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A'ja Wilson Claims Record Fifth WNBA MVP as Aces Face Elimination
By @sharedot · · 7 pages
- Sports
- Wnba
- A Ja Wilson
- Las Vegas Aces
- Golden State Valkyries
A'ja Wilson won an unprecedented fifth WNBA MVP and third straight, but her Aces trail the Valkyries 2-0 with their season on the line.
A Fifth MVP No WNBA Player Has Matched
Las Vegas Aces superstar A'ja Wilson collected her record fifth WNBA Most Valuable Player award on Thursday, extending a mark no one else in league history has approached — no other player has won more than three MVPs, according to The Shadow League. The honor, her fifth after wins in 2020, 2022, 2024 and 2025, also made her the first player to win three consecutive MVPs, taking the award in 2024, 2025 and 2026. With five career MVPs, Wilson now sits in rarefied air alongside NBA greats Michael Jordan and Bill Russell, trailing only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's six. The Shadow League notes she is also the first WNBA player to average at least 25 points per game while shooting 50% from the field and 40% from three-point range in a single season.
An MVP Season of Rare Efficiency
The numbers behind the vote were overwhelming. What was once framed as a possible voter-fatigue debate became indefensible as the season progressed: Wilson captured 65 first-place votes and nine second-place votes, winning a ballot from all 74 voters, Yahoo Sports reports. Olivia Miles finished a distant second with six first-place votes in her rookie campaign, followed by Kelsey Mitchell with two and Caitlin Clark with one — a gap that left Clark's fans frustrated that 19 voters left the Fever star off their ballots entirely, per the same report. Wilson accepted the honor with an emotional monologue, telling the audience that "this crown gets heavy," but that her biggest thing is making sure it doesn't fall.
'She Was Dreaming About Surviving This World'
Wilson's acceptance remarks stirred a debate of their own. She said she cried harder after this MVP because she never dreamed of standing in that position at 15, telling the crowd that "15-year-old A'ja wasn't sitting up here dreaming about being a 5-time MVP. She wasn't dreaming about being a 3-time champion. She was dreaming about surviving this world." Yahoo Sports reports that WNBA fans pushed back on the framing, noting she grew up in favorable circumstances and attended Heathwood Hall Episcopal School in grade school and high school, according to USA Basketball's website cited in the report. One fan wrote that "private schools and wealth is pretty hard. What a joke!!" Others defended her, with fans calling her the best to ever do it in WNBA history and arguing her GOAT case keeps getting harder to argue against, The Shadow League reports.
The Stakes: Aces on the Brink Against the Expansion Valkyries
Even as Wilson collects hardware, the moment is bittersweet — the Aces are staring at elimination in the WNBA semifinals. Golden State, the expansion Valkyries, lead the series 2-0 after taking the first two games in San Francisco, including Game 2 on Oct. 7, and the series shifts to Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas for Game 3 on Friday, Oct. 9 at 9:30 p.m. ET, airing on NBC Sports Network and streaming on DIRECTV, Fubo and Peacock, per syracuse.com. Wilson has scored 24 points in each of the first two games of the series, and The Shadow League notes she became the first player in WNBA history to score at least 30 points in three consecutive elimination games earlier this postseason — a track record the Aces will lean on as they fight to stay alive.
What Comes Next
Game 3 is effectively must-win for Las Vegas, which entered as a betting favorite despite the series hole — syracuse.com lists the Aces at -172 on the moneyline, -3.5 against the spread, with an over/under of 156.5. Beyond this series, the conversation her fifth MVP has ignited — about her standing as the greatest WNBA player of all time, and about how the award vote played out across the league — shows no sign of quieting. Either way, the weekend's result will determine whether the record-breaking MVP gets a chance to add a fourth championship to her resume.