A’ja Wilson found herself atop the WNBA again in 2025, winning an unprecedented record. fourth MVP as his Las Vegas Aces won a third championship in four seasons.
For this, she was named female athlete of the year by the Associated Press on Wednesday for the first time in her career. This is the second year in a row that a basketball player has won the award after Caitlin Clark was honored. in 2024.
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“It’s an honor when you think about the group of women who have already won,” Wilson said in a telephone interview. “Just having my name in it, I’m blessed.”
Wilson is only the fifth basketball player to be honored as Female Athlete of the Year since she was first presented in 1931, joining Sheryl Swoopes (1993), Rebecca Lobo (1995), Candace Parker (2008, 2021) and Clark.
A group of 47 AP sports journalists and its members voted. Wilson received 17 votes, tennis star Aryna Sabalenka was second with nine and Paige Bueckers third with five.
“The things she did on the court have never been done. To me, she’s in a league of her own,” Aces coach Becky Hammon said of Wilson. “People always ask who’s on your Mount Rushmore? I say she’s on Everest – there’s no one up there with her.”
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Shohei Ohtani won AP Male Athlete of the Year on Tuesday for the fourth time.
Hammon has been impressed with everything about Wilson during his four years coaching in Las Vegas.
“Her relatability, her down-to-earth nature makes her a great superstar,” Hammon said. “Her skills are unmatched, but she’s also the easiest player to coach. To have that mix of humility, grace and skill, there’s a reason she does things that have never been done.”
This season has been different for Wilson and the Aces, who had won their previous two titles as heavy favorites. This year, with a month remaining, the Aces were at .500 and in danger of missing the playoffs after suffering a record 53-point loss to Minnesota.
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Wilson rallied his team to victory in the final 16 games of the regular season to secure the second seed, and Las Vegas won the championship.
“This season, I found myself through the adversity and the mud that we went through,” she said.
Although her numbers were on par with her unanimous MVP season the year before, Wilson heard that she wasn’t playing as well and wasn’t the favorite to repeat as the league’s best player.
The 29-year-old used it as fuel on the pitch. She led the league with 23.4 points and 2.3 blocks per game.
“The way they talk about us, the way they talk about me, I’m ready for it, I’m ready for the noise,” Wilson said. “It’s always going to be something. If we sit here and try to please everyone, we’re going to go crazy. I’m just going to continue to prove why I’m one of the greatest and why my team is part of a dynamic dynasty.”
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Wilson improved his game further in the playoffs, helping the Aces survive winner-take-all deciding games in the quarterfinals and semifinals. She then helped Las Vegas sweep Phoenix in the WNBA Finals, hitting the game-winning shot in Game 3.
“It’s fair to say that the expectations for her are so high now that she will be compared to some extent to the unanimous MVP she was the year before,” said ESPN analyst Rebecca Lobo. “Even though she wasn’t unanimously MVP this year, the journey she had this season was different and she played the best basketball of her career in the playoffs.”
“Every year we wonder how she’s going to get better, and she always does.”
Wilson became the first WNBA or NBA player to win MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, Finals MVP and lead the league in scoring in the same season.
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Wilson broke a tie with Swoopes, Lisa Leslie and Lauren Jackson, all of whom won the WNBA MVP three times. She plans to have another relaxing offseason since she won’t be playing overseas or in Unrivaled, the domestic 3-on-3 league.
She’s already crossed one thing off her bucket list by meeting her idol BeyoncĂ© at the Formula 1 race in Las Vegas last month.
“It was super cool, Beyoncé is someone I always wanted to meet because I admired her work,” Wilson said.
The great Aces is thus herself for many. She launched a shoe and clothing line with Nike. His shoe sold out within minutes of going on sale.
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“It’s amazing, something I think about every day when I look around and see people wearing just my shoes. Every day it’s a gentle reminder that you know this is a special time we’re living in and I’m so grateful when I think about it.”
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