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WNBA star A’ja Wilson spoke candidly about her relationship with Miami Heat player Bam Adebayo in her Athlete of the Year profile for TimeWilson said starting a family with Adebayo, who she was first romantically linked to last summer, is “a dream” of hersAdebayo told Time Wilson is his best friend and praised her for being “a strong Black woman” with “so much grace and positivity”
Four-time WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson is opening up about her romance with NBA star Bam Adebayo — and their future plans for children!
In her Time Athlete of the Year cover story, published on Tuesday, Dec. 9, Wilson, 29, spoke about her “life partner” Adebayo, 28, telling the magazine he’s “impacted” her life so much that she questions, “Honestly, what on earth was my world before you?”
As she reflected on their relationship — which Wilson also revealed began four years ago, long before fans began to suspect the two were together last summer — the Las Vegas Aces star said they hope to start a family.
“That is always a dream,” Wilson told Time, while adding that Adebayo is also very close with her parents. Wilson joked that her father Roscoe will often call his daughter asking for Adebayo, and at times, her mom Eva will text back, “Bam already told me,” when Wilson shares information with her.
“I didn’t know I was outside the group chat,” Wilson joked.
A’ja Wilson and Bam Adebayo on Sept. 19, 2025.
Jeff Bottari/NBAE via Getty
When the Time reporter told Wilson her former college coach Dawn Staley requested to know when the couple were planning to get married, Wilson joked, “That’s the question I need you to deliver to him!”
But it seems the Miami Heat star is already thinking about it. When Time posed the question of when to Adebayo, he said, “Y’all will know, because people are nosy and they’ll look at her hands. There you go.”
Adebayo, who, like Wilson, won a gold medal with Team USA in the Paris Olympics last summer, told the magazine that his relationship with the WNBA star is so strong because she’s his best friend.
“As the young people say, that’s ‘twin,’ ” said Adebayo, adding, “That’s what makes it so great. We’re striving for the same thing.”
He said he and Wilson “want each other to be better” and “want to make it easier on one another.”
“And we want to do this together,” he continued. “She’s a strong Black woman, man, and she does it with so much grace and positivity.”
Rumors of Wilson and Adebayo’s romance began last year when the two were spotted dining together together before the Summer Olympics. In Paris, the couple was spotted out and about on several occasions, shopping and sharing meals together during days off from playing for Team USA.
In February, the couple still hadn’t publicly confirmed their relationship, but Wilson referred to Adebayo as her “Valentine” during an interview with PEOPLE at the NBA All-Star weekend.
When Wilson won her fourth MVP in September, Adebayo was the one to hand the trophy to her after commissioner Cathy Engelbert praised Wilson for her “grace” and leadership skills, calling her “one of the greatest players ever” in the league’s history.