It’s been quite the week for A’ja Wilson. The Las Vegas Aces star received an individual honor last week when she won the league’s Defensive Player of the Year award for the 2022 campaign and led the league’s All-Defensive first team, and on Tuesday night, Wilson and the Aces beat the Seattle Storm to earn a spot in the WNBA Finals.
Now, Wilson gets to add yet another honor to her trophy case, and it’s one that she has received in the past. The league announced on Wednesday afternoon that Wilson got the better of Storm star Breanna Stewart for the second time in as many days, as she received 31 first-place votes to be named league MVP. Stewart got 23 votes to finish in second.
DPOY and NOW 2x MVP
@_ajawilson22 is your 2022 #WNBA @Kia Most Valuable Player
Wilson averaged 19.5 PPG, 9.4 RPG, her efforts led the @LVAces to a #1 overall seed and 26-10 overall record#MoreThan pic.twitter.com/5nFc1DZBB2
— WNBA (@WNBA) September 7, 2022
Wilson and the Aces found out after their Game 4 win in Seattle last night from Becky Hammon, and celebrated accordingly — although they were told to keep their mouths (and Twitter fingers) shut until the official announcement today.
The moment @BeckyHammon told @_ajawilson22 that she just earned her second @WNBA M’VP
pic.twitter.com/Z302OWI4Th
— Las Vegas Aces (@LVAces) September 7, 2022
Here is how the full voting broke down. The only players to receive first-place votes beyond Wilson and Stewart were Candace Parker and Chelsea Gray, while no one had Wilson any lower than second on their ballots.
For those curious about what the final WNBA MVP voting table looks like: pic.twitter.com/1lR9RDJk0U
— Matt Ellentuck (@mellentuck) September 7, 2022
Wilson previously won the league’s MVP award back in 2020, when she led the Aces to an appearance in the WNBA Finals. She’ll hope things go different this time, as Las Vegas was swept by Seattle. The two teams with a chance to represent the Eastern Conference, the Connecticut Sun and the Chicago Sky, will play a winner-take-all Game 5 on Thursday.
Wilson averaged 19.5 points, 9.4 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.9 blocks, and 1.4 steals in 30 minutes per game for the Aces, which went 26-10 during the regular season.