, however, properly placed on the 1st team of the All-WNBA team.
The Las Vegas Aces star will begin another WNBA Postseason run on Sunday, and a third WNBA Finals title is on her mind. Only the Houston Comets (who won the first four WNBA Championships), have managed to win at least three titles in a row.
The Aces will begin their quest for the 3-peat with a 10:00 PM ET Sunday matchup with the Seattle Storm in Michelob Ultra Arena in Vegas. The game will be broadcast on ESPN and streamed on the ESPN app. The winner of the best-of-3 series will go on to play against the winner of the series between the Atlanta Dream and New York Liberty.