Tag: A’Ja Wilson

A’ja Wilson’s parade shirt pettily reminded everyone she had a 4th place MVP vote

This is NEXT-LEVEL petty.

A’ja Wilson hasn’t forgotten her MVP snub. In fact, she brought the receipts.

On Monday, the Las Vegas Aces held their championship parade. It was one of the wildest, totally off-the-hinges celebrations the WNBA has seen in recent memory. The entire squad had words for their haters and those who doubted them. Even head coach Becky Hammon had smoke for anyone with something to say about her team, especially when it came to Wilson.

The 27-year-old center is a walking bucket with defensive chops to match. She’s dismantled nearly every obstacle in the way, including winning back-to-back Defensive Player of the Year honors. Still, she came up short in the voting totals for the 2023 season’s MVP award.

It likely stung not to win, but it’s the voting breakdown that stuck with Wilson. It fueled her so much that she printed it on a t-shirt and wore it to the Aces’ victory parade for everyone to see.

On the back of Wilson’s shirt were numbers indicating the votes she received during the season’s MVP race, reflecting how voters viewed her worthiness of receiving the league’s highest honor. This included a fourth-place vote that the other top two contenders — Breanna Stewart and Alyssa Thomas — did not receive.

Whew. That’s elite levels of petty.

But Wilson was not done. She thanked the person who voted.

Warning: NSFW language.

“Whoever you are that voted me fourth, thank you. Thank you so much,” Wilson said sarcastically.

Wilson said the vote meant she had more work to do before telling the crowd, “We’re coming back, baby. We gon’ do this [expletive] again.”

Cold-blooded.

Becky Hammon predicts A’ja Wilson will be ‘the GOAT of the GOATs’ in epic parade speech

What was in Becky Hammon’s tumbler?!

Becky Hammon was the best part of the Las Vegas Aces’ championship parade, and it’s not even close.

On Monday, the Aces held their parade to celebrate their stellar WNBA Finals victory over the New York Liberty. In the best way possible and to the shock of absolutely no one, it was one of the most chaotic scenes I’ve ever witnessed.

There were shirts with petty phrases on them, crazy amounts of unhinged dancing, and lots of spirits and libations. (I’m convinced whatever was in everyone’s red cups — and Hammon’s tumbler — was of the strong variety.)

With the liquid courage flowing, several members of the Aces took a moment to address the fans.  But Hammon stole the show with a legendary expletive-heavy speech as she paid tribute to A’ja Wilson.

Warning: NSFW language.

In what feels like a moment Hammon has been waiting on for quite some time, she gives Wilson her flowers.

“I’m an old [expletive] [expletive],” Hammon said boldly. “I played against all the GOATs. I’m gonna put it out there…this gon’ be the GOAT of all GOATs.”

I’m not going to lie; that’s a bar. What Wilson can do doesn’t even feel real. She is extraordinary. Points were made.

Ultimately, this is completely unserious behavior by Hammon, but when you win consecutive championships, you do what you want.

Aces players crashed A’ja Wilson’s press conference to continue celebrating their title

This was such a fun moment.

WNBA Finals MVP A’ja Wilson was just focusing on an answer to reporters after her Las Vegas Aces won their second straight title (and it sounded like she was trying to be serious at the time).

But then, her teammates decided to rush the podium, complete with music and shouts and lots of bottles of champagne. And who could blame them? That was quite a win over the New York Liberty in a tough series.

Here you go, this was quite the fun scene, both from the cameras showing the press conference and from reporters in the room with them:

WNBA Finals 2023 TV schedule: Here’s the full schedule for Aces – Liberty

Grab your popcorn. The WNBA Finals are coming.

It’s the final countdown. The WNBA Finals begin Sunday, and this year’s matchup has all the makings of a heavyweight championship fight.

The Las Vegas Aces are pursuing back-to-back titles, while the New York Liberty are seeking the franchise’s first championship. The WNBA’s final two teams feature incredible talents like league MVP Breanna Stewart, Defensive Player of the Year A’Ja Wilson, 3-point specialist Sabrina Ionescu, the “Point Gawd” Chelsea Gray and many more.

It’s a rivalry that WNBA fans watched all season and now get to see on the league’s biggest stage. We’ve got you covered!

Here is the schedule for the potential five-game series:

Breanna Stewart wins WNBA MVP by a historically tight margin over A’ja Wilson, Alyssa Thomas

Breanna Stewart is a certified baller!

“Stew York City,” stand up. After the closest race in WNBA history, New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart is the 2023 Most Valuable Player.

The voting race for MVP was a gauntlet down the stretch, involving the upper echelon of league talent. Las Vegas Aces center A’ja Wilson and Connecticut Sun forward Alyssa Thomas made outstanding cases for why they should win. Only 13 points separated Stewart and Wilson, and only seven votes separated Stewart and Thomas — the tightest three-way voting margin in league history, according to ESPN’s Alexa Philippou. Ultimately, voters chose “Stewie” for her ability to light up New York and the league.

Her quest for MVP started with the offensive prowess that landed her second-to-only Seattle Storm guard Jewell Loyd for the WNBA single-season scoring record.

This season, Stewart averaged 23 points, 9.3 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game. With the help of her leadership, the Liberty steamrolled their way to a franchise-best record of 32-8 and a Commissioner’s Cup win.

Stewart was also a defensive force to be reckoned with, as she averaged 1.57 blocks and 1.45 steals per game. Her disruption on the court earned her a WNBA All-Defensive team selection.

With efforts like that, the league couldn’t help but notice her magic.

Truthfully, Stewart is creating a resume that feels almost unreal.

In addition to the most 40-point games in a season and the most points scored in 30 minutes or less in league history, she is a two-time WNBA champion, a two-time WNBA Finals MVP, a five-time All-Star and now has two MVP trophies.

As the kids say, it’s lit. We have a lit-thuation happening! (That was probably too much, but I love a good pun.) Stewie is a hooper, and this award reflects that — hats off to you, Breanna, and the Liberty.

The celebration is flowing somewhere, and  Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind” is blasting.

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A’ja Wilson is cementing herself as a legend, winning back-to-back WNBA Defensive POY

A’ja Wilson cannot be stopped!

In the words of Beyoncé, Las Vegas Aces center A’ja Wilson is forever that girl. The reigning WNBA MVP has earned back-to-back Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY) awards.

It’s not every day that you watch history being made, but Wilson seemingly rewrites the books regularly.

As just 27 years old, she’s got enough hardware for a lifetime. Wilson is an Olympic gold medalist, a WNBA champion, a two-time MVP, a five-time All-Star, a two-time WNBA All-Defensive First Team selection and has multiple DPOY awards.

This year, she led the league in blocks (89), averaging a career-high 2.23 blocks per game. Rounding out her impressive season, Wilson also averaged 22.8 points, 9.5 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.4 steals a game. If that wasn’t enough, she had one of the most outstanding basketball performances ever as she casually dropped 53 points against the Atlanta Dream. Unreal.

Hello, Alien Superstar.

Wilson’s teammate and fellow All-Star, Kelsey Plum, thinks she deserves more respect.

“You name it, she’s done it,” Plum said recently on Showtime’s All The Smoke podcast. “She gets shorted all the time.”

Truth be told, what Wilson is doing is otherworldly. She is a living legend and a fantastic representation of the WNBA’s talent. Fans everywhere get fireworks every time she touches the court.

Keep shining, A’ja. The world deserves to see you glow.

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WNBA playoffs predictions: Will the Liberty crush the Aces’ chances of winning back-to-back?

For basketball heads everywhere, the WNBA playoffs are an out-of-body experience.

The WNBA playoffs are here. This is when regular season records mean nothing, and wins mean everything. It’s buzzer beaters, emphatically blocked shots, “what did I just see?” moments and scoring so good you’ll need a pulse check.

For basketball heads everywhere, this is an out-of-body experience. The level of play is elevated, and so are the expectations.

Will the Lynx fly too close to the Sun? (See what I did there?) Will the Liberty crush the Aces’ chances of winning back-to-back titles?

Who wins? Who’s out?

These are your 2023 WNBA playoff predictions:

Here’s what the AP voters absolutely got right and wrong for its 2023 WNBA awards

The AP WNBA awards are out and something don’t make sense.

The WNBA regular season slate ended Sunday, giving players and coaches one final opportunity to state their case for why they should be considered among the league’s best talent.

Following the end of the season, a 12-member media group from the Associated Press votes on awards such as Most Valuable Player (MVP), Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY), Coach of the Year (COY), and more. These awards precede the league awards that will be announced during post-season play, with the coveted league MVP award announced on September 26.

Here’s what the AP voters absolutely got right and wrong for its 2023 WNBA awards:

A’ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart, and Jewell Loyd just obliterated the WNBA single-season scoring record

The WNBA is full of ballers who do nothing but break records.

In the WNBA’s 27th season, the history books are not only being rewritten, they’re being obliterated.

The league is growing at a tremendous pace, gathering the attention of fans along the way. For example, the WNBA draft audience increased by 42 percent between 2022 and 2023, and midseason viewership on platforms like ESPN was up 46percent, averaging 548,000 viewers per game.

More eyes on the sport mean more people see history made in real-time. In a season that saw future hall of famer Diana Taurasi hit 10,000 career points, paving the way for future generations, it’s only fitting that another record of hers fell.

A’ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart, and Jewell Loyd all have resumes as long as a basketball court, but they are pursuing greatness just like Taurasi, and greatness stops for no one.

All three broke the WNBA single-season scoring record (860 points) in a photo finish to see who could walk away with the crown. Ultimately, Seattle’s “Gold Mamba” fought through injuries to make it happen. It’s honestly an incredible feat and should be celebrated.

She is, as the kids say, an absolute “dawg.”

A’ja Wilson’s 53-point burner is one of the best scoring performances in basketball history and we shall respect it as such

A’ja Wilson’s 53-point burner is one of the best scoring games we’ve ever seen. EVER.

This is the online version of our daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Subscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning. Here’s Mike Sykes. 

A’ja Wilson lit the Atlanta Dream on fire Tuesday night with her epic 53-point performance. She also lit the internet on fire, too.

But the more I think about it, the more I feel like this incredible performance could use some added perspective.

Wilson’s game on Tuesday is one of the greatest scoring performances we’ve ever seen. Not just in the W. In the NBA, too. Throughout the history of basketball itself.

Let me be clear here: I always hate NBA comparisons when it comes to the WNBA because the league has its own spectacular history. We don’t have to compare these incredible women to the men’s side of the game for validation.

In this case, though, I think it just adds to the historical context of what Wilson just accomplished. Because y’all, we’ve rarely ever seen anything like this before. Seriously.

Let’s just start with what she did. Wilson dropped 53 points while making 20 of 23 shots from the field. She only shot one 3-pointer and hit 20 of 21 free throws. Wilson accomplished all of that in 33 minutes total, which is wild. You can watch the buckets here. They’re impressive.

With this performance, Wilson became just the third player in WNBA history to score at least 50 points in a game. She tied Liz Cambage, who scored 53 points in 2018, and surpassed Riquana Williams, who dropped 51 back in 2013.

Wilson dropped her 53 the fastest. Cambage played for 37 minutes against the Liberty and Williams played 34 against the Silver Stars. Wilson only played for 33 minutes out of a possible 40 against the Dream.  If Wilson got closer to that 40-minute mark? This could’ve easily been a 60-point game.

Don’t worry, there’s more. Wilson is the only player in WNBA history to score that much that quickly, per Stathead. Only eight players in the history of both the WNBA and the NBA have done that. Wilson is now one of them. And it only took her 23 shots to get there.  Kyrie Irving is the only other person who can make that claim.

When it comes to being one of the best scorers in the W, Wilson’s name doesn’t often come up — especially on the WNBA side. People will think of names like Diana Taurasi, Arike Ogunbowale, and Breanna Stewart. They’re absolutely right. Those are some absolute buckets. They can compete with anyone.

But after today? Put Wilson’s name there, too. She put on a clinic. And it’s one that we won’t be forgetting anytime soon.

Quick hits: Chris Jones ain’t coming to work today … Caleb Williams might not win the Heisman … and more

Chris Jones smiles after the Chiefs' Super Bowl 57 win
Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

— Chris Jones told a fan he might be out until Week 8 as his contract holdout situation with the Chiefs gets worse. Cory Woodroof has more on how that impacts the betting side.

— Prince Grimes has a list of eight candidates to win the Heisman this year and, no, none of them are Caleb Williams.

— Here’s Caroline Darney on everything we know about these high-profile stars parting ways with Scooter Braun.

— Robert Zeglinski has the 9 best win total over/unders for the 2023 NFL season.

That’s all, folks. Be kind to one another today.