PHOENIX — THE MORNING after A\u2019ja Wilson hit the game-winning shot in Game 3 of the WNBA Finals — the basket that gave her Las Vegas Aces a 3-0 series lead and became the defining image of Wilson\u2019s already storied basketball career — Aces coach Becky Hammon texted her superstar a graphic comparing an elk and a deer.<\/p>\n
Hammon had used the comparison for Wilson weeks earlier, but Wilson, like most people, wasn\u2019t aware of the difference between the two. But when you see the bigger, stronger elk, said Hammon, who grew up in the Black Hills of South Dakota, you realize it\u2019s in a class of its own.<\/p>\n
Hammon is prone to using analogies for Wilson — \u201cYou run out of adjectives,\u201d she told ESPN. \u201cThat\u2019s why I start using animals and mountaintops and everything else to describe her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been a gazelle, I\u2019ve been a lion, I\u2019ve been an elk all this year,\u201d Wilson told ESPN. \u201cIf you could put that all into an animal, I think you get A\u2019ja.\u201d<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s a theme of metaphor Hammon has evoked often this season: an elk among deer. A great white among mako sharks. No longer on Mount Rushmore, but Everest.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy the time it\u2019s all said and done,\u201d Hammon said, \u201cshe will be the greatest to ever do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wilson lived up to that billing Friday, leading the No. 2 seed Aces to the 2025 title over the No. 4 seed Phoenix Mercury behind the first four-game sweep in Finals history.<\/p>\n
With a 31-point performance in Game 4 (tied for the most in a title-clinching win in WNBA history), she cemented her case for series MVP — and became the first WNBA or NBA player to win the scoring title, MVP, Defensive Player of the Year and Finals MVP in the same season.<\/p>\n
Wilson celebrated with her Finals MVP trophy in one hand and a bright pink tambourine in the other, the rattling of its jingles emanating across the court and in the bowels of Mortgage Matchup Center long into the night.<\/p>\n
Three weeks earlier, the greatest-of-all-time conversation intensified after Wilson was awarded her record-fourth league MVP, becoming the first player in WNBA history to win as many.<\/p>\n
But on Friday, as the Aces rose to dynasty status with their third championship in four years, the win marked Wilson\u2019s official coronation.<\/p>\n
Not as a great white or an elk. But as a GOAT.<\/p>\n
WELL BEFORE WILSON became the best player in the world, she had her heart broken. Twice.<\/p>\n
The 2018 No. 1 pick led the Aces to their first Finals in 2020, during the COVID season in the bubble at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. Wilson had won her first MVP trophy that season, officially announcing her arrival as a superstar.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then I got my ass swept,\u201d Wilson said. \u201c… It motivates me pretty much every single day.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the next season\u2019s semifinals, Wilson had the opportunity to send the Aces to overtime in a winner-take-all Game 5 versus the Mercury. After receiving an inbounds pass from Chelsea Gray on the wing, Wilson took a dribble toward the basket before being blocked by Brittney Griner — a play, Wilson said, that \u201ccrushed a little girl\u2019s heart.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was my taste of like, \u2018Oh, we could almost get there,\u2019\u201d Wilson said. \u201cBut to have it literally smacked back in my face, it was hurtful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shortly after that run, Hammon was hired to replace Bill Laimbeer as coach. When she arrived in Vegas, she saw in Wilson an \u201cunbelievable\u201d talent who had room for growth.<\/p>\n
Even with an MVP, Wilson wasn\u2019t yet viewed as the league\u2019s best player. Breanna Stewart, already a two-time champion and two-time Finals MVP, was considered the best in the world. Jonquel Jones had just surged onto the stage in 2021 as the MVP. Alyssa Thomas and Napheesa Collier waited in the wings.<\/p>\n
But sometime in her first year as coach, Hammon remembers telling others that Wilson — then 25 — would be the greatest to play the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe doesn\u2019t have any limitations,\u201d Hammon said. \u201cShe\u2019s the biggest, she\u2019s the most athletic, her skill set, and then also her willingness to make the right play.\u201d<\/p>\n
The past four seasons — three MVPs and three championships later — have supercharged her to the top of the list, in large part because Hammon has challenged her not to be put into a box. A dominant scorer and elite defender. An inside force who can increasingly handle the ball, pass and shoot from the 3-point arc. Boasting the grace of a gazelle and the power and ferocity of a lion.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe can reach a level that most players can\u2019t,\u201d teammate Jewell Loyd said. \u201cIt\u2019s not just about her MVPs — it\u2019s just how she plays all the time. If she wants to get a bucket, she\u2019s going to get a bucket. If she wants to get a stop, she\u2019s going to get a stop. …<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know all the work she puts in. When your best player is doing all that, we don\u2019t have a reason to take any plays off. \u201d<\/p>\n
And this year, she brought the Aces back to the mountaintop.<\/p>\n
WHEN THE ACES started the season 12-13, combined with their semifinals exit last season, onlookers whispered about whether their championship core had run its course. Wilson saw people writing off her team — even writing off her.<\/p>\n
But true greatness, Wilson said, comes when you\u2019re battle-tested and you show up to work anyway.<\/p>\n
\u201cGreatness is being patient, waiting on your turn, waiting on your moment,\u201d she reflected Friday. \u201cAnd I think that\u2019s what defines us, is you\u2019ve got to be great when the lights aren\u2019t on you. You\u2019ve got to be great when nobody\u2019s in the gym with you. You may not get anything in the end. That is what greatness is to me, because that is consistency, and that is just you doing the right things because it\u2019s right.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Aces stayed the course — and got everything in the end. Wilson powered the Aces on a 16-game win streak to end the regular season, reopening an MVP race that many had deemed settled. With players tasked with conducting their own scouting reports, Wilson poured over film to a whole new level, developing an even deeper understanding of opposing defenses.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s an area that I think A\u2019ja has really grown as well, that just ultra-competitor,\u201d Hammon said. \u201cShe wants to be the greatest every time she walks on the floor. And I think that kind of competitive spirit is really contagious to your teammate.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI definitely did develop it this year,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cLosing will bring that out of you because you want to do whatever it takes to get to that point. … I think I\u2019ve had my \u2018I\u2019m here now\u2019 type of year.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Mercury learned that the hard way. They relatively succeeded in containing Wilson in their three-point Game 1 loss — she shot 44% but still finished with 21 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists. But even on a Wilson \u201coff\u201d night, they couldn\u2019t win — which was bad news for Phoenix.<\/p>\n
Because Wilson would not be denied a championship.<\/p>\n
She and Jackie Young snatched control of the series in Game 2 as Wilson rattled off a 28-point, 14-rebound performance. Then came Wilson\u2019s masterclass in Game 3: 34 points, 14 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 blocks, and 1 game-ending dagger.<\/p>\n
Four years after Wilson\u2019s blocked shot in the semifinals, she delivered the unofficial championship-clincher with 0.3 seconds left. Her elevation over Thomas, with her hands outstretched and DeWanna Bonner\u2019s not far behind, was what inspired Hammon\u2019s elk comparison again: As she texted Wilson the next morning, elk can jump 8 feet into the air.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe circumstances, the amount of pressure and expectation that she carries with her on a day-to-day basis, it\u2019s just impressive how she handles it, and she just continues to rise,\u201d Hammon said. \u201cWhatever the moment demands, that\u2019s what she does.\u201d<\/p>\n
The moment is immortalized with a viral photo: No. 22 standing above the rest with 2.2 seconds on the clock.<\/p>\n
With 31 points and nine rebounds in Game 4 — a 97-86 Vegas win — Wilson stretched her points total to 114 in the Finals and 322 in the entire postseason, both the most in league history.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody\u2019s going to have their opinion of who\u2019s the greatest,\u201d Gray said. \u201cYou can do that by position or whatever. But tell me something she hasn\u2019t done. She\u2019s done it all, and done it at a high level. …<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can look at more recent players, like Candace Parker and Diana Taurasi, and they are on the top tier. But A\u2019ja is doing things that haven\u2019t been done before.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hammon said it first when Wilson was awarded her record fourth MVP. But it was even more apparent Friday as Wilson, just two months after turning 29, hoisted the trophy for the third time in four years — with plenty of time for more to come.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have your Mount Rushmore,\u201d Hammon said, \u201cand she\u2019s sitting alone on Everest. There\u2019s no one around.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX — THE MORNING after A\u2019ja Wilson hit the game-winning shot in Game 3 of the WNBA Finals…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":214331,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":{"0":"post-214330","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}