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For the first time since early in the WNBA campaign, we have a new MVP favorite with a week remaining in the regular season.
Napheesa Collier was a sizable -1100 favorite heading into Thursday’s Lynx at Aces battle, while A’ja Wilson was listed as a +650 underdog. Wilson led the Aces to a 97-87 victory, leading the team with 31 points on 12-of-15 shooting and eight rebounds. She also helped hold Collier to just 12 points on 5-of-13 shooting.
Now Wilson currently leads the way for MVP at -122 at FanDuel, with Collier close behind at -104. Wilson was as high as +10000 for the award back on July 9-12 as well as on Aug. 6. Wilson has been the catalyst of the Aces’ 13-game winning streak, as Las Vegas went from 14-14 and in danger of missing the playoffs to 27-14 and currently in second place in the WNBA standings.Â
Over that 13-game winning streak, Wilson has dropped at least 30 points seven times and posted double-doubles in eight of those contests. She’s now averaging 23.6 points and 10.1 rebounds per game on 50.2% shooting, while Collier is at 23.1 points and 7.5 rebounds on 53.0% shooting.
One factor for MVP voting between Wilson and Collier could be how the teams performed when their stars were sidelined. The Lynx went 6-1 when Collier suffered a right ankle sprain, while the Aces have gone 2-2 without Wilson. There has also been just one WNBA MVP winner who has also missed at least 15% of games that season (which Collier will if she plays 38 of 45 games) — Jonquel Jones played 27 of 32 games in 2021 with the Connecticut Sun.Â