{"id":159821,"date":"2025-09-22T10:00:01","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T14:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=159821"},"modified":"2025-09-22T12:35:30","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T16:35:30","slug":"aja-wilson-makes-history-first-four-time-wnba-mvp-winner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/09\/22\/aja-wilson-makes-history-first-four-time-wnba-mvp-winner\/","title":{"rendered":"A\u2019ja Wilson Makes History: First Four-Time WNBA MVP Winner"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the 2025 WNBA Playoffs in full swing, Las Vegas Aces star\u00a0A’ja Wilson<\/a> has made history by becoming the only player to win the WNBA Most Valuable Player Award four times. On Sunday, Wilson was named the 2025 WNBA MVP after an outstanding season in which she broke multiple records, proving once again why she’s considered one of the greatest players in league history.<\/p>\n

Keep Read: Why A’ja Wilson’s 2025 Season Could Be The Greatest Two-Year Run Ever<\/a><\/p>\n

A\u2019ja Wilson Makes History: First Four-Time WNBA MVP Winner<\/h2>\n

Re-Writing History<\/h3>\n

In the 2025 WNBA MVP Award ballot, Wilson received 51 out of 72 first-place votes, finishing with 657 points in total. The other finalists were Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier<\/a> (runner-up; 534 points), Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas<\/a> (third-place; 391 points), Atlanta Dream guard Allisha Gray<\/a> (fourth-place; 180 points), and Indiana Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell<\/a> (fifth-place; 93 points). Players were awarded 10 points for a first-place vote, seven points for a second-place vote, five points for a third-place vote, three points for a fourth-place vote, and one point for a fifth-place vote.<\/p>\n

\"Las
Oct 1, 2024; Brooklyn, New York, USA; Las Vegas Aces center A’ja Wilson (22) celebrates after scoring in the fourth quarter against the New York Liberty during game two of the 2024 WNBA Semi-finals at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With that, Wilson became the first player to win more than three MVPs\u2014a record that she previously shared with Hall of Fame inductees Sheryl Swoopes<\/a> (2000, 2002, 2005), Lisa Leslie<\/a> (2001, 2004, 2006), and Lauren Jackson<\/a> (2003, 2007, 2010). The 29-year-old forward had already won MVP in 2020, 2022, and 2024.<\/p>\n

Also Read: A’ja Wilson Can Reign Supreme With Another MVP<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

A\u2019JA WILSON IS IN A LEAGUE OF HER OWN AS THE ONLY WNBA PLAYER TO WIN MVP FOUR TIMES \ud83d\udc51 \ud83d\udc4f<\/p>\n

Sources told @ShamsCharania<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/Bf3a7pe1Hi<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 ESPN (@espn) September 21, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Wilson learned of the honor on Friday in a surprise ceremony<\/a>, when WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert and her significant other, Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo<\/a>, presented the award to her after Aces practice. Fighting back tears, Wilson told her teammates the award belonged to the entire team:<\/p>\n

“It hasn’t been easy for us. They counted us out,” she would begin\u00a0(h\/t ESPN News Services). “They wrote us all off, but we showed up every single day. … It has my name on it, but it’s all of us. There is no (award) without each and every last one of you guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

All-Time Great Season<\/h3>\n

In what was her eighth WNBA season, Wilson put together one of her best all-around performances.<\/p>\n

In 40 games, she averaged 23.4 points, 10.2 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 2.3 blocks, and 1.6 steals per contest. Those numbers were the second-best per-game averages of her career across scoring, rebounding, assists, blocks, and steals. The South Carolina product also led the WNBA in scoring for the second year in a row, while topping the league’s block leaders for the fifth time in her career. She delivered 13 games with 30-plus points, the most in a single WNBA season. She also led the league with 25 games of at least 20 points and recorded 21 double-doubles, 16 of which featured 20 points or more.<\/span><\/p>\n

Her efficiency stood out as well\u2014she shot 50.5% from the field, a career-best 42.4% from 3, and 85.5% from the free-throw line. Wilson also sank 284 free throws, the most in the league, underscoring her dominance on both ends of the court. <\/span>Ultimately, she finished the season with 937 total points (and a league-best player efficiency rating<\/em> of 29.2).<\/p>\n

Wilson even became the only player in league history to average at least 20 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks, and 1 steal per game while playing at least 15 games for the second straight season. She finished top five in scoring, rebounding, blocks, and steals for the second consecutive year. The only other player to do that in a single season was Hall of Fame forward-center Yolanda Griffith<\/a> in 1999.<\/p>\n

Holistically, Wilson\u2019s fourth MVP isn\u2019t just another trophy\u2014it\u2019s a milestone that cements her place in WNBA history. She continues to raise the bar with every season, and her journey is far from over.<\/p>\n

\n

\u00a9 Lucas Peltier-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the 2025 WNBA Playoffs in full swing, Las Vegas Aces star\u00a0A’ja Wilson has made history by becoming the only player to win the WNBA Most Valuable Player Award four times. On Sunday, Wilson was named the 2025 WNBA MVP after an outstanding season in which she broke multiple records, proving once again why she’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5425,"featured_media":159854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[49709,1608,2,16,3],"tags":[1631,50159,49660,1010,50073,49658,49347,1632],"class_list":["post-159821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wnba","category-basketball","category-featured","category-heat","category-news","tag-aja-wilson","tag-allisha-gray","tag-alyssa-thomas","tag-bam-adebayo","tag-kelsey-mitchell","tag-napheesa-collier","tag-sheryl-swoopes","tag-wnba"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5425"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159821"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159821\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":159856,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159821\/revisions\/159856"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}