By DOUG FEINBERG<\/p>\n
Associated Press<\/p>\n
A\u2019ja Wilson followed up a historic season with another incredible one to earn AP Player of the Year for the second straight time.<\/p>\n
The Las Vegas Aces star topped Napheesa Collier of Minnesota and Alyssa Thomas of Phoenix, who both had terrific seasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s put in the work and she passes all the tests \u2014 the math tests, the optics tests \u2014 she\u2019s the most exciting player in the W,\u201d Aces coach Becky Hammon told The Associated Press. \u201cAnd here\u2019s the thing, she\u2019s also the most exciting player on the defensive end. She will do something once a game defensively that\u2019s going to get you out of your seat. She\u2019s the only player in this league that I\u2019ve seen that has defensive highlights on a consistent basis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wilson was also honored as the AP Defensive Player of the Year for the third time in four seasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cConsidering coach (Dawn) Staley was so hard on me about my defense in college, I\u2019m glad I can have some success at the pro level multiple times,\u201d Wilson told the AP.<\/p>\n
The WNBA will announce its postseason awards over the course of the playoffs, which begin Sunday. Wilson is a huge favorite to win the WNBA MVP for the second straight season. Her odds at BetMGM Sportsbook to repeat dropped over the last week, with her going from +650 to -350 on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The AP voting is done by a 14-member national media panel that votes on the power poll each week. It\u2019s the 10th year of the awards.<\/p>\n
Wilson once again led the league in scoring (23.4) as well as blocked shots (2.3).<\/p>\n
Paige Bueckers was honored as the AP Rookie of the Year. The Dallas Wings\u2019 No. 1 pick averaged 19.2 points and 5.4 assists in her first season. She also had a 44-point effort \u2014 the highest scoring game of anyone in the WNBA this season. The former UConn star finished with the third most points ever by a rookie and second most assists.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am very grateful for everyone who voted and saw me fit for Rookie of the Year,\u201d Bueckers said. \u201cI have always felt like individual awards are a way to acknowledge the team around you and that is exactly what this award means to me. My teammates, coaches, support staff and everyone from top to bottom in the entire Dallas Wings organization played a huge part in this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bueckers was joined on the AP All-Rookie team by Washington\u2019s Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen, Connecticut\u2019s Leila Lacan, The Valkyries\u2019 Janelle Salaun and Seattle\u2019s Dominique Malonga.<\/p>\n
\u201cShoutout to this amazing rookie class,\u201d Bueckers said. \u201cThere were a lot of unique journeys and a whole lot of hooping so we definitely put on for the class.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wilson, Collier and Thomas headlined the AP All-WNBA first team. The trio were unanimous picks. They were joined by Atlanta\u2019s Allisha Gray and Indiana\u2019s Kelsey Mitchell.<\/p>\n
New York\u2019s Sabrina Ionescu, Bueckers, Seattle\u2019s Nneka Ogwumike, Los Angeles\u2019 Kelsey Plum and Las Vegas\u2019 Jackie Young were on the second team.<\/p>\n
Power Poll<\/p>\n
Las Vegas, riding a 16-game winning streak, finished atop the power poll, with Minnesota second. Atlanta and New York were third and fourth, respectively. They were followed by Phoenix, Indiana, Seattle, the Valkyries and Los Angeles. Connecticut, Washington, Dallas and Chicago finished off the poll.<\/p>\n
Originally Published: September 12, 2025 at 12:12 PM PDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By DOUG FEINBERG Associated Press A\u2019ja Wilson followed up a historic season with another incredible one to earn…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":254204,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":{"0":"post-254203","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}