By\u00a0Doug Feinberg | The Associated Press\u00a0<\/p>\n
(AP) \u2013 Las Vegas Aces star A\u2019ja Wilson is in a class by herself, winning the WNBA MVP for an unprecedented fourth time.<\/p>\n
She won the award last season as the\u00a0unanimous choice<\/a>\u00a0and also in 2020 and 2022. Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie and Lauren Jackson all won the award three times.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not going to hit me until the end of the season honestly; it is truly a blessing to be where I am. I don\u2019t think I could ever put into words how special this moment is,\u201d Wilson said hours\u00a0before Las Vegas lost Game 1<\/a>\u00a0of the WNBA semifinal series to Indiana. \u201cMy name is in the history books forever.\u201d<\/p>\n Wilson and former Houston Comets star Cynthia Cooper were the only ones to win the award unanimously. Cooper was the only other player to win it in consecutive years, doing so in the first two seasons of the WNBA (1997, 98).<\/p>\n The 29-year-old Wilson again led the league in scoring (23.4 points per game) as well as blocked shots (2.3) and helped the Aces win their last 16 regular-season games, earning the No. 2 seed in the playoffs. For the second consecutive season, Wilson averaged at least 20 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks and a steal per game. She is the only WNBA player to reach these averages in a season while playing at least 15 games.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fact she\u2019s not even 30 yet is crazy,\u201d Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon said. \u201cShe still has a lot left in the tank. There\u2019s still areas that she knows she can improve in and she will. Every year she\u2019s coming back and adding something different to her game. Everyone talks about the Mount Rushmore of basketball faces. \u2026 There\u2019s no Mount Rushmore, you\u2019re the only one, you\u2019re Everest.\u201d The league surprised Wilson on Friday, with WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert and Wilson\u2019s boyfriend, Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo,\u00a0presenting the trophy<\/a>\u00a0to her at the end of practice.<\/p>\n \u201cIt hasn\u2019t been easy for us, they counted us out,\u201d an emotional Wilson said to her teammates after receiving the award Friday. \u201cThey wrote us all off, but we showed up every single day. We worked our (butts) off. \u2026 It has my name on it, but it\u2019s all of us. There is no (award) without each and every last one of you guys.\u201d<\/p>\n Wilson\u00a0also was honored<\/a>\u00a0as the league\u2019s Co-Defensive Player of the Year, along with Minnesota\u2019s Alanna Smith, earning that award earlier this week for a third time in four seasons.<\/p>\n Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier (534 points) finished runner-up for MVP for the second consecutive season. She received 18 first-place votes. Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas was third (291 points) and garnered the other three top votes. Atlanta Dream guard Allisha Gray (180) and Indiana Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell (93 points) rounded out the top five vote-getters.<\/p>\n Players were awarded 10 points for a first-place vote, seven points for a second-place vote, five points for a third-place vote, three points for a fourth-place vote and one point for a fifth-place vote.<\/p>\n Wilson was honored as the AP\u00a0Player of the Year<\/a>\u00a0earlier this month.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n This headline has been corrected to show that Wilson was the unanimous choice last season but not this season.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n