Las Vegas Aces star A’ja Wilson was on the ‘The Old Man and The Three’ podcast this week with Celtics star Jayson Tatum to talk about both players making the cover of NBA 2K25, which drops Sept. 6. Sue Bird, the future Hall of Famer, was also on the podcast. Wilson told an interesting story showing, again, why she should be an even bigger deal outside of basketball than she is.
In 2020, the Aces were swept by Seattle in the WNBA championship. Wilson said that series loss broke her. ‘When that confetti falls on you, and it’s not for you, it stings,’ she said. Wilson said she told herself: ‘I never want to feel that way again.’
So she started that process. That process of never feeling that way again. She would grow and become an even more devastating player which is really saying something.
The Aces would go on to win two consecutive championships starting in 2022. The team became the first to repeat in 21 years. In the decisive Game 4 in the second championship series, Wilson had 21 points and 16 rebounds.
That’s the type of story that normally takes a star within the sport to stardom outside of it. It didn’t happen but it’s starting to now, but even with this new level of stardom, it’s still not what it should be. Wilson is a generational talent but still isn’t always covered like one.
This type of motivation is one of the core principles of great athletes, and Wilson is one of the great competitors of our time. She revealed another example of this on Thursday. She explained being motivated after Breanna Stewart won the 2023 MVP award. It wasn’t because Stewart won the award; Wilson agreed she should have.
‘I don’t think Stewart getting MVP was really the motivation for me,’ Wilson said. ‘Obviously, between her and AT (Alyssa Thomas), they all deserved it so I get it 100%. I feel like the most motivation for me—and everyone probably knows this story—is the fourth-place vote.’
The fourth-place vote.
‘That’s something that was all the motivation that I needed,’ she said. ‘Because in my eyes, I was like, ‘Ok maybe top two, I get it.’ But to see that I got a fourth-place vote was kind of like, ‘Ok, obviously I have more work that needs to be done.”
Wilson received 17 first-place votes, 25 second-place votes and 17 third-place votes. She was so bothered by the fourth vote that she wore a shirt with the voting breakdown of the MVP race.
The WNBA has a staggering level of stardom and depth. There’s an Avengers-level of abilities in the league with young stars, and Wilson is Captain America. But sometimes she’s treated by some in the media like one of the minor Avengers, like Hawkeye.
What’s essentially happening with Wilson is that people outside of the WNBA, who don’t follow it closely, are just discovering how immense a force she is. It’s like people who say Columbus discovered this land. People were already here. Many people. For thousands of years.
Wilson has been here. Discovered. By hoopers. Years before. The problem has always been a lack of appreciation for her outside of the sport, and even by some people who claim to know the WNBA.
It’s not that people don’t know Wilson. They do. It’s that too many people still don’t understand how remarkable she is.
Wilson is just 27 and what she’s already done is staggering. She’s won two championships and is a Finals MVP. She’s a two-time league MVP and was defensive player of the year twice. She’s a college champion and FIBA World Cup MVP.
Not going to compare her to anyone else in the WNBA because this isn’t really about any other player. This is just acknowledging what she’s done, and she’s not even close to being done.
Against Seattle on Wednesday night, Wilson had 24 points and 20 rebounds for her first 20-20 game. She added 4 blocks and 3 steals.
‘I feel like that’s the side I take personal, the defensive side,’ she said. ‘It’s crazy, if you would have asked me my rookie year, it was like, ‘What’s defense? I’m never playing it.’ But I learned defense wins games and championships for you. I really have to be that locked in.’
Wilson added: ‘Getting 20 rebounds? My shot wasn’t going so I was like, ‘I’ve got to do something out here. I didn’t travel to Seattle for just cardio. So it turned out to be rebounds.’
This is who Wilson is: adaptable, powerful, creative, and one of the greatest forces in all of sports.
More people need to know this.