Michael Voepel, ESPN Senior Writer
Las Vegas ahead A'ja Wilson grew to become the first player in WNBA historical past to hit the 1,000-point mark for a season Sunday in the Aces' 84-71 victory over Connecticut.
Wilson hit 1,000 on the dot with a fadeaway bounce shot with 1 minute, 57 seconds left. Her teammates and the crowd at Michelob Ultra Arena celebrated with Wilson, who's the overwhelming favourite for the 2024 WNBA MVP award.
“I really try to pinpoint little things,” Wilson mentioned of how she continues to enhance after successful two earlier MVP awards and two WNBA titles. “Everyone can come in and say, ‘Oh, I want to win a championship.' But what are the little things you're going to do to get to that point? That's what I want to be great in.
“I actually have to credit score my offseason work and my preparation. I take time to get away from basketball, to let me miss it. So then when I'm in it, I do not take it without any consideration. My screensaver is, ‘Rest at the finish, not in the center,' and that is one thing I inform myself each single day.
“I got work to do, that that's going to be my mindset until I'm done playing, until I've squeezed everything out of this game.”
Wilson, who turned 28 final month, is averaging a league finest 27.0 points, plus 12.0 rebounds, 2.6 blocks and a pair of.3 assists whereas taking pictures 51.9% from the discipline. Her season scoring common is the highest in WNBA historical past; she's clinched that document even when she does not score in the Aces' final two video games.
The No. 1 draft pick of South Carolina, Wilson got here to the Aces in 2018, the similar 12 months the franchise moved to Las Vegas from San Antonio. Aces coach Becky Hammon, who performed eight seasons of her profession in San Antonio, talked about what success it was for the crew in a new metropolis to have an incoming star like Wilson.
“It's not easy to be A'ja Wilson every day. It just isn't. There's a lot of expectation,” Hammon mentioned. “The city is lucky that they've gotten to see her grow up. You get to see her evolve into not only this unbelievable player, but a person who gives back to her community, who cares about the people she's playing with and interacting with.”
Wilson's present streak of double-digit scoring video games is now 50, the longest in the league. She additionally had a 53-game streak of hitting double digits in scoring from August 2019 to August 2021.
The Aces are actually 25-13 and in fourth place in the WNBA standings with two video games remaining in the common season. Las Vegas performs at Seattle — which is 24-14 and in fifth place — Tuesday and at residence vs. Dallas on Thursday.
“It's an honor to be able to play with her,” mentioned Aces teammate Jackie Young, who was the No. 1 choose in 2019, the 12 months after Wilson. “She comes in every day and kind of shows us what a professional is.”
