Ranking Aces star A'ja Wilson's four WNBA MVP seasons

As the endowment astir the WNBA improves, Las Vegas Aces halfway A'ja Wilson keeps raising her level. That's however Becky Hammon sees it. But 1 happening concerns the Aces manager erstwhile it comes to Wilson's chances to support adding to the 4 league MVP awards she has earned.

"I conscionable don't privation radical to support moving the barroom connected A'ja," Hammon told ESPN. "And if you've got elector fatigue, you shouldn't beryllium voting. I don't fto idiosyncratic who plays bushed support playing; they've got to travel retired of the game.

"I'm like, 'Don't get bushed of A'ja.' Because what you're watching is amazing."

Voter fatigue didn't impact Wilson this season. She received 51 of 72 first-place votes successful earning MVP. Wilson has present won the MVP grant successful fractional of her 8 WNBA seasons. Each of the honors is special, but however bash they rank?

1. 2024: A unanimous choice

Wilson was truthful ascendant past play that determination was nary suspense astir who would beryllium MVP. And it isn't conscionable the champion MVP play for Wilson; we ranked it arsenic the champion MVP play successful WNBA history a twelvemonth ago.

Wilson acceptable the league grounds for scoring mean (26.9), portion besides averaging vocation highs successful rebounds (11.9) and blocks (2.6). She notched her second-highest tract extremity percent (51.8). She received each first-place vote, lone the 2nd unanimous MVP prime successful league history, joining Houston's Cynthia Cooper successful 1997, the league's inaugural season.

Disappointment from not winning the 2023 MVP fueled Wilson passim the 2024 season. In 2023, she not lone didn't triumph successful a choky three-way contention with New York Liberty guardant Breanna Stewart (the winner) and then-Connecticut Sun guardant Alyssa Thomas (runner-up), but Wilson got a much-maligned fourth-place ballot and finished 3rd overall. That seemed to devour astatine her arsenic overmuch arsenic not winning the grant did.

Wilson and the Aces didn't triumph the WNBA rubric successful 2024, falling to eventual champion New York successful the semifinals. But Wilson individually was the season's superstar with stats that volition beryllium pugnacious for anyone to replicate.

2. 2025: Strong finishing kick

What stands retired astir with this year's MVP? How important each crippled was down the agelong tally of the play to unafraid the No. 2 effect for Las Vegas. Wilson enactment the Aces connected her backmost and ran up a upland from a 14-14 grounds to a 16-game winning streak to adjacent the regular season. It's hard to find a comparable squad turnaround successful league history, and that captivated MVP voters.

Wilson averaged 23.4 points and 10.2 rebounds, making her the archetypal WNBA subordinate to mean astatine slightest 20 points and 10 rebounds successful aggregate seasons. She was co-Defensive Player of the Year with Minnesota's Alanna Smith.

Wilson, 29, said she inactive finds ways to improve, and that's portion of what keeps her truthful enthusiastic.

"I conscionable privation to beryllium the champion for my team," Wilson told ESPN. "I don't privation to permission immoderate questions oregon asterisks, oregon person anyone ask, 'What happened?' I don't ever privation my show to beryllium questioned, similar I didn't hole good enough."

3. 2022: An MVP and a championship

It was a two-player contention betwixt Wilson (31 first-place votes) and Stewart (23). This was Hammon's archetypal play arsenic Aces caput coach, and she thought it was astir a dormant heat.

"Obviously, I wanted A'ja to win, but I was like, 'You could ma...