Even Shai isn’t having a career like this…yet!
A’ja Wilson is undoubtedly one of the most dominant players in the history of basketball, not just in her position, gender, or league, but among all players who have ever set foot on any court, especially the biggest of them all.
Now, after winning the big three—regular season MVP, Finals MVP, and the WNBA championship trophy with her Las Vegas Aces for the third time in four years—there has only ever been one other player to achieve this in basketball history.
The one and only Bill Russell.
The ace A’Ja is looking to hold even more records, as the player who comes to the WNBA Media Day, serving more looks than Jimmy Butler (from Storm Silver to this year’s pink bombshell), is still firmly in her prime.
And she’s funny, too, as one of the sport’s best ambassadors and entertainers. Especially after a finals win at the post-game press conference, when the champagne pours.
Boyfriend Bam Adebayo joked that she smelled like beer after the championship was presented by Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, who was booed by the fans in attendance after what Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier recently revealed.
A’ja’s reaction to this was priceless.
But the Aces have more cards than the MVP, who led the way in Game 4 with 31 points, after hitting the game-winner over the engaged Alyssa Thomas and DeWanna Bonner in the previous game. Moving ahead of the legend, Candace Parker, in both postseason field goals made (425), for third all-time, and playoff blocks (117), for second. Not to mention, Lynx legend Lindsay Whalen, for fourth all-time in postseason free throws made (250).
Despite losing champions like Dearica Hamby and Kelsey Plum to California, Becky Hammon’s desert dwellers still have legends like Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young. Not to mention recent additions like Kiah Stokes and Jewell Loyd. Some of the highest rollers in a roulette of a roster.
Bringing out the brooms for a four-game sweep, capped off by a 97-86 win on Friday night, Gray and Young each added 18 points to the offensive onslaught. Chelsea hit four three-pointers, two of them in the fourth quarter, to break the back of a potential Phoenix comeback.
The Mercury tried to rise on an 8-0 run, but the Aces just had too much on deck. Phoenix star Kahleah Copper has been here before, winning MVP with her champion Chicago Sky in 2021. Her stare-down with then Phoenix player Sophie Cunningham (now with Caitlin in Indiana) was Iverson-like iconic. But now a Mercury member herself, her 30 points couldn’t quite come up with the goods.
Like fellow new big-three member, Alyssa Thomas put up a nice line of 17 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists for the triple-double.
Let’s not get it confused, though; this was an incredible rebound rise from the Phoenix Mercury. They replaced their legendary big three of Brittney Griner, Skylar Diggins, and the GOAT, Diana Taurasi, with Copper, Thomas, and the towering Satou Sabally. A reload, not a rebuild. They’ll be back, cocked, locked, and ready to roll. Hotter than ever.
After Wilson’s latest ace run with the rock and the Liberty being eliminated from the first round following their championship last season, which super-team is going to step on the cape of the one from Sin City?
This time, don’t place your bets yet. Just cash in on the team that has grown from being worth $2 million in 2021 to a $140 million net worth at press time.
The ante and stakes keep going up. And the Aces match it.
Cha-ching. Bling-bling.
