LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Las Vegas Aces forward A’ja Wilson has been named the 2022 Kia WNBA Most Valuable Player, the WNBA announced on Wednesday.
This is the second WNBA Most Valuable Award for Wilson, who previously earned the honor in 2020. She becomes the seventh player in WNBA history to win the award multiple times, joining three-time winners Lauren Jackson, Lisa Leslie and Sheryl Swoopes and two-time MVPs Cynthia Cooper, Elena Delle Donne and Candace Parker.
Wilson is also the fifth player to win the Kia WNBA MVP and Kia WNBA Defensive Player of the Year awards in the same season, and the first to do it since Jackson in 2007.
Wilson received 31 of 56 first-place votes and 478 total points from a national panel of 56 sportswriters and broadcasters. Las Vegas Aces' guard Kelsey Plum finished in third place with 181 points.
Players were awarded 10 points for a first-place vote, seven points for a second-place vote, five points for a third-place vote, three points for a fourth-place vote and one point for a fifth-place vote.
The Aces averaged a WNBA-high 90.4 points this season, the third-highest scoring average in league history and the highest mark since 2010.
In her fifth WNBA season, Wilson ranked fifth in the WNBA in scoring (19.5 ppg) and second in rebounding (9.4 rpg) in 36 games. The four-time WNBA All-Star shot 50.1 percent from the field and led the league in double-doubles (17).
Wilson led the league in blocks (1.9 bpg), ranked second in defensive rebounds per game (career-high 7.6) and was 12th in steals (1.4 spg). With her leading the way, the Aces (26-10) posted the most wins in franchise history and earned the No. 1 seed in the WNBA Playoffs presented by Google.
Las Vegas will continue the pursuit of its first WNBA Championship in franchise history when it hosts Game 1 of the WNBA Finals presented by YouTube TV on Sunday, Sept. 11 at 3 p.m. ET on ABC against the winner of the Semifinals series between the Chicago Sky and Connecticut Sun.
