South Carolina’s A’ja Wilson makes history with fourth WNBA MVP award
A’ja Wilson is, once again, on top of the women’s basketball world.
The WNBA announced Wilson was its 2025 Most Valuable Player on Sunday. With the win, Wilson has now won four MVPs during her eight-year professional career.
No other player in the history of the WNBA has won as many MVPs.
“By the time it’s all said and done, she will be the greatest to ever do it,” Aces coach Becky Hammon told ESPN’s Michael Voepel. “Four (MVPs) already says she is. In a league that has continued to get much better, she keeps getting better. ... You’re watching poetry in motion. You’re watching history. And she’s just 29 years old. She could win four more of these by the time she is finished.”
A panel of 72 sportswriters and broadcasters voted on the awards. Wilson led with 51 first-place votes and was followed by the Minnesota Lynx’s Napheesa Collier (18 first-place votes) and the Phoenix Mercury’s Alysaa Thomas (three).
Wilson’s 657 total voting points were 123 more than Collier, who finished second with 534. None of the 72 voters had Wilson lower than No. 2 on their ballot.
Wilson won the 2024 WNBA MVP unanimously but after the Las Vegas Aces started the year slowly it seemed she was out of this year’s MVP race all together. Despite it, Wilson remained consistent and guided her team on a 16-game win streak to finish the regular season and secure the No. 2 seed in the playoffs.
The former South Carolina women’s basketball legend dominated the league on both sides of the ball this year. Wilson averaged 23 points and 10 rebounds per game and became the only player in WNBA history to average at least 20 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks and 1 steal in a season this year.
Wilson is leading the WNBA with 23.4 points per game, 937 total points and 332 field goals made. All of those numbers are technically down from last year for Wilson, but were still more than enough to bring home another MVP. Wilson scored 30 or more points 13 different times this season, the most ever in a WNBA season. During the Aces 16-game win streak Wilson averaged 26.1 points, 12 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 2.3 blocks, 1.6 steals and scored 30 or more points eight times.
She also led the league in player efficiency rating (33.4), win shares (9.4) and offensive win shares (6.2).
Wilson’s efforts on the defensive side of the ball helped her earn her third WNBA Defensive Player of the Year award earlier this week. She was named Co-DPOTY alongside Minnesota’s Alanna Smith.
Wilson led the league in blocks (2.3 per game), defensive win shares (3.1), defensive rating (96.4) and usage percentage (32.1). She finished second in rebounds (10.2 per game) and defensive boards (7.9 per game). She was also named the Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year by the Associated Press.
Wilson and the Aces are in the midst of a title chase. The Aces first game of a semi-finals series with the Indiana Fever begins Sunday at 3p.m. on ABC. Should the Las Vegas win the series it would put Wilson and the Aces en route to compete for a third WNBA title.
This story was originally published September 21, 2025 at 10:31 AM.
