{"id":77530,"date":"2024-05-15T04:40:48","date_gmt":"2024-05-15T08:40:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=77530"},"modified":"2024-05-15T04:40:48","modified_gmt":"2024-05-15T08:40:48","slug":"aja-wilson-opens-up-about-being-in-goat-conversation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/05\/15\/aja-wilson-opens-up-about-being-in-goat-conversation\/","title":{"rendered":"A\u2019ja Wilson Opens Up About Being In GOAT Conversation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With the highly anticipated 2024-25 WNBA season <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/05\/14\/wnba-guide-projecting-all-12-teams-starting-lineups-rotation-injuries-predictions-and-top-fantasy-players\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">finally tipping off<\/a>, Las Vegas Aces forward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/wnba\/players\/w\/wilsoa01w.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">A\u2019ja Wilson<\/a> is getting an early start on what could be her third MVP award since being drafted six years ago.<\/p>\n<p>Recording 30 points, 13 rebounds, five assists, one steal, and one block in 35 minutes, Wilson led the Aces to a nine-point victory against the Phoenix Mercury. She led all players in points, rebounds, and free-throws made (10). Missing 6-foot-9 star center <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/wnba\/players\/g\/grinebr01w.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brittney Griner<\/a>, who is out indefinitely with a toe fracture, the Mercury were unable to do anything with Wilson inside. Showing off her soft touch all night as well, the five-time All-Star clearly didn\u2019t miss a beat after averaging 21.3 points, 12.5 rebounds per game, 1.3 steals, and 1.3 blocks per game in the 2023 WNBA Finals.<\/p>\n<p>As she told Boardroom\u2019s Vinciane Ngomsi, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/boardroom.tv\/aja-wilson-cover-story\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the standard is top tier<\/a>. When you think of top-tier, top-shelf, it\u2019s things that are up there for a reason. And that is my standard.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">A&#8217;JA. WILSON. \ud83d\udd25<\/p>\n<p>The 2023 Finals MVP picked up right where she left off with a double-double, 30 PT performance in tonight&#8217;s W over the Mercury<\/p>\n<p>STATS: 30 PTS, 13 REBS, 5 AST<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/WelcometotheW?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#WelcometotheW<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/GsV3lW6Twi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/GsV3lW6Twi<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 WNBA (@WNBA) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WNBA\/status\/1790604067368063457?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 15, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is making sure that whatever I do\u2026,\u201d Wilson continues, \u201cthat\u2019s her, that\u2019s A\u2019ja, that\u2019s top tier.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>A\u2019ja Wilson Opens Up About Being In GOAT Conversation<\/h2>\n<p>In her Cover Story interview, Wilson addressed myriad topics, from a potential three-peat to her marketability. Among her most interesting answers were those about how she feels about being in GOAT conversations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would love to have my name mentioned in conversations when talking about the greatest women\u2019s basketball player to every play,\u201d Wilson begins, \u201c\u2026but in my eyes, I still have a lot more to do to even be in that conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel like they\u2019ve only seen the tip of the iceberg,\u201d the 27-year-old adds. \u201cJust wait\u2026So, \u2018GOAT in training,\u2019 heavy on the \u2018in training\u2019 because I still have so much to give.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One of the most decorated players in the W, Wilson is at the head of the class, with New York Liberty forward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/wnba\/players\/s\/stewabr01w.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Breanna Stewart<\/a> nipping at her heels. However, there are multiple legends in front of her on the all-time list, such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/wnba\/players\/p\/parkeca01w.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Candace Parker<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/wnba\/players\/m\/moorema01w.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Maya Moore<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/wnba\/players\/l\/leslili01w.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lisa Leslie<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/wnba\/players\/s\/swoopsh01w.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sheryl Swoopes<\/a>. A 13-time All-Star and four-time WNBA champion, former star guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/wnba\/players\/b\/birdsu01w.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sue Bird<\/a> also has the upper hand on Wilson.<\/p>\n<p>For now.<\/p>\n<p>If the Aces can sustain their momentum, becoming the first team since Swoopes\u2019 Houston Comets to three-peat, even she may have to admit she\u2019s one of the greats.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With the highly anticipated 2024-25 WNBA season finally tipping off, Las Vegas Aces forward A\u2019ja Wilson is getting an early start on what could be her third MVP award since being drafted six years ago. Recording 30 points, 13 rebounds, five assists, one steal, and one block in 35 minutes, Wilson led the Aces to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":77535,"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":[1608,3],"tags":[1631],"class_list":["post-77530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-news","tag-aja-wilson"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77530","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\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}