– Wilson Ties WNBA Record With Third MVP After Historic Regular Season –
NEW YORK, Sept. 22, 2024 – Las Vegas Aces center-forward A’ja Wilson has been named the 2024 Kia WNBA Most Valuable Player, the WNBA introduced at present.
This marks the record-tying third Kia WNBA MVP Award for Wilson, who additionally earned the honor in 2020 and 2022. She is the fourth participant in WNBA historical past to win three MVPs, becoming a member of Sheryl Swoopes (2000, 2002 and 2005), Lisa Leslie (2001, 2004 and 2006) and Lauren Jackson (2003, 2007 and 2010).
Wilson obtained all 67 first-place votes (670 factors) from a nationwide panel of sportswriters and broadcasters, making her the first unanimous Kia WNBA MVP since the Houston Comets’ Cynthia Cooper in the league’s inaugural season of 1997.
Minnesota Lynx ahead Napheesa Collier (467 factors) completed in second place, adopted by New York Liberty ahead Breanna Stewart (295 factors) in third place, Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (130 factors) in fourth place and Connecticut Sun ahead Alyssa Thomas (83 factors) in fifth place. Players had been awarded 10 factors for a first-place vote, seven factors for a second-place vote, 5 factors for a third-place vote, three factors for a fourth-place vote and one level for a fifth-place vote.
In her seventh WNBA season, Wilson averaged 26.9 factors, 11.9 rebounds, 2.58 blocked pictures and 1.79 steals in 34.4 minutes in 38 video games. She ranked first in the WNBA in each factors and blocks, second in rebounds, fifth in steals and fourth in minutes, setting profession highs in all 5 per-game classes. Wilson additionally completed seventh in the league in subject purpose share (51.8) and 17th in free throw share (84.4).
The 6-4 Wilson broke the WNBA single-season report for scoring common, which had been set by Phoenix Mercury guard Diana Taurasi in 2006 (25.3 ppg). Wilson additionally set single-season data with 1,021 whole factors and 451 whole rebounds. She is the first participant to steer the WNBA in whole factors, rebounds and blocks (98) in a season.
Behind Wilson, the two-time defending WNBA champion Aces (27-13) earned the fourth seed in the 2024 WNBA Playoffs introduced by Google. Las Vegas will host the Seattle Storm in Game 1 of a first-round playoff sequence tonight at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN.
In the 2024 common season, Wilson was named the Kia WNBA Western Conference Player of the Month 4 instances (May, June, July and September) and the WNBA Western Conference Player of the Week six instances (Weeks 3, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 12). A six-time WNBA All-Star, Wilson performed for the USA Women’s National Team in the 2024 AT&T WNBA All-Star Game earlier than main the United States to the gold medal at the Paris Olympics, the place she was honored as the MVP of the match.
Additional highlights of Wilson’s 2024 season embody:
- Recorded the two highest-scoring video games of the WNBA season, with 42 factors towards the Dallas Wings on Aug. 27 and 41 factors towards the Mercury on Sept. 1.
- Scored a minimum of 20 factors in 89.5% of her video games (34 of 38), a WNBA single-season report.
- Grabbed 9.8 defensive rebounds per sport, the highest single-season common in WNBA historical past.
- Posted the third-highest rebounding common in a WNBA season (11.87), behind No. 1 Angel Reese (13.1 rpg with the Chicago Sky in 2024) and No. 2 Sylvia Fowles (11.88 with the Minnesota Lynx in 2018).
- Finished with 24 factors and a career-high 20 rebounds towards the Storm on July 10 for the first 20-20 sport of her profession.
- Became the second participant in WNBA historical past to have a minimum of 25 factors, 15 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 blocks in a sport (vs. the Atlanta Dream on Aug. 30), becoming a member of Candace Parker (2008).
- Set WNBA single-season data for consecutive video games with 20 or extra factors (15) and consecutive video games with a minimum of 20 factors and 10 rebounds (eight).
- Became the Aces’ franchise chief in each whole factors and whole rebounds.
- Led the WNBA in steals-per-turnover ratio (1.42 to 1) and had a career-low 1.3 turnovers per sport.
In August, Wilson gained the 2024 Dawn Staley Community Leadership Award for her dedication and optimistic affect on the neighborhood. Dawn Staley was the head coach for all 4 of Wilson’s seasons at the University of South Carolina, the place the two gained a nationwide championship collectively in the 2016-17 season and Wilson was a four-time All-America Team choice.
Wilson was chosen by the Aces with the No. 1 total choose in the 2018 WNBA Draft introduced by State Farm. She led the franchise to its first two WNBA championships, in 2022 and 2023, incomes the WNBA Finals MVP Award final season. Among her accolades, Wilson has been the Kia WNBA Rookie of the Year, the Kia WNBA Defensive Player of the Year twice and an All-WNBA Team choice 4 instances.
In honor of being named the 2024 Kia WNBA Most Valuable Player, Wilson will obtain $15,450 and a specifically designed trophy by Tiffany & Co.
Below are the voting outcomes for the 2024 Kia WNBA Most Valuable Player Award and a listing of previous recipients of the annual honor.
|
VOTING RESULTS: 2024 KIA WNBA MOST VALUABLE PLAYER AWARD |
||||||
|
Player (Team) |
1st Place Votes (10 Points) |
2nd Place Votes (7 Points) |
3rd Place Votes (5 Points) |
4th Place Votes (3 Points) |
5th Place Votes (1 Point) |
Total Points |
|
A’ja Wilson (Las Vegas) |
67 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
670 |
|
Napheesa Collier (Minnesota) |
0 |
66 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
467 |
|
Breanna Stewart (New York) |
0 |
1 |
52 |
9 |
1 |
295 |
|
Caitlin Clark (Indiana) |
0 |
0 |
6 |
26 |
22 |
130 |
|
Alyssa Thomas (Connecticut) |
0 |
0 |
2 |
17 |
22 |
83 |
|
Sabrina Ionescu (New York) |
0 |
0 |
5 |
2 |
4 |
35 |
|
Nneka Ogwumike (Seattle) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
7 |
25 |
|
Kahleah Copper (Phoenix) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
2 |
11 |
|
Arike Ogunbowale (Dallas) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
7 |
|
Jonquel Jones (New York) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
6 |
|
Kelsey Mitchell (Indiana) |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
6 |
|
Angel Reese (Chicago) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
|
Dearica Hamby (Los Angeles) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
|
DeWanna Bonner (Connecticut) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
|
Kayla McBride (Minnesota) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
|
KIA WNBA MOST VALUABLE PLAYER AWARD WINNERS |
||
|
1997 – Cynthia Cooper, Houston 1998 – Cynthia Cooper, Houston 1999 – Yolanda Griffith, Sacramento 2000 – Sheryl Swoopes, Houston 2001 – Lisa Leslie, Los Angeles 2002 – Sheryl Swoopes, Houston 2003 – Lauren Jackson, Seattle 2004 – Lisa Leslie, Los Angeles 2005 – Sheryl Swoopes, Houston 2006 – Lisa Leslie, Los Angeles |
2007 – Lauren Jackson, Seattle 2009 – Diana Taurasi, Phoenix 2010 – Lauren Jackson, Seattle 2011 – Tamika Catchings, Indiana 2012 – Tina Charles, Connecticut 2013 – Candace Parker, Los Angeles 2014 – Maya Moore, Minnesota 2015 – Elena Delle Donne, Chicago 2016 – Nneka Ogwumike, Los Angeles
|
2017 – Sylvia Fowles, Minnesota 2018 – Breanna Stewart, Seattle 2019 – Elena Delle Donne, Washington 2020 – A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas 2021 – Jonquel Jones, Connecticut 2022 – A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas 2023 – Breanna Stewart, New York 2024 – A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas
|
About Kia America
Headquartered in Irvine, California, Kia America continues to prime automotive high quality surveys. Kia is acknowledged as considered one of the TIME World’s Most Sustainable Companies of 2024. Kia serves as the “Official Automotive Partner” of the NBA and WNBA and presents a variety of gasoline, hybrid, plug-in hybrid and electrical autos offered by way of a community of over 775 sellers in the U.S., together with a number of automobiles and SUVs proudly assembled in America*.
For media info, together with pictures, go to www.kiamedia.com. To obtain customized e-mail notifications for press releases the second they're revealed, subscribe at www.kiamedia.com/us/en/newsalert.
*The K5, Sportage, Sorento and Telluride (excludes HEV and PHEV fashions) are assembled in the United States from U.S. and globally sourced elements.
Related posts:
