HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — The GOAT talk regarding A'ja Wilson began in earnest late last season when her play and leadership not only rescued the Aces but helped carry Las Vegas to the WNBA title.
And when it comes to greatest-ever discussions, there is no separating Wilson from her team.
History is a large part of the background for Wilson and the Aces as another season is about to begin.
Wilson already has taken her career where others have yet to go. She became the league's first four-time MVP last year and the first WNBA or NBA player to be named the top player, Defensive Player of the Year and Finals MVP and lead the league in scoring in the same season. For all that, Wilson was the fifth basketball player to become The Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year.
Her success has been the Aces' success, Las Vegas coming off its third championship in four seasons. Should the Aces win another title this year, they would join the Comets, Minnesota Lynx and Seattle Storm as the only franchises to win four overall. They also would join the Comets as the only teams to win four times in five years; Houston captured the WNBA's first four championships.
What's scary for the rest of the league is that the 29-year-old Wilson remains in her prime years, meaning her GOAT argument has an excellent chance to strengthen and for the Aces to continue to build their legacy.
Wilson said she has taken the approach of focusing on the daily process since being drafted No. 1 out of South Carolina in 2018 and changing the arc of the franchise.
“I’ve worked so hard to get to these situations and put myself in these spaces that I’m like, ‘OK, yeah, I’ve earned it, of course,’" Wilson said. “But when it comes to people and where they want me and they’re saying are you the next GOAT? I have no idea because in my mind I have a lot more winning to do.”
And in an Aces uniform, with the club having signed Wilson to a supermax three-year, $5 million contract that is the most lucrative in WNBA history.
Wilson's athletic ability has been unquestioned since she entered the league, the 6-foot-4 post player averaging 21.4 points, 9.3 rebounds and 2.0 blocked shots over her eight-year career.
But greatness isn't just about accumulating numbers, and Wilson showed in two notable moments last season in her commitment to the team why she has separated herself.
One was there for all to see when she made a turnaround jumper over two defenders with 0.3 seconds left to win Game 3 at Phoenix and set up a four-game WNBA Finals sweep.
The other and probably even more important action occurred out of sight as the season was slipping away. Minnesota had come to Las Vegas and handed the Aces a 53-point defeat — the largest home loss in league history — and at 14-14 even making the postseason was far from assured.
Wilson texted her teammates to say that they might as well not show up anymore if they were not embarrassed by that performance.
They were. And the league was in trouble.
“I was pissed and I knew they were pissed, which is the better option,” Aces coach Becky Hammon said.
The Aces rolled off 16 consecutive victories on the way to winning another championship.
“A'ja’s a great leader because she does it herself first,” Hammon said. “Any time you have a leader that works by example first, holds herself accountable to the highest standard, then she has two legs to stand on with the group about holding others accountable.”
Six-time All-Star Jewell Loyd, who was traded to the Aces last year after helping the Storm win two titles, agreed with Hammon's assessment.
“She wants the best out of each and every person here no matter if you’re the security guy at the front or you’re Chelsea Gray," Loyd said of Wilson. "She takes good ownership, and that’s what you want as your leader. As someone who’s the face of women’s basketball, you want that as an ambassador.”
Hammon said Wilson also has surrounded herself with a strong supporting cast off the court that includes her mother and boyfriend Bam Adebayo of the Miami Heat that helps keep the WNBA superstar grounded. But Wilson also is careful not to get caught up in the accolades that come her way and instead focuses on the next task.
For the Aces, that's another season as defending champs and knowing they again will get every opponent's best shot.
“We've been the hunted with the Aces before we even got banners and rings, so it's a part of who we are,” Wilson said. “We try to let our newcomers know when you put this jersey on, it's a different feel and I love it. It brings the competitor out of everybody. So, yeah, we're definitely going to be the hunted, but we're the hunters as well.”
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