Aces' Wilson first to score 1K points in season

Las Vegas forward A’ja Wilson became the first player in WNBA history to hit the 1,000-point mark for a season Sunday in the Aces’ 84-71 victory over Connecticut.

Wilson hit 1,000 on the dot with a fadeaway jump shot with 1 minute, 57 seconds left. Her teammates and the crowd at Michelob Ultra Arena celebrated with Wilson, who is the overwhelming favorite for the 2024 WNBA MVP award.

“I really try to pinpoint little things,” Wilson said of how she continues to improve after winning two previous MVP awards and two WNBA titles. “Everyone can come in and say, ‘Oh, I want to win a championship.’ But what are the little things you’re going to do to get to that point? That’s what I want to be great in.

“I really have to credit my offseason work and my preparation. I take time to get away from basketball, to let me miss it. So then when I’m in it, I don’t take it for granted. My screensaver is, ‘Rest at the end, not in the middle,’ and that’s something I tell myself every single day.

“I got work to do, that that’s going to be my mindset until I’m done playing, until I’ve squeezed everything out of this game.”

Wilson, who turned 28 last month, is averaging a league best 27.0 points, plus 12.0 rebounds, 2.6 blocks and 2.3 assists while shooting 51.9% from the field. Her season scoring average is the highest in WNBA history; she’s clinched that record even if she doesn’t score in the Aces’ last two games.

The No. 1 draft pick out of South Carolina, Wilson came to the Aces in 2018, the same year the franchise moved to Las Vegas from San Antonio. Aces coach Becky Hammon, who played eight seasons of her career in San Antonio, talked about what good fortune it was for the team in a new city to have an incoming star like Wilson.

“It’s not easy to be A’ja Wilson every day. It just isn’t. There’s a lot of expectation,” Hammon said. “The city is lucky that they’ve gotten to see her grow up. You get to see her evolve into not only this unbelievable player, but a person who gives back to her community, who cares about the people she’s playing with and interacting with.”

Wilson’s current streak of double-digit scoring games is now 50, the longest in the league. She also had a 53-game streak of hitting double digits in scoring from August 2019 to August 2021.

The Aces are now 25-13 and in fourth place in the WNBA standings with two games remaining in the regular season. Las Vegas plays at Seattle — which is 24-14 and in fifth place — Tuesday and at home vs. Dallas on Thursday.

“It’s an honor to be able to play with her,” said Aces teammate Jackie Young, who was the No. 1 pick in 2019, the year after Wilson. “She comes in every day and kind of shows us what a professional is.”