South Carolina women's basketball: A'ja Wilson wins WNBA MVP

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A’ja Wilson was named WNBA MVP on Wednesday. It is Wilson’s second MVP honor, making her the youngest player ever with two MVP awards.

Wilson won her first MVP award in 2020 during the “Wubble” season. That year the Aces advanced to the WNBA Finals where they were swept by the Storm. After another disappointing playoff exit last season, the Aces made a coaching change and Wilson made a position change. She moved from power forward to center in new coach Becky Hammon’s uptempo system. 

Wilson added a three-point shot to her repertoire, hitting 31-83 (37.3%) from behind the arc this season. She was just 1-2 from three combined in her first four seasons. Wilson also dramatically improved on the defensive end, going from a serviceable defender to the WNBA’s Defensive Player of the Year.

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Wilson narrowly edged Seattle’s Breanna Stewart for MVP. It would have been the second MVP award for 28-year-old Stewart, who was named MVP in 2018. Wilson and Stewart are widely considered the faces of the WNBA for the next decade. Not only are they two of the best players on the court, they have high-profile endorsements off the court – Wilson is the first female athlete to endorse Ruffles chips and Stewart has a signature shoe. This season the pair separated themselves from the rest of the league by the All-Star break, and the race for MVP was nip and tuck to the very end. 

Stewart led the league in scoring with 21.8 points per game, and Wilson was fifth with 19.5 points per game. Wilson also led the league in blocks (1.9 per game) and was second in rebounds (9.4 per game). Advanced offensive metrics tended to favor Stewart, but the defensive metrics and wins (Las Vegas had the best record in the league) favored Wilson. 

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Stewart won the AP MVP award, while Wilson took home Defensive Player of the Year honors.

Voting for the league awards ended at midnight on the final day of the regular season, so the playoffs did not factor into the voting. Both players were outstanding in the postseason, although Wilson and the Aces won the series 3-1 to advance to the finals. Wilson became the first player in league history with consecutive games of at least 30 points and 10 rebounds. She scored a career playoff-high 33 points in game two and then scored 34 points in game three, and played all but four minutes of the series, including every minute of the last two games. Stewart had just the third 20-points, 15-rebound,  5-assist game in game three and then tied a WNBA record with 42 points in game four.

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