“She’s the greatest player to put on the uniform. Period,” Becky Hammon said about A’ja Wilson. “Her dominance … You could probably make an argument for both ends of the floor, just the greatest player to ever put on a Stars or Aces uniform.”

Eight seasons in, and A’ja Wilson has basically done it all. Every competition she’s entered, she’s won. The Big Dance? Done. The WNBA? Done. The Olympics? Done. And it’s the same story when it comes to individual honors. A’ja Wilson has collected them all: MVP, Finals MVP, and Defensive Player of the Year. The full set and a true reflection of her all-around brilliance.

Caitlin Clark often gets the credit for the WNBA’s rise, and rightly so. But A’ja Wilson sees it differently, and when you hear her side, the argument actually makes a lot of sense.

And to truly understand that, we need to take a closer look at A’ja Wilson’s journey so far.

A’ja Wilson and her rise to the top

A’ja Wilson entered the W with a resume that demanded attention. She left South Carolina Gamecocks as the program’s all-time leading scorer, swept every National Player of the Year award, won a record third straight SEC Player of the Year honor, and earned Consensus All-American status for the third consecutive season. A year earlier, she had already delivered South Carolina its first national championship.

The expectations were obvious.

She became the No. 1 pick in the 2018 WNBA Draft, just as the San Antonio Stars officially relocated and rebranded as the Las Vegas Aces. The timing was perfect. What followed was history, quite literally.

From the jump, A’ja Wilson made her presence felt. She won Rookie of the Year in her first season, averaged 20.7 points and 8.0 rebounds, and became only the second rookie in league history to drop 35 points and 10 rebounds in a game, all while nearly pushing the Aces into the playoffs.

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And that moment marked the beginning of what we now regard as one of the greatest rivalries in WNBA history, if not the greatest. Breanna Stewart vs A’ja Wilson.

When A’ja first stepped onto a WNBA floor, Breanna Stewart had already set the standard. She had led the Seattle Storm to their third championship, claimed MVP honors in both the regular season and the Finals, and established herself as the best player in the world. She wasn’t just the benchmark of the league. She was the one A’ja was expected to chase.

And A’ja’s climb to the top wasn’t without resistance, especially when it came to Breanna Stewart.

She carried the Aces to their first Finals during the bubble season at IMG Academy and claimed her first MVP along the way, announcing herself to the world while averaging 20.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, 1.2 steals, and 2 blocks per game. But waiting at the summit was Breanna Stewart. And in the Finals, her Seattle Storm swept Wilson’s Aces.

The very next season brought another heartbreak. In a do-or-die Game 5 against Phoenix, Wilson caught the inbounds from Chelsea Gray, took one hard dribble toward the basket, and went up with a chance to save the season. Brittney Griner was waiting. The block sealed it. A moment Wilson would later describe as one that “crushed a little girl’s heart.”

Everything shifted after 2021. Becky Hammon took over in Vegas, the results were immediate, and A’ja Wilson finally reached the mountaintop. A dynasty followed. Two straight championships, another MVP, and a Finals MVP later, the Las Vegas Aces had taken over the league. The 2024 season may have ended with Breanna Stewart lifting another trophy, but we all know the kind of season A’ja put together this season. 

“I’m on my way there,” Wilson said after winning her third championship in 4 years. “I’m making it real hard for people to chase after me. That’s what it means to be the GOAT.” And who’s arguing? She became the first player in WNBA or NBA history to sweep every major individual honor in a single season. On top of that, she’s now one of just four players across both leagues to win four MVPs before turning 30, joining rare company alongside Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and LeBron James.

She stacked those awards like Infinity Stones and then pulled up to the parade wearing Thanos’ infinity gauntlet. “When you’ve collected everything, that’s Thanos,” she said. “And this year, I collected everything. I don’t really talk much sh–. I mean crap. I kind of let my game do it. This was my biggest moment of doing it, because no one’s ever done what I’ve done. And I think people really needed to understand that.”

We’ve reached a point where we’ve almost normalized A’ja Wilson’s excellence simply because she’s sustained this level of dominance for so long. But what she’s doing isn’t normal. We’re watching one of the greatest players to ever do it, in real time. And the scariest part? She keeps getting better.

And that brings us to the elephant in the room. It’s why it would be wrong to say the rise in league viewership rests solely on the shoulders of Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and Paige Bueckers.

A’ja Wilson’s role in shaping the modern WNBA

Caitlin Clark’s arrival in 2024 triggered a meteoric rise across almost every measurable category. Merchandise sales jumped by 601%, overall attendance surged 48%, total sellouts skyrocketed 242.2%, and TV viewership climbed a staggering 300%. To put it in perspective, 45% of the league’s total broadcast value came from Indiana Fever games alone.

So yes, you can absolutely say players like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese have fueled the league’s growth, and you wouldn’t be wrong. But that’s only part of the story.

A’ja Wilson made her stance clear amid the narrative that Caitlin Clark alone fueled the WNBA’s growth after she became Time’s Athlete of the Year.

“I’m going to win this MVP, I’ll win a gold medal, y’all can’t shake my résumé,” Wilson said. “It was more so, let’s not lose the recipe. Let’s not lose the history. It was erased for a minute. And I don’t like that. Because we have tons of women that have been through the grimiest of grimy things to get the league where it is today.”

And she’s spot on. Even by 2021, MVP season and all, she still wasn’t universally viewed as the league’s best player. That title belonged to Breanna Stewart, already a two-time champion and two-time Finals MVP. At the same time, Jonquel Jones had just announced herself as the 2021 MVP, while Alyssa Thomas and Napheesa Collier were firmly in the conversation, waiting their turn.

So why would the contributions of these women be brushed aside?

These women are the reason the W stayed must-watch. Take away the Stewie–A’ja rivalry. Take away Taurasi and Griner holding it down in Phoenix. Take away Curt Miller’s Sun, setting the standard for consistency. Are we really saying all of that suddenly doesn’t matter?

To further support her point, the 2025 WNBA season averaged 1.2 million viewers, a 5% increase year over year, marking the most-watched full season ever on ESPN platforms. And that growth came despite Caitlin Clark being limited to just 13 appearances.

Sure, the arrival of Paige Bueckers has played a part. But it’s time people truly acknowledge A’ja Wilson for her role in growing the sport we all love, and for the reality that we’re watching a legitimate case for the greatest player to ever grace the WNBA.