{"id":742863,"date":"2026-07-04T14:12:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T14:12:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/742863\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T14:12:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T14:12:20","slug":"aja-wilsons-biggest-threat-in-wnba-mvp-race-is-a-familiar-rival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/742863\/","title":{"rendered":"A\u2019ja Wilson\u2019s biggest threat in WNBA MVP race is a familiar rival"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6a\">The WNBA MVP is, once again, A\u2019ja Wilson\u2019s to lose. She leads the league in points per game with 25.7 while flirting with a 50-40-90 season. She\u2019s shooting 52.4% from the field, 40.9% from deep, and 82.6% from the free-throw line. Wilson is also tied with Emily Engstler for the lead in blocks per game with two. As if that wasn\u2019t enough yet, she also ranks third in rebounds per game, trailing only Angel Reese and Jessica Shepard, with 9.4, and the Aces officially leapfrogged the Lynx to get into first place.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6d\">Wilson already made history as the <a href=\"https:\/\/highposthoops.com\/aces-recent-surge-paves-the-way-aja-wilson-further-amplify-goat-status\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">only player with four WNBA MVPs<\/a> last year. A fifth one would cement her place at the top of the Goat rankings.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6g\">Wilson rolled her ankle in a 107-99 win against the Sky\u2014she came back in the game and finished with 30 points, 15 rebounds, 1 assist, 4 steals, and 3 blocks to remind everyone why she is the favorite to win MVP. It was her third 30-point double-double of the season. Still, she missed two games, including a high-profile clash with the Liberty <a href=\"https:\/\/highposthoops.com\/aces-commissioner-s-cup-loss-sets-stage-for-second-wnba-title-repeat\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">for the Commissioner\u2019s Cup<\/a>, and Breanna Stewart has used her absence to remind everyone that she is also still an MVP candidate in her 10th season\u2014and, right now, Wilson\u2019s biggest threat.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6j\">Stewart finished the Commissioner\u2019s Cup Final with 25 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks and was named MVP of the game. She followed that up with 36 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 blocks against the then-first-placed Lynx. Stewart is one of only four players to crack the 400-point mark so far this season. Wilson, Kahleah Copper, and Kelsey Mitchell are the others. She also ranks sixth in total rebounds and total blocks and fifth in minutes played.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6m\">If Stewart can stay healthy and the Liberty keep the momentum from these last two wins alive, she has a real shot at stealing the MVP award from Wilson.<\/p>\n<p>Stewart and Wilson have been competing for MVP awards for years<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6s\">Breanna Stewart is already a two-time MVP. She won the award in 2018 and 2023. If not for Wilson and her sustained excellence, Stewart would probably have at least one more MVP to her name.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6v\">Stewart finished second behind Wilson in MVP voting in 2019 and then again in 2022, although that one was a much closer race. In 2019, Wilson cleaned up 458 of 470 possible points and 43 first-place votes compared to Stewart\u2019s three. In 2022, Wilson received 31 first-place votes and Stewart 23.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6y\">Stewart then edged out Wilson and Alyssa Thomas in 2023 with just seven points more than Thomas and 13 ahead of Wilson. In 2024, Napheesa Collier entered the MVP race and finished second behind Wilson, but Stewart was still in third place.\u00a02025 was the first time in a while that Stewart, who struggles with injuries, didn\u2019t have much real traction in the MVP race. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"71\">Wilson and Stewart have been competing as two of the best players in the W for years now, and this season is proof that despite the youth movement and new star power coming into the league, they are still the players to catch. Olivia Miles, Paige Bueckers, and Caitlin Clark are among the top MVP candidates this season, but Wilson and Stewart are still ahead of them.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow highposthoops.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=highposthoops.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The WNBA MVP is, once again, A\u2019ja Wilson\u2019s to lose. She leads the league in points per game&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":742864,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-742863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742863","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=742863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/742864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=742863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=742863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=742863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}