A’ja Wilson has etched her name even deeper into basketball history, becoming the first player ever to win four WNBA MVP awards, the league announced Sunday.
Wilson finished with 657 total points, comfortably outpacing Minnesota’s Napheesa Collier, who tallied 534. She appeared first or second on every ballot and received 51 of the 72 first-place votes, while Collier earned 18. Alyssa Thomas collected three first-place votes to finish third, and Wilson’s former South Carolina roommate Allisha Gray came in fourth. Fellow Gamecock star Aliyah Boston landed sixth.
“This is special,” Wilson said. “To be mentioned with legends like Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie, and Lauren Jackson—it’s surreal.”
Wilson now stands alone atop the WNBA record books. Swoopes, Leslie, and Jackson each won three MVPs, but no one until Wilson had claimed four. She also became the first player since Cynthia Cooper (1997-98) to win back-to-back MVPs. Last year, she was the first unanimous MVP since Cooper in the league’s debut season.
Her numbers this season were as dominant as ever:
- 23.4 points per game (1st in the league)
- 2.3 blocks per game (1st)
- 10.2 rebounds per game (2nd)
- 1.6 steals per game (3rd)
- 3.1 assists per game (career high)
Wilson also led the WNBA in efficiency rating, with three of the five most efficient seasons in league history now belonging to her (each from the past three years). She remains the only player in league history to average 20+ points, 10+ rebounds, 3+ assists, 2+ blocks, and 1+ steal across an entire season.
Her historic year also saw her fall just two points shy of Jewel Loyd’s 2023 mark (939) for the second-highest scoring season ever. She grabbed 407 rebounds, the third most in league history, and on August 2 she delivered the first 30-point, 20-rebound game ever recorded in the WNBA. Her 13 games with 30 or more points also set a new single-season record.
Awards piled up for the Las Vegas star. She was named AP Player of the Year, AP Defensive Player of the Year, and just this week secured her third WNBA Defensive Player of the Year honor (shared as co-winner).
Collier had been the MVP frontrunner for much of the summer, but her ankle injury on August 2—which forced her to miss 11 of 44 games—shifted momentum. With Collier sidelined, Wilson caught fire, powering the Aces to a 16-game winning streak, the second-longest in league history. During that run, she averaged 26.1 points and 12.0 rebounds per game.
Wilson’s accomplishment also places her in rare company across sports. In the NBA, only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (6), Michael Jordan (5), Bill Russell (5), Wilt Chamberlain (4), and LeBron James (4) have four or more MVP awards. MLB’s Barry Bonds has seven, while the NFL’s Peyton Manning (5) and Aaron Rodgers (4) lead the way in football.
With this latest honor, Wilson has firmly solidified herself not just as one of the greatest WNBA players ever, but as one of the most dominant athletes in American sports history.
