A’ja Wilson wins AP Female Athlete of the Year following historic 4th WNBA MVP

AP A ja Wilson stood atop the WNBA again in winning an unprecedented fourth MVP as her Las Vegas Aces earned a third championship in four seasons For that she earned The Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year on Wednesday for the first time in her career It s the second consecutive year a basketball athlete won the award after Caitlin Clark was honored in It s an honor when you think about the group of women who have won before Wilson announced in a phone interview Just to have my name be a part of it I m fortunate Wilson is only the fifth basketball sportsman to be honored as the Female Athlete of the Year since it was first presented in joining Sheryl Swoopes Rebecca Lobo Candace Parker and Clark A group of sports journalists from the AP and its members voted Wilson received votes tennis star Aryna Sabalenka was second with nine and Paige Bueckers was third with five The things she s done on the court have never been done To me she s in a category all her own Aces coach Becky Hammon disclosed of Wilson People invariably ask who s on your Mount Rushmore I m saying she s on Everest there s nobody up there with her Shohei Ohtani won the AP Male Athlete of the Year on Tuesday for the fourth time Hammon has been impressed with everything about Wilson in her four years coaching in Las Vegas Her relatability her being down to earth makes her a great superstar Hammon commented Her skill set is unmatched but she s also the easiest player to coach To have that mixture of humility grace and skill there s a reason why she s doing things that have never been done This season was different for Wilson and the Aces who had cruised to their previous two titles as a heavy favorite This year with a month to go the Aces were sitting at and were in danger of missing the playoffs after coming off a record -point loss against Minnesota Wilson rallied her band to wins in the final regular-season games to secure the No seed and Las Vegas went on to win the championship This season I discovered myself through the adversity and mud we went through she announced Despite her numbers being on par with her unanimous MVP season the year before Wilson heard the chatter that she wasn t playing as well and that she wasn t the front-runner to repeat as the league s top participant The -year-old used that as fuel on the court She led the league with points and blocks per contest The way they talk about us the way they talk about me I m ready for that I m ready for the noise Wilson revealed It s consistently going to be something If we sit here and try to please everybody we re going to go insane I m just going to continue to prove why I m one of the greatest and why my band is part of a dynamic dynasty Wilson raised her tournament even further in the playoffs helping the Aces survive decisive winner-take-all games in the quarterfinals and semifinals She then helped Las Vegas sweep Phoenix in the WNBA Finals hitting the winning shot in Contest It s fair to say the expectations for her are so sky high now she ll be compared to a degree to the unanimous MVP she was the year before ESPN analyst Rebecca Lobo disclosed Even though she wasn t unanimous MVP this year the journey she had this season was different and she was playing the best basketball of her career in the playoffs Every year you wonder how she ll get better and she constantly does Wilson became the first sportsman in either the WNBA or NBA to win the MVP Defensive Competitor of the Year Finals MVP and lead the league in scoring in the same season Wilson broke a tie with Swoopes Lisa Leslie and Lauren Jackson who all won the WNBA MVP three times She plans to have another relaxing offseason as she won t play overseas or in Unrivaled the domestic -on- league She s already crossed one thing off her bucket list meeting her idol Beyonce at the Formula race in Las Vegas last month It was super cool Beyonce is someone that I ve dependably yearned to meet because I just admired her work Wilson mentioned The Aces great is that way herself for so multiple She launched a shoe and clothing line with Nike Her shoe sold out minutes after it went on sale It s amazing something that I think about every day when I look around and see people just wearing my shoe Every day it s a gentle reminder that you know it s a special moment that we re living in and I m so grateful when I look back on it