playMichael VoepelCloseMichael VoepelESPN Senior WriterMichael Voepel is a senior writer who covers the WNBA, women’s college basketball and other college sports. Voepel began covering women’s basketball in 1984, and has been with ESPN since 1996. and Kendra AndrewsMultiple AuthorsOct 8, 2026, 04:33 PM ETOpen Extended ReactionsLAS VEGAS — Aces center A’ja Wilson won a record fifth WNBA Most Valuable Player award for the 2026 season, becoming the first player in league history to win three straight MVPs.This one, Wilson said, made her cry a bit harder.”This one here is just a little bit different,” Wilson said Thursday afternoon, just moments after commissioner Cathy Engelbert handed Wilson a phone with a message from former Vice President Kamala Harris delivering the news.”As a girl, you dream so big, and you write your goals out, and you just never imagine that you will be able to check them off. … That’s why I cried harder on this one because 15-year-old A’ja wasn’t sitting up here dreaming about being a five-time MVP. She wasn’t dreaming about being a three-time champion.
She was dreaming about surviving this world. So for me to sit up here surrounded by these trophies … it means a little bit more to me.”Wilson received 65 out of the 74 first-place votes and nine second-place votes. Lynx rookie guard Olivia Miles (442 points; six first-place votes) finished second, followed by Fever guards Kelsey Mitchell (287 points; two first-place votes) in third and Caitlin Clark (212 points; one first-place vote) in fourth. Liberty forward Breanna Stewart (171 points) was fifth.The Aces will hold a pregame ceremony to honor Wilson’s achievement Friday, when the team will try to extend its season at home against the Golden State Valkyries in Game 3 of their semifinals series.Typically, an MVP winner will be honored at a pregame ceremony, during which they stand center court to receive their trophy in front of the fans.
The Aces have struggled after these types of ceremonies, dropping Game 1 of the semifinals last season against the Fever after Wilson was given her fourth MVP, and then losing this year after receiving their championship rings.With the Aces down 2-0 in their best-of-five series, Wilson said she will not participate in a pregame ceremony.”I love the fans, but I will not be doing that,” she said. “I will be warming up with my team. … Everyone in this room knows how much of a competitor I am [and] what my main focus is.”Wilson became the first WNBA player to average at least 25 points and shoot at least 50% from the floor and 40% on 3-pointers. Her 26.2-point scoring average this season ranked second in WNBA history, behind only her record 26.9-point average two years ago.Wilson, who turned 30 in August, dealt with some back issues that kept her from playing for the U.S. team in the FIBA Women’s World Cup in Germany in September.
But she played 41 of the Aces’ 44 games, averaging 32.0 minutes. She led the way as the Aces won their last seven games of the regular season, finishing 31-13 and taking the No. 3 seed in the playoffs.Last season, Wilson became the WNBA’s first four-time MVP. Now, she has entered even more rarefied air among professional team-sport athletes in the United States.The NHL’s all-time leader in MVP awards is Wayne Gretzky, who won the Hart Trophy nine times. Barry Bonds leads MLB players with seven MVPs, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar leads the NBA with six, and Peyton Manning leads the NFL with five.Wilson joins NBA legends Michael Jordan and Bill Russell — two players whose careers she has said she wants to emulate — as five-time MVP winners.”This [MVP] is pretty solidifying in a bunch of different ways, but I am not satisfied,” Wilson said.
“I am so grateful and I’m so blessed to be able to do what I do, and obviously getting rewarded is also fun. … My résumé, hopefully, continues to get long, but I don’t want to lose the fun. I am grateful to have my name alongside other greats. … To say you are one of the greats, it goes a long way.”Wilson, who has also won the WNBA Finals MVP twice, has three league titles with the Aces: in 2022, 2023 and 2025.During this regular season, Wilson led the WNBA in scoring average (26.2 PPG), blocks (1.9 BPG), Player Efficiency Rating (32.4) and Win Shares (9.4).
She finished fifth in rebounding average (9.4 RPG) and shot 52.7% from the field and 86.4% from the foul line.”Like I’ve said, ‘Take her off Mount Rushmore, she’s Everest.’ Now I’m taking her off Everest, and I just have to put her on a different planet,” Aces coach Becky Hammon said. “You can be a really talented and skilled basketball player and not win as much as she has, and not become individually great as much as she has. She’s the most coachable player I’ve ever been around. There’s a reason why she keeps coming back better and better each year.”Wilson said the motivation to continue to find new ways to improve stems from her love of winning — and hatred of losing.”Whatever I can do to get back to that feeling of winning,” Wilson said.
“I’m learning how to do it on my own terms, the way I want to. But there is always room for improvement, and I’m going to make sure that I can check that box every single day.”Wilson has been at the heart of the Aces since being drafted No. 1 in 2018 out of South Carolina, where she led that program to its first NCAA title in 2017. Her first WNBA season was also her franchise’s first in Las Vegas after relocating from San Antonio. That season was the only one in Wilson’s WNBA career in which she didn’t make the playoffs.
The Aces have finished in the top four all eight seasons since.
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