After a rather evenly matched four quarters at 71-71, the Golden State Valkyries went into overdrive in overtime, sweeping the Las Vegas Aces 3-0 in the WNBA semifinals, with Game 3 on Friday ending 87-77. But as the defending champions fell, their franchise star A’ja Wilson, who recently won her fifth MVP award, became part of an exclusive but undesirable club she would much rather have avoided.

Until this year, Wilson was one of four players to have won MVP and got swept by a rival team in a WNBA playoff series in the same season. It first happened to Sheryl Swoopes in 2005, Lisa Leslie in 2006, Lauren Jackson in 2007, and then Wilson in 2020.

Unfortunately, Wilson has now become the first WNBA player to repeat the undesirable feat twice after Friday’s loss to the Valkyries.

In 2005, Swoopes was named the MVP with the Houston Comets, but they were swept 2-0 in the conference finals by the eventual 2005 champions, the Sacramento Monarchs. Following Swoopes, the Monarchs did the same to Lisa Leslie in 2006.

In 2007, Lauren Jackson, the fastest WNBA player to score 4000 points and named the regular-season MVP for the Seattle Storm, entered the club. Unfortunately, the Storm was swept 2-0 by the Phoenix Mercury in the Western Conference semifinals. Phoenix went on to win the championship that year in a 3-2 series over the Detroit Shock.

A’ja Wilson’s MVP awards have become as certain as death and taxes, as this is the third consecutive season she has won the honor. But unfortunately, her regular-season success did not translate into the second round of the 2026 WNBA playoffs. The Aces faced the Valkyries, who have made the playoffs both seasons of their existence, and this week, they defeated the defending champions three games in a row. This is the first time the Valkyries have reached the Finals in their short existence. 

Though Wilson dominated the regular season on both ends of the hardwood, the Valkyries’ defense choked her for points. She had led the league the entire season with 26.2 points per game, followed closely by the Indiana Fever’s top shooters, Kesley Mitchell and Caitlin Clark, in second and third. A’ja Wilson was great on defense too, grabbing 9.4 rebounds per game, the fifth-highest in the league, while adding a league-leading 1.9 blocks per game. She led the Aces to the third seed in the playoffs.

Wilson even replicated this level of play against the Fever in the first round of the playoffs, as the Aces won the series 2-1. Wilson was her usual self as she dropped a monster 38 points in Game 1 and replicated that success in Game 3 with 36 points. Despite Game 2 being a slump by Wilson’s standards (22 points), the Aces still won the series. 

But the Aces, who are primarily known for their scoring, faced the Golden State Valkyries next, the team that boasts the best defensive rating in the regular season. In the Semifinals, the Valkyries’ defense held Wilson to 23 points on average across the three games that the teams played. Game 1 saw Wilson shoot a poor 8-of-21 from the field, while Game 3 was worse, as she shot 6-of-19. The Valkyries’ defense was so stifling that the Aces, known for their shooting, had their worst scoring game all season, putting up only 60 points in Game 1.

Another significant problem for the Aces was the lack of bench depth. Stephanie Talbot missed Game 1, while Jewell Loyd missed Game 2 due to a left leg injury. In Game 3, the Aces did not play Mai Yamamoto, Kierstan Bell, or Justine Pissott. This put a lot of pressure on the three core players: A’ja Wilson, Jackie Young, and Chelsea Gray. 

And to make matters worse, they were facing the side with the strongest bench all season. The Valkyries bench averaged a league-leading 35.9 PPG in the regular season, while the Aces bench managed only 21.5 PPG. The Valkyries bench also led the league in the regular season for assists with 7.5 APG.

With Game 3 completed, the Aces and A’ja Wilson have been eliminated from this season’s playoffs. The Golden State Valkyries will now face the Atlanta Dream in the 2026 WNBA Finals.