A'ja Wilson's WNBA season is MVP-caliber; is it the greatest ever?
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Michael Voepel, ESPN Senior Writer
The seeds for A’ja Wilson‘s dynamic 2024 WNBA season were planted before last season was even over. In a tight three-player race for MVP a year ago, the Las Vegas Aces star finished third — and was unhappy about it.
It was nothing against the winner, the New York Liberty’s Breanna Stewart, or the runner-up, the Connecticut Sun’s Alyssa Thomas, who got the most first-place votes. Wilson admires both Stewart and Thomas, who were her U.S. Olympic gold medal teammates this summer.
But after having an even better 2023 season than in 2022 — when Wilson won her second MVP — not getting the honor last year bothered her.
Wilson turned the disappointment into something constructive. First, she was the 2023 WNBA Finals MVP, leading the Aces to their second consecutive championship. Then she spent the offseason preparing to be the best she has ever been.
Wilson has done that in a record-breaking 2024 that is sure to earn her a third WNBA MVP honor. The award hasn’t been officially decided yet, but she is the overwhelming favorite as the regular season wraps up Thursday.
Where will Wilson’s 2024 stand among all MVP seasons in WNBA history? We’ve ranked the top 10 since the league launched in 1997 — and it comes with an obvious truth: All MVP seasons are great, and the competition is always intense.
Of the 27 previous MVPs, 11 have won WNBA titles in their MVP seasons. Two others made the WNBA Finals but didn’t win the championship. Only one player — the Seattle Storm’s Lauren Jackson in 2003 — was named MVP in a season in which her team didn’t make the playoffs.
It’s difficult to not weigh team results — especially championships — into any ranking of MVPs. Winning a title makes an MVP season even better. But whether or not Wilson helps lead the Aces to a three-peat this year, her 2024 season has been the most dominant individually that we have seen in the WNBA.
Wilson is the first player to reach 1,000 points in a season. She is averaging 27.0 points per game and is guaranteed to finish with the highest season scoring average in league history, regardless of her performance in the Aces’ final two regular-season games. She is also averaging career highs in rebounding (12.0), blocks (2.6) and steals (1.8).
Wilson is shooting 51.9% from the field. Her player efficiency rating (PER) is 35.2, and her win shares 10.7, both the best in WNBA history.
“Since I’ve been a part of this league, which is 1999, I don’t know if we’ve seen a season like she’s having now,” Aces coach and former WNBA player Becky Hammon said. “She’s just a beautiful player to watch.
“She’s been doing this for two years in a row now: just crazy efficient. Everything I’ve ever asked her to do, she just goes and does it. And makes it look easy. It is not easy. It’s a special, generational talent.”
Wilson said she wants to get the most out of every workout, practice and game.
“It’s an understanding of when and how to be greedy,” she said. “I’m not perfect. I know I still have a lot of things to work on.”
Wilson, who turned 28 in August, will join Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie and Jackson as the league’s only three-time WNBA MVPs.
“She’s come back better every year,” Hammon said. “Last year, her efficiency was off the charts. And then this year, we’ve had more struggles as a team, and she’s put us on her back. She has the ability to take over a game at both ends. That’s a rare feat.
“She’s a super-humble human being. … She’s always about her teammates, and she’s always about winning.”
1. A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces, 2024
Stats: 27.0 PPG, 12.0 RPG, 2.6 BPG, 2.3 APG
Win shares: 10.7 | Player efficiency rating (PER): 35.2
The Aces have had some ups and downs this season, but Wilson’s trajectory has been nothing but up. The center is on a 50-game streak of scoring in double figures, dating back to last season. She is in the running to win her third Defensive Player of the Year award, too. Wilson also has been very durable; she missed one game this season, the first time that has happened since 2019. She’s also playing a career-high 34.4 minutes.
Wilson’s previous MVP seasons were 2020 (when the Aces fell in the WNBA Finals to Seattle) and 2022 (when the Aces beat Connecticut for the WNBA title). Although she didn’t win the 2023 MVP award, she averaged 22.8 points and 9.5 rebounds last year — her best WNBA numbers until this season.
Stats: 22.2 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 4.7 APG, 2.1 SPG
Win shares: 9.4 | PER: 32.2
Cooper was MVP the first two WNBA seasons, in 1997 and 1998, when the Comets won the first two of what would be four league championships in a row. Either 1997 or 1998 could be labeled as the guard’s greatest season; statistically they are nearly identical. We opted for 1997 in part because it was the WNBA’s inaugural season, and Cooper provided the league its first superstar — even though she was already 34.
Cooper had played for more than a decade overseas and showed U.S. fans what they had missed all those years: one of the best guards in hoops history. While it would have been great for the WNBA to have launched earlier so we could have watched how Cooper became such a lethal pro scorer, at least the league arrived in time for her to still be a high-impact player.
Stats: 19.7 PPG, 9.1 RPG, 3.1 APG, 1.3 SPG
Win shares: 9.6 | PER: 31.3
Efficiency was the name of the game in the 2016 MVP race between past No. 1 picks Ogwumike and Tina Charles (then with New York), and the edge went to the Sparks star. At 66.5%, Ogwumike has the best field goal percentage of any WNBA MVP season. It was fitting that the forward made the final basket of the 2016 season: the putback won the league title for the Sparks in Game 5 of the WNBA Finals, 77-76 over Minnesota. Ogwumike had gotten an offensive rebound on teammate Chelsea Gray’s miss, had her shot blocked by Lynx center Sylvia Fowles, got the ball back, and then hit the game winner.
It can be tough to win an MVP award when you have a teammate who is also of MVP caliber, which was the case for Ogwumike. Fellow Sparks post player Candace Parker had been MVP in 2008 and 2013. Then in a 2016 season when both were controversially left off the U.S. Olympic team, Ogwumike was season MVP and Parker was WNBA Finals MVP as they celebrated a title.
Stats: 19.5 PPG, 8.2 RPG, 2.2 APG, 1.3 BPG
Win shares: 7.7 | PER: 31.8
Delle Donne was also MVP in 2015, when she had career-high averages in scoring (23.4) and rebounding (8.4) while still with the Chicago Sky. But 2019 was her signature season: Delle Donne became the only WNBA player to finish shooting 50/40/90: 51.5% from the field overall (220 of 447), 43.0% from behind the arc (52 of 121) and 97.4% from the free throw line (114 of 117).
When presented her MVP award during the playoffs, Delle Donne was all business, her focus only on leading the Mystics to their first WNBA title. She did it despite suffering debilitating back pain in the WNBA Finals due to three ruptured discs. The forward/guard has played in just three WNBA seasons since, totaling 55 games including the playoffs. Delle Donne isn’t playing this season. She turned 35 earlier this month, and we don’t know whether we’ll see her on court again. But no one who watched her in 2019 will forget it.
Stats: 23.8 PPG, 9.7 RPG, 1.3 APG, 2.0 BPG
Win shares: 9.5 | PER: 35.0
Jackson also won the MVP award in a season when the Storm won the WNBA championship (2010) and in a season when they didn’t make the playoffs (2003). And she had the most first-place votes for MVP in 2005 but finished two points behind Sheryl Swoopes (327-325).
But 2007 stands out because Jackson had the highest PER in league history until Wilson this year, and the center/forward won the Defensive Player of the Year award along with MVP. The Storm went 17-17, and lost in the Western Conference semifinals to the eventual WNBA champion Phoenix Mercury. However, individually Jackson — then 26 — was at the top of her game and the best in the league.
6. Sheryl Swoopes, Houston Comets, 2000
Stats: 20.7 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 3.8 APG, 2.8 SPG
Win shares: 9.8 | PER: 32.0
Swoopes won three MVP awards (2000, 2002, 2005), but this MVP year was the only one in which she also won the WNBA championship, the last of the Comets’ four. The 2000 season also marked her career high in scoring average and field goal percentage (50.6%). Swoopes was never the WNBA Finals MVP; Cooper won all four of those for the Comets. But there was no question that by 2000, at age 29, Swoopes had become Houston’s best player.
Swoopes was Defensive Player of the Year twice when the forward/guard was also MVP: this season and in 2002. Overall, 2000 was a perfect year for Swoopes, who won her second Olympic gold medal along with her fourth WNBA title that year.
Stats: 18.9 PPG, 10.4 RPG, 1.5 APG, 2.0 BPG
Win shares: 9.2 | PER: 30.8
Fowles was drafted by Chicago and played her first seven seasons there, reaching the 2014 WNBA Finals. But the center wanted to go to Minnesota and held out the first part of the 2015 season, awaiting a trade. She got it and helped the Lynx win the championship that year. But as big as her contributions were in 2015, when she was WNBA Finals MVP, they were even in bigger in 2017.
Fowles had her second-highest career scoring average in 2017 and the best field goal percentage of her 15 WNBA seasons (65.5%). Her numbers in the 2017 playoffs were also enormous, as she averaged 18.6 points and 13.1 rebounds and was Finals MVP for a second time.
8. Lisa Leslie, Los Angeles Sparks, 2001
Stats: 19.5 PPG, 9.6 RPG, 2.4 APG, 2.3 BPG
Win shares: 7.0 | PER: 27.7
The most statistically impressive of Leslie’s three MVP seasons might have been 2006, when the center averaged 20.0 PPG and shot 51.1% from the field, both career highs. But 2001 was her most successful MVP season, when she led the Sparks to the first of two consecutive championships and won the first of two consecutive WNBA Finals MVP awards.
With Leslie leading the way, the Sparks were 28-4 in 2001, the only team in the league that season that had single-digit losses.
9. Breanna Stewart, Seattle Storm, 2018
Stats: 21.8 PPG, 8.4 RPG, 2.5 APG, 1.4 BPG
Win shares: 7.7 | PER: 28.9
Stewart had her highest career scoring average (23.0 PPG) in winning last year’s MVP honor with the Liberty. But the forward didn’t win a championship, which she did in 2018 with the Storm. Stewart, then in her third WNBA season, had her best overall field goal percentage (52.9%) in 2018, too, and her highest percentage from behind the arc (41.5%).
Stewart averaged 24.6 points in the 2018 playoffs and was WNBA Finals MVP, an award she also won in 2020 when the Storm won the championship.
10. Maya Moore, Minnesota Lynx, 2014
Stats: 23.9 PPG, 8.1 RPG, 3.6 APG, 1.9 SPG
Win shares: 8.3 | PER: 29.4
Moore won four championships in a relatively brief but brilliant eight-season career in the WNBA with the Lynx. But the year she was MVP — when the forward had her career highs in scoring and rebounding — the Lynx lost in the Western Conference finals to eventual champion Phoenix.
Thus for Moore, the 2014 season is probably not her most memorable. But for sheer on-court individual excellence, it was top notch. Before Wilson this year (currently 27.0 PPG), Moore’s 23.9 scoring average is the highest for anyone in a WNBA MVP season.
