A’ja Wilson won her fifth WNBA MVP on Thursday, becoming the first player in league history to take home the award three seasons in a row.
The Las Vegas Aces star already owned the record for most MVPs after winning her fourth last year. Now she has five, earned in 2020, 2022, 2024, 2025 and 2026. Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie and Lauren Jackson, the legends she passed on the list, each finished their careers with three. Across the NBA and WNBA combined, only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has more with six, which puts Wilson level with Michael Jordan and Bill Russell.
She did it in her ninth season. At 30 years old, Wilson has been named MVP in more than half the seasons she has played.
Wilson’s fifth WNBA MVP came in a landslide. She collected 65 of 74 first place votes and 713 total points from a national panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. Minnesota Lynx rookie Olivia Miles finished second with 442 points, followed by Indiana Fever guards Kelsey Mitchell at 287 and Caitlin Clark at 212. New York Liberty star Breanna Stewart rounded out the finalists.
The numbers explain why. Wilson led the league in scoring for the third straight season at 26.2 points per game while shooting nearly 53 percent from the field. She added 9.4 rebounds, a career best 3.2 assists, 1.9 blocks and 1.4 steals across 41 games. She also led the WNBA in blocks, making her the first player ever to top the league in both scoring and blocks three seasons running.
Her value showed up most when she sat down. Las Vegas outscored opponents by 13.6 points per 100 possessions with Wilson on the floor and got outscored by 11.1 when she went to the bench. The Aces finished 31 and 13, third in the standings and two games behind the top seeded Lynx.
The way she found out made the moment even bigger. After a team walkthrough at Michelob Ultra Arena, Wilson listened to a prerecorded message from former Vice President Kamala Harris congratulating her on the fifth WNBA MVP of her career. Her mother, Eva, then presented the trophy, with Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, Aces owner Mark Davis and team president Nikki Fargas looking on.
“Each one of these has not been taken lightly,” Wilson said, standing beside all five of her MVP trophies.
The résumé behind the trophy keeps stacking. Wilson has three championships, two Finals MVPs, three Defensive Player of the Year awards and eight All Star selections. The Associated Press also named her its WNBA Player of the Year for a third straight time this season, breaking a tie with Stewart for the most ever.
She has been carrying the defending champions through the playoffs too. In the decisive Game 3 of the first round against the Fever, Wilson put up 36 points and 10 rebounds, becoming the first player in WNBA history to post three straight 30 point games while facing elimination.
The celebration comes with work left to do. Las Vegas trails the Golden State Valkyries 2-0 in their best of five semifinal series, one loss away from elimination on the franchise’s eighth straight trip to the semis. The fifth WNBA MVP is locked in. A fourth ring now depends on the Aces winning three straight.