The Las Vegas Aces didn’t need many words to make their point after A’ja Wilson won the ESPY for Best WNBA Player. They just listed her resume and let it speak for itself.
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“M’VP. D’POY. WNBA Champion. Finals M’VP. Scoring Champ,” the Aces posted. “Of course she’s the winner of the ESPY for Best WNBA Player,” the Aces wrote on their X handle.
If you think the list is an exaggeration, it literally accounts of what Wilson pulled off in a single season. In 2025, she became the only player in WNBA or NBA history to win the league title, regular-season MVP, Finals MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, and the scoring title all in the same year. The ESPY, her third Best WNBA Player win in four years, was simply catching up to what she’d already done on the court.
Wilson picked up a second honor at the same ceremony, held at Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater, taking home Best Athlete, Women’s Sports for the second time in her career after also winning it in 2024. She couldn’t attend in person, so Ilona Maher accepted on her behalf.
“I mean, come on! A’ja, come on!” Maher said, as per People.
Wilson picked up praise from outside the league too. LeBron James gave her a shoutout from the ESPYs stage that very same night.
“I want to say congratulations to my sister A’ja Wilson on winning a WNBA Best Player ESPY,” James said. “Y’all make sure y’all get out there and support those beautiful women and what they do.”
None of this is new territory for Wilson, even by her own standard. She started all 40 regular-season games in 2025, led the league in both points and blocks, and averaged 23.4 points, 10.2 rebounds, and 3.1 assists a game. She became the first player in WNBA history to score more than 300 total points in a single postseason, and her fourth MVP award moved her past Cynthia Cooper, Sheryl Swoopes, Lauren Jackson, and Lisa Leslie for the most in league history.
That 2025 run is still shaping how her 2026 season is being read. Now in her ninth year, Wilson shows no sign of slowing down. She’s putting up 25.5 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 2.9 assists a game on 51.5% shooting from the field and 40% from three, leading the Aces to a 17-7 record.
That kind of production is exactly why last year’s championship run still feels replicable.
The Aces Will Try To Replicate Their Success From Last Year
Las Vegas swept Phoenix in last year’s Finals, with Wilson becoming the first player to average at least 25 points and 10 rebounds across an entire Finals series, capped by a championship-winning turnaround jumper with 0.9 seconds left in Game 3.
Most of that roster is still intact. Jackie Young and Chelsea Gray remain steady scoring threats, and the frontcourt defense built around Wilson, Cheyenne Parker-Tyus, and Stephanie Talbot has continued to hold up. The Aces also added backcourt depth this season by signing guard Justine Pissott, who set a WNBA record with her scoring output in her debut game.
The results back up the continuity. Las Vegas ranks third in the league in both scoring and rebounding, averaging 89.9 points and 34.8 rebounds a game, and leads the WNBA in field-goal percentage at 48.4%.
Their toughest test so far came in a 109-75 blowout loss to the Indiana Fever, a reminder the path back to another title won’t be automatic. Wilson was also the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s All-Star draft just hours before the ESPYs aired, setting up a game where her own head coach, Becky Hammon, will be coaching against her at the July 25 All-Star Game in Chicago.
Before that, the Aces are back in action against the Toronto Tempo on July 20, their next chance to build on a season that’s already tracking toward another deep playoff run.