A'ja Wilson wins second straight WNBA Defensive Player of the Year
The WNBA announced that Las Vegas Aces star A'ja Wilson is the league's Defensive Player of the Year for the second season in a row. In leading the defending champions this year, Wilson was the W's leading shot-blocker with a career-high 2.23 rejections per game to go along with 7.5 defensive rebounds and 1.4 steals per contest. Last year in her dual MVP and DPOY campaign, Wilson tallied 1.9 blocks, 7.6 defensive boards and 1.4 steals per game.
The five-time All-Star is also in the running for her second straight MVP thanks to a career-high in scoring, averaging 22.8 points per game, stats that also stand out this year as the WNBA expanded its schedule to 40 games. Wilson has started and played every game in the last four seasons, including the playoffs.
For most of the 2023 season, it appeared that in her first season with the New York Liberty Breanna Stewart would run away with the MVP Award. However, Wilson's numbers have made quite the case for the Aces star to keep that trophy as well.
In addition, Alyssa Thomas carried a reformed Connecticut Sun team with nearly a triple-double per game. All three MVP candidates made the league's All-Defensive First Team alongside Los Angeles' Jordin Canada and Washington's Brittney Sykes.
No player has won back-to-back MVP Awards since Houston's Cynthia Cooper did so in the league's first two seasons in 1997 and 1998. Should Wilson accomplish that feat, she would not only become the fourth player to win three MVP Awards (along with Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie and Lauren Jackson), but the first to take home all three within a four-year period after winning the honors in 2020 and 2022.
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