A’ja Wilson used to hate basketball. Now, she’s Team USA’s best player.
Here are the essential details about A’ja Wilson, the current best female basketball player in the league.
Team Quick Facts: Las Vegas Aces (16-8)
Regular Season Statistics: 11.9 Rebounds, 3.8 Blocks, 1.8 Steals, 27.2 Points (52.7% FG),
Placement: Midway
2018 Draft Class: First Pick
Six people were chosen as All-Stars (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024).
Olympic gold medallist from 2020 had previous appearances in the games (5×5)
College: 2017 National Champion South Carolina
It’s difficult to argue that A’ja Wilson isn’t the greatest player in the world.
A’ja Wilson was the MVP of the previous year’s Finals, the league MVP twice, and the defensive player of the year twice. Still, she’s now playing some of her greatest basketball. Wilson scores 27.2 points on average having the greatest scoring average of any WNBA player with 52.7% shooting per game. With 11.9 rebounds per game, she is the second-best rebounder in the league, and with 2.8 blocks each night, she leads the shotblocking group.
Wilson appears to be the front-runner for MVP and DPOY, two different regular season awards, as of right now. Dawn Staley, Wilson’s college coach, recently declared that Wilson ought to take home the Most Improved Player trophy in addition to the two accolades.
Though it seems unlikely, Staley’s observation highlights Wilson’s ability to raise her level of performance this season.
A’ja Wilson just revealed her new Nike sneaker partnership.
Probably too late, she said in May that she will be partnering with Nike on a much-awaited line of signature shoes, which would formally debut in 2025. The “A’One” sneaker was unveiled at Wilson’s hometown and alma mater, Columbia, South Carolina.
She’s the first lady of color to receive her own autograph She becomes the fourth active WNBA player with a signature deal, following Sabrina Ionescu, Breanna Stewart, and Caitlin Clark, who all had agreements with Nike before Sheryl Swoopes in 2002.
Over the past few years, public pressure had mounted regarding the fact other players, including Sabrina Ionescu and Caitlin Clark, received shoe deals before her.
“We’ve been working on this for a couple of years now, and I just wanted it to be perfect,” Wilson told the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Callie Lawson-Freeman. “I didn’t want this to be something that was just like a handout.”
She wasn’t always good at basketball
In fact, Wilson famously hated basketball — and sweating — as a kid. She reluctantly picked up a basketball in 8th grade, and just barely made the team, she said in an interview with Marie Claire. She described herself as “awful” at the sport; a “late, late, late, late, late bloomer.” She recalled accidentally dribbling in the wrong direction one game.
