A’ja Wilson won the WNBA MVP award Thursday for a third straight year and record fifth time overall.
Besides becoming the first player to three-peat, Wilson also won the award in 2020 and 2022.
The 30-year-old Wilson once again led the league in scoring (26.2 points per game) while shooting nearly 53% from the field. She also averaged 9.4 rebounds, a career-best 3.2 assists and 1.9 blocked shots.
Wilson has the defending champion Las Vegas Aces back in the WNBA semifinals for the eighth consecutive season, although they are down 2-0 in the best-of-five series against the Golden State Valkyries.
Wilson received 65 first-place votes and nine second-place votes for a total of 713 points from a national panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. Minnesota Lynx guard Olivia Miles received six first-place votes and 40 second-place votes (442 points), while Indiana Fever guards Kelsey Mitchell and Caitlin Clark followed with 287 and 212 points, respectively.
No WNBA player besides Wilson has more than three MVPs, with Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie and Lauren Jackson each having a trio. In the NBA, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won six and Michael Jordan and Bill Russell five each.