Aces' A'ja Wilson earns historic fourth WNBA MVP award, winning honor back to back

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Las Vegas Aces star A'ja Wilson is in a class by herself, winning the WNBA MVP for an unprecedented fourth time.

She won the award last season as the unanimous choice and also in 2020 and 2022. Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie and Lauren Jackson all won the award three times.

“It's not going to hit me until the end of the season honestly; it is truly a blessing to be where I am. I don't think I could ever put into words how special this moment is," Wilson said hours before Game 1 of the WNBA semifinal series against Indiana. “My name is in the history books forever.”

Wilson and former Houston Comets star Cynthia Cooper were the only ones to win the award unanimously. Cooper was the only other player to win it in consecutive years, doing so in the first two seasons of the WNBA (1997, 98).

The 29-year-old Wilson again led the league in scoring (23.4 points per game) as well as blocked shots (2.3) and helped the Aces win their last 16 regular-season games, earning the No. 2 seed in the playoffs. For the second consecutive season, Wilson averaged at least 20 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks and a steal per game. She is the only WNBA player to reach these averages in a season while playing at least 15 games.

“The fact she’s not even 30 yet is crazy,” Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon said. “She still has a lot left in the tank. There’s still areas that she knows she can improve in and she will. Every year she’s coming back and adding something different to her game. Everyone talks about the Mount Rushmore of basketball faces. ... There’s no Mount Rushmore, you’re the only one, you're Everest."

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

“It hasn't been easy for us, they counted us out,” an emotional Wilson said to her teammates after receiving the award on Friday. “They wrote us all off, but we showed up every single day. We worked our (butts) off. ... 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.”

Wilson also was honored as the league's Co-Defensive Player of the Year, along with Minnesota's Alanna Smith, earning that award earlier this week for a third time in four seasons.

Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier (534 points) finished runner-up for MVP for the second consecutive season. She received 18 first-place votes. Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas was third (291 points) and garnered the other three top votes. Atlanta Dream guard Allisha Gray (180) and Indiana Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell (93 points) rounded out the top five vote-getters.

Players were awarded 10 points for a first-place vote, seven points for a second-place vote, five points for a third-place vote, three points for a fourth-place vote and one point for a fifth-place vote.

Wilson was honored as the AP Player of the Year earlier this month.

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This headline has been corrected to show that Wilson was the unanimous choice last season but not this season.

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball