A'ja Wilson wins AP Female Athlete
of the Year following historic 4th WNBA MVP
[December 10, 2025]
By DOUG FEINBERG
A'ja Wilson stood atop the WNBA again in 2025, winning an
unprecedented fourth MVP as her Las Vegas Aces earned a third
championship in four seasons.
For that, she earned The Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year
on Wednesday for the first time in her career. It's the second
consecutive year a basketball player won the award after Caitlin
Clark was honored in 2024.
“It’s an honor when you think about the group of women who have won
before,” Wilson said in a phone interview. “Just to have my name be
a part of it, I’m blessed.”
Wilson is only the fifth basketball player to be honored as the
Female Athlete of the Year since it was first presented in 1931,
joining Sheryl Swoopes (1993), Rebecca Lobo (1995), Candace Parker
(2008, 2021) and Clark.
A group of 47 sports journalists from the AP and its members voted.
Wilson received 17 votes, tennis star Aryna Sabalenka was second
with nine and Paige Bueckers was third with five.
“The things she’s done on the court have never been done. To me,
she’s in a category all her own,” Aces coach Becky Hammon said of
Wilson. “People always ask who’s on your Mount Rushmore? I’m saying
she’s on Everest — there’s nobody up there with her.”
Shohei Ohtani won the AP Male Athlete of the Year on Tuesday for the
fourth time.
Hammon has been impressed with everything about Wilson in her four
years coaching in Las Vegas.
“Her relatability, her being down to earth makes her a great
superstar," Hammon said. "Her skill set is unmatched, but she’s also
the easiest player to coach. To have that mixture of humility, grace
and skill, there’s a reason why she’s doing things that have never
been done."
This season was different for Wilson and the Aces, who had cruised
to their previous two titles as a heavy favorite. This year, with a
month to go, the Aces were sitting at .500 and were in danger of
missing the playoffs after coming off a record 53-point loss against
Minnesota.
Wilson rallied her team to wins in the final 16 regular-season games
to secure the No. 2 seed, and Las Vegas went on to win the
championship.
“This season I found myself through the adversity and mud we went
through,” she said.
Despite her numbers being on par with her unanimous MVP season the
year before, Wilson heard the chatter that she wasn't playing as
well and that she wasn't the front-runner to repeat as the league's
top player.
The 29-year-old used that as fuel on the court. She led the league
with 23.4 points and 2.3 blocks per game.
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Las Vegas Aces center A'ja Wilson, center right, holds up her MVP
trophy after Game 4 of the WNBA basketball finals against the
Phoenix Mercury, Friday, Oct. 10, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick
Scuteri, File)
“The way they talk about us, the way they talk about me, I'm ready
for that, I'm ready for the noise,” Wilson said. “It's always going
to be something. If we sit here and try to please everybody, we're
going to go insane. I'm just going to continue to prove why I'm one
of the greatest and why my team is part of a dynamic dynasty.”
Wilson raised her game even further in the playoffs, helping the
Aces survive decisive winner-take-all games in the quarterfinals and
semifinals. She then helped Las Vegas sweep Phoenix in the WNBA
Finals, hitting the winning shot in Game 3.
“It’s fair to say the expectations for her are so sky high now,
she’ll be compared to a degree to the unanimous MVP she was the year
before,” ESPN analyst Rebecca Lobo said. “Even though she wasn’t
unanimous MVP this year, the journey she had this season was
different and she was playing the best basketball of her career in
the playoffs.”
“Every year, you wonder how she’ll get better, and she always does.”
Wilson became the first player in either the WNBA or NBA to win the
MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, Finals MVP and lead the league in
scoring in the same season.
Wilson broke a tie with Swoopes, Lisa Leslie and Lauren Jackson, who
all won the WNBA MVP three times. She plans to have another relaxing
offseason as she won’t play overseas or in Unrivaled, the domestic
3-on-3 league.
She’s already crossed one thing off her bucket list, meeting her
idol Beyonce at the Formula 1 race in Las Vegas last month.
“It was super cool, Beyonce is someone that I’ve always wanted to
meet because I just admired her work,” Wilson said.
The Aces great is that way herself for so many. She launched a shoe
and clothing line with Nike. Her shoe sold out minutes after it went
on sale.
“It's amazing, something that I think about every day when I look
around and see people just wearing my shoe. Every day it's a gentle
reminder that you know it's a special moment that we're living in
and I'm so grateful when I look back on it.”
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