A’ja Wilson Is Chasing History — And This Time, She’s Doing It More Efficiently Than Ever
South Carolina women’s basketball alum A’ja Wilson remains the best player in the world, and the numbers heading into WNBA All-Star weekend make that case almost impossible to argue against. The former Gamecock star could be closing in on her fifth WNBA MVP award this season — an extension of her own all-time record, given that no other player in league history has more than three.
A scoring pace with almost no precedent
Heading into the All-Star break, Wilson is averaging 26.1 points per game. To put that number in context: no player has ever averaged 26 points per game across a full WNBA season, with one lone exception — Wilson herself, who posted 26.9 points per game back in 2024. In other words, the only person who has ever done what Wilson is currently on pace to do is Wilson, two seasons ago. That’s not just individual dominance; it’s a level of sustained scoring output the league has essentially never seen from anyone else.
Why this year’s version might be even more impressive
What separates this season from her historic 2024 campaign isn’t the raw scoring total — it’s the efficiency behind it. In 2024, Wilson shot an already-strong 51.8% from the field and 31.7% from three-point range. This season, she’s blown past both of those marks, shooting 53.3% from the field and a remarkable 44.6% from beyond the arc. That three-point jump in particular is significant: a nearly 13-percentage-point improvement from three isn’t a minor refinement, it’s a fundamental expansion of her offensive game, adding legitimate perimeter shooting to what was already an elite interior scoring arsenal. Her free-throw shooting has remained essentially identical — 84.1% this year compared to 84.4% in 2024 — which suggests the improvement isn’t a fluke of variance elsewhere in her game, but a specific, deliberate development in her shot profile from distance.
Producing a historic scoring average while simultaneously shooting more efficiently from the field and dramatically better from three is a genuinely rare combination. Scorers who chase historic point totals often see their efficiency dip as volume rises; Wilson’s numbers suggest the opposite is happening.
A two-way force, not just a scorer
Wilson’s case extends beyond the offensive end. Like in 2024, she’s again a genuine candidate for the WNBA’s Defensive Player of the Year award. That year, she finished as the runner-up — meaning had she won, she’d already own four DPOY trophies to match her four MVPs. This season, she currently holds the third-best odds on BetMGM to bring the award home, keeping her firmly in that conversation once again.
Her full statistical line reinforces just how complete her game remains: 26.1 points, 9.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 2.0 blocks and 1.6 steals per game. That kind of production across scoring, rebounding, playmaking and both primary defensive categories (blocks and steals) is exactly the profile that separates an elite scorer from a genuine MVP-caliber, two-way superstar.
What comes next
Wilson will start for Team Spoon in this weekend’s WNBA All-Star Game, one more showcase of a season that’s shaping up to be one of the greatest in league history — not just for its scoring totals, but for the improved efficiency and continued two-way impact behind them. With a potential fifth MVP and a real shot at a DPOY award both in play, Wilson isn’t just chasing her own historic 2024 season — by several meaningful measures, she may already be surpassing it.
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