A'ja Wilson

A’ja Wilson is the forward who turned the Las Vegas Aces into the WNBA’s defining dynasty of the 2020s and, in doing so, assembled the most decorated individual résumé in league history. The No. 1 overall pick in 2018 out of South Carolina, she won Rookie of the Year in her first season and by the 2026 season had become the only five-time WNBA MVP, a three-time champion, and — per ESPN — the fastest player to 6,000 career points, reaching the mark in 278 games. A scorer and rim protector in equal measure, she is the rare player to anchor both ends of a championship team, and the central figure in the argument over the best player of her era.

Vitals
Born	August 8, 1996 — Columbia, South Carolina
Position	Forward-center
Teams	Las Vegas Aces (since 2018)
Draft	2018, No. 1 overall (Las Vegas Aces)
Contract	Under contract with Las Vegas; has spent her entire career with the franchise (as of Oct. 27, 2026)
Number	22

South Carolina

The college. Wilson played four seasons at the University of South Carolina from 2014 to 2018 and left as the program’s cornerstone. She carried the Gamecocks to the 2017 NCAA championship, winning Final Four Most Outstanding Player, and as a senior in 2018 swept the national player-of-the-year honors, including the Naismith and Wooden awards. She finished as the school’s all-time leading scorer and had her No. 22 retired, the foundation of a case that she was the most important player in the state’s basketball history before she ever turned professional.

Las Vegas Aces: building the foundation (2018–2021)

The arrival. Selected first overall in the 2018 WNBA Draft by a franchise that had just relocated from San Antonio to Las Vegas, Wilson averaged 20.7 points as a rookie and was named Rookie of the Year. The Aces were not yet contenders, but the No. 1 pick immediately looked like the best player in the building.

First MVP. In the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, Wilson won the first of her MVP awards and carried Las Vegas to the Finals, where the Aces fell to the Seattle Storm. It was the first evidence of the two-way profile that would define her: a 20-point scorer who also finished among the league leaders in blocks. Over the 2021 season she added rebounding muscle, averaging 9.3 boards, as the roster around her — Chelsea Gray, Kelsey Plum, Jackie Young — filled in toward a champion.

The dynasty (2022–2026)

The breakthrough. Under head coach Becky Hammon, the 2022 Aces won the franchise’s first title, and Wilson won both MVP and her first Defensive Player of the Year award — the award double that would become her signature. She shot a career-best .501 from the field that season while averaging 19.5 points.

Back-to-back. Las Vegas repeated as champions in 2023, and Wilson was named Finals MVP for the first time while winning a second straight Defensive Player of the Year. Her scoring climbed to 22.8 points per game on .557 shooting, and on August 22, 2023, she posted a franchise-record 53-point game.

The record season. The 2024 campaign was the most dominant scoring season the league had seen: Wilson averaged 26.9 points and became the first player to score 1,000 points in a single WNBA season, finishing with 1,021. On July 7, 2024, she passed Sophia Young-Malcolm to become the Aces’ all-time leading scorer, and she claimed her third MVP.

Four and a sweep. In 2025 Wilson became the first player to win WNBA MVP four times, shared Defensive Player of the Year with Alanna Smith after the two tied in voting, and won the scoring title. Las Vegas then swept the Phoenix Mercury 4-0 in the first best-of-seven Finals in league history. Wilson scored 31 points in the Game 4 clincher, converting 17 of 19 free throws, and was named Finals MVP for the second time — the first player ever to hold MVP, Finals MVP, and Defensive Player of the Year honors in the same season.

Five and a three-peat. In 2026 she extended her own record to a fifth MVP, the first player to win the award in three consecutive seasons, while taking a third straight scoring title at 26.2 points per game. Her 1,073 points that year ranked as the second-highest single-season total in WNBA history, behind only Kelsey Mitchell’s 1,086 in the same season. With Team USA she had already won Olympic gold in 2021 (Tokyo) and 2024 (Paris).

By the numbers

Regular-season per-game averages, per Basketball-Reference:

Season	GP	PPG	RPG	APG	BPG	FG%
2018	33	20.7	8.0	2.2	1.7	.462
2019	26	16.5	6.4	1.8	1.7	.479
2020	22	20.5	8.5	2.0	2.0	.480
2021	32	18.3	9.3	3.1	1.3	.444
2022	36	19.5	9.4	2.1	1.9	.501
2023	40	22.8	9.5	1.6	2.2	.557
2024	38	26.9	11.9	2.3	2.6	.518
2025	40	23.4	10.2	3.1	2.3	.505
2026	41	26.2	9.4	3.2	1.9	.527

Career totals

Ranks

• 1st WNBA MVP awards, all-time (5)
• 1st Consecutive WNBA MVPs (3, 2024–2026)
• 1st Points, Las Vegas Aces franchise history (6,792)
• 2nd Points in a single WNBA season (1,073, 2026)

Honors

• 5× WNBA MVP (2020, 2022, 2024, 2025, 2026)
• 3× WNBA champion (2022, 2023, 2025)
• 2× Finals MVP (2023, 2025)
• 3× Defensive Player of the Year (2022, 2023, 2025)
• 3× scoring champion (2024, 2025, 2026)
• 2018 Rookie of the Year
• 8× WNBA All-Star
• 2× Olympic gold medalist (2021, 2024)

Per Basketball-Reference and WNBA.com, through the 2026 season.

The arguments

Best of her era. Wilson’s dominance in MVP voting — she took 65 of 74 first-place votes in 2026, finishing ahead of Caitlin Clark, Kelsey Mitchell, and Olivia Miles — has reframed the greatest-of-all-time debate that long centered on Diana Taurasi, Lauren Jackson, and Tamika Catchings. ESPN went as far as to tie the Aces’ 2025 run to her reaching “GOAT status”. Skeptics counter that career-volume records still belong to the previous generation and that the case rests on peak dominance rather than two decades of production.

How much is the roster. Supporters argue that the MVP-plus-Defensive-Player-of-the-Year seasons prove individual value independent of context. Critics note that the Aces’ titles came with a stacked supporting cast and a championship-winning coaching staff, making it hard to separate Wilson’s credit from the machine around her — a debate that follows every dynasty.

The scoring records. Wilson was the first player to reach 1,000 points in a season and the first with multiple 1,000-point seasons, but her single-season high was passed within two years, and her marks arrived as the league expanded its schedule. How much of the scoring surge reflects era and pace versus individual greatness remains contested.

Why it matters

Wilson is the hinge on which the WNBA’s most successful modern franchise turns, and the player who collapsed the sport’s MVP and Defensive Player of the Year conversations into a single name. Five MVPs, three titles, a franchise scoring record, and an unprecedented three-peat make her the most-decorated player of her generation — and whether or not the all-time debate ever settles, no account of the league in the 2020s can be written without her at its center.