A’ja Wilson confirms status as generational great with historic WNBA Finals performance

By Issy Ronald, CNN

(CNN) — A’ja Wilson stood inside a circle of her Las Vegas Aces teammates on Friday, playing a tambourine. The superstar center was orchestrating the celebrations, just as she had orchestrated the performance that preceded them and, increasingly, the Aces’ dynasty itself.

She contributed to practically every aspect of the Aces’ third WNBA title in four years – the talisman, finisher, creator and leader all rolled into one.

“You have your Mount Rushmore, she’s alone on Everest,” Aces coach Becky Hammon said afterwards, per the Associated Press. “There’s no one around.”

No one else in WNBA history has ever been named MVP, Finals MVP and Defensive Player in the same year. Even at a time when stars are proliferating across the league and when the quality of play is better than it has ever been, Wilson is still undeniably the best.

For Hammon, “the skill set and the level” her team are at “is not comparable” to previous dynasties in WNBA history like the Houston Comets – who won four consecutive titles in 1997-2000 – and the Minnesota Lynx –who won four titles between 2011 and 2017.

“I think these ladies are at the top of the game, and it is the best basketball that the W has ever seen from top to bottom,” she told reporters.

And within this golden age of the WNBA, there is Wilson. Even just her stats from the Finals make for extraordinary reading. She contributed 31 points and nine rebounds in Friday’s Game 4, sunk the game-winner in Wednesday’s Game 3, and became the first player in WNBA Finals history to record three consecutive games with 25 or more points and 10 rebounds.

But her influence runs deeper than that. There was a time this season when the Aces were almost dismissed as title contenders. They started the season 12-13, a sign, perhaps, of their failing powers after they had exited the playoffs in the semifinals last year. Then came a record 53-point defeat against Minnesota at home.

Wilson, according to ESPN, sent her teammates a text which read: “If you weren’t embarrassed from yesterday, then don’t come into this gym. You’re not needed or wanted here. We need the mindset to shift, because that was embarrassing.”

She “check(ed) on every single person,” teammate NaLyssa Smith recalled to ESPN. “You would think a person that’s a four-time MVP, with all these accomplishments, would really care just about moving themselves to the top. But (she) pours so much into other people.”

After that, the Aces went on a 16-game winning streak, during which Wilson averaged a remarkable 26.1 points, 12 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 2.3 blocks and 1.6 steals.

Wilson is still only 29 years old and already has won four MVP awards – more than any other player – and two Finals MVP awards.

“Greatness is, like I said, just being patient, waiting on your turn, waiting on your moment,” she told reporters afterward. “I think that’s what defines us is you’ve got to be great when the lights aren’t on you. You’ve got to be great when nobody’s in the gym with you. You’ve got to be great when you may not get anything on the end.

“That is what greatness is to me because that is consistency and that is just you doing the right things because it’s right. So I think that’s how I would redefine it, and I think that’s what you saw in this group. We had times where it was tested, battle tested, but like our plants, we just needed to grow with a little bit more sunshine, a little bit more water.”

As for whether the Aces can continue building their dynasty, that is still unclear. The future of this team is uncertain, as much is across the WNBA right now with the league’s collective bargaining agreement expiring at the end of October. And, because of that, most players timed their contracts to expire at the end of this season too, meaning that there will be 123 free agents this offseason, according to Spotrac.

For the Aces, much depends on whether stars like Wilson, Jewell Loyd and Chelsea Gray will recommit to the franchise.

But, for the moment, the Aces are focusing on what they have already built, the celebrations, and the tambourine.

“I know everybody’s laughing that (the tambourine is) funny, and it is funny and it’s cute and it’s pink, but this is a symbol of just the joyfulness we have right now, and I’m grateful to be with this bunch,” Wilson said. “That ain’t the alcohol talking.”

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