A’ja Wilson is undeniable.
Already the only four-time WNBA MVP, she became the first five-time MVP, while also becoming the first player to capture three-straight MVPs.
Delineating the dominance is dizzying.
Articulating A’ja’s excellence in a way that fully appreciates her outlier level of achievement is likewise increasingly difficult. Greatness is the expectation for A’ja—and yet she still overachieves. The motivation to maintain such a level of play is uncommon. The consistent commitment to improving
her craft is extraordinary.
And yet, the praise can sound like empty platitudes, insufficient efforts to try to celebrate everything that encompasses Wilson as player and person.
The 2026 WNBA MVP award will go in her already overstuffed trophy case, as she earned 65 of 74 first-place votes. Appearing on every ballot, she received nine second-place votes, totaling 713 points.
Minnesota Lynx rookie Olivia Miles finished in second place, with six first-place votes and 442 points. Eleven more players, including the Indiana Fever duo of Kelsey Mitchell and Caitlin Clark, the New York Liberty’s Breanna Stewart, the Dallas Wings’ Paige Bueckers and the Atlanta Dream’s Angel Reese and Rhyne Howard, received at least one MVP vote.
En route to her record-making MVP, Wilson led the league in scoring for the third-straight season, averaging 26.2 points per game, an average only second to her record 2024 average. Wilson’s 1.9 blocks per game also was the league-best mark for the fifth-straight season.
Her other 2026 achievements include a record-tying 13 games of at least 30 points scored, a league-leading 19 double-doubles of at least 20 points and 10 rebounds and league-best seven double-doubles of at least 30 points and 10 rebounds. Those statistical accomplishment led to her sweeping all four Western Conference Player of the Month awards, doing so for the second time in her career.
All that, plus the Las Vegas Aces’ three championships, suggests that the ask has never been too much for A’ja. She will find a way to rise to occasion.
However, she might now be facing the biggest ask of her career, as her Aces, with accumulating injuries, are down 0-2 in the WNBA semifinals.
