A’ja Wilson = success. With every passing day, it gets harder to ignore the fact that Wilson is the best women’s basketball player. She became the first star in WNBA or NBA history to win a championship, claim the scoring title, and be named Finals MVP, league MVP, and Defensive Player of the Year in the same season. Now, she’s TIME Magazine’s 2025 Athlete of the Year. If there was ever any narrative bigger than hers, it was that of Caitlin Clark.

Wilson recently addressed the media coverage and toxicity surrounding Clark’s 2024 and 2025 seasons. How did that hit or affect the Aces legend?

“It wasn’t a hit at me, because I’m going to do me regardless,” Wilson said of all the hate Clark and the sport faced. “I’m going to win this MVP. I’ll win a gold medal. Y’all can’t shake my résumé. It was more so, let’s not lose the recipe. Let’s not lose the history.”

Wilson did acknowledge, though, that the unpleasantness in the WNBA took center stage at one point. But not for long. At least internally, the players knew what they wanted.

“It was erased for a minute, and I don’t like that,” Wilson said. “Because we have tons of women that have been through the grimiest of grimy things to get the league where it is today.”

Clark’s rookie season helped the WNBA achieve jaw-dropping television and attendance numbers. The conversation around that growth, however, often became racially divisive, pitting the new star against the league’s established, predominantly Black stars.

The 2025 season, though, served as “proof in the pudding” for Wilson and her peers. Viewership across ESPN networks still increased by five to six percent per game, across the regular season and playoffs, even though the 2024 ROTY missed most of the campaign with a grueling injury.

But the WNBA is facing a whole other issue right now. One that’s directly related to the way they’re compensated and taken care of for the skills these players bring to the hardwood. And mind you, the WNBPA and every player in the league are hellbent on not settling for any less than they deserve.

A’ja Wilson and the WNBA are at a crossroads, what happens now?

This context arrives as the WNBA faces a critical business moment. The league’s collective bargaining agreement with its players is set to expire on January 9. Wilson is poised to be a central voice in those negotiations, alongside experienced players like Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier. She expressed a firm stance on the players’ united front heading into the talks.

“All of us are going to be at the table,” Wilson said. “And we’re not moving until we get exactly what we want.”

The Aces player’s comments hint at underlying tensions with the league office. They further explain why Collier chose to take the public criticism route against WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert. She had no qualms addressing those reported tensions directly.

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“I only know Cathy by when she hands me trophies,” Wilson said of Engelbert’s alleged comments. “If that’s her true self, thank you for showing that. Thank you for saying those things. Because now we see you for who you are, and now we’re about to work even harder at this negotiation.”

The players are seeking a larger share of the league’s rapidly growing revenue. Franchise values are soaring, and a new media rights deal has been secured.

In an exclusive conversation with EssentiallySports, Chelsea Gray explained where the players’ priorities lie.

“It’s hard for me to give exact numbers,” Gray said. “We just want a salary system based on the revenue that we generate. Like, it’s based on that, the working conditions for everyone.”

Multiple reports suggest that the W’s latest proposal increases the salary cap from $1.5 million to $5 million per team. The future increase of this cap will be linked to the league’s revenue growth. The minimum player salary would rise to $225,000, the average pay to $500,000, and the max would reach a million.

That’s a 3x jump.

Picture the following…

Wilson earned a salary of $200,000 in her MVP season.

By comparison, the NBA’s MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, made $35.8 million in the same year and also inked an extension worth $273 million this past summer.

The possibility of a WNBA lockout now looms over the offseason. This threatens to stall the staggering momentum they’ve built over the last two years.

Wilson’s TIME Athlete of the Year honor places her in a rare category of cultural influencers. The magazine highlighted her impact on the next generation, quoting LeBron James, who said Wilson gives his daughter “the kind of inspiration I got from Michael Jordan.”