A’ja Wilson is in her ninth season in the WNBA, and she has been an MVP in four of those years. And WNBA Hall of Famer Lisa Leslie believes that Wilson deserves her 5th MVP trophy this year with the kind of numbers she is putting up across the board. With Caitlin Clark’s injury woes causing her to miss two games and restricting her minutes, Wilson’s case becomes even stronger.
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“People get tired sometimes of seeing the same person win (MVP), but I think we should give it to the person who is earning it, and it’s A’ja Wilson,” Leslie told CBS Sports on the WNBA Tip-Off Show.
The stats do support Leslie’s point. The Aces star is averaging 25.5 points and 9.8 rebounds while shooting 51.5 percent from the field. The Aces sit second in the league with a 17-7 record, and look poised for a deep run into the season.
Wilson has anchored herself as a two-way threat for this Aces team. Wilson’s offensive rating of 115.4 is one of the highest in the league. She grabs a staggering 24.1% of the team’s defensive rebounds and contributes an impressive 16% of the team’s assists, as per WNBA advanced stats.
She remains a very efficient scorer on the court, having a true shooting percentage of 60.6. A’ja Wilson is also moving up the all-time ranks on several lists. Despite losing 109-75 to the Fever on Sunday, Wilson moved inside the top 15 on the all-time points list, in 14th place, surpassing Lisa Leslie with 6,281 career points.
The timing couldn’t have been better for Wilson. As we approach the All-Star break, she is now favored to win the MVP as per FanDuel Sportsbook’s calculations. While Caitlin Clark was the favorite early in the season, her recent injury has caused Clark to drop to fifth place. Wilson now leads the next contender, Paige Bueckers, by a huge margin.
Despite that, CC is averaging an impressive 20.1 points and 7.8 assists per game. In fact, Caitlin Clark just became the fastest player to reach 600 assists on Sunday, while being limited to roughly 25 minutes against the Aces. We are only halfway into the season, and an explosive player like Clark can easily push for that top spot.
Notably, a rookie is in the third spot in the MVP odds. Olivia Miles was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2026 WNBA draft and is having a phenomenal breakout season with the league-leading Minnesota Lynx. She is putting up record numbers of her own, averaging 18.7 points, 4.8 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game.
It may be tiring for some people to see Wilson leading the pack every year, but Leslie believes that is no reason to stop Wilson from winning another deserving MVP trophy.