A’ja Wilson on Pace for Greatest Season in WNBA History

A’ja Wilson isn’t just on a mission to bring a third consecutive WNBA championship to the Las Vegas Aces.

She’s also on pace to have the best season in league history.

The superstar center currently has no competition for this season’s Most Valuable Player award. She’s averaging 28.0 points and 11.3 rebounds per game, and both marks lead the league. Her scoring average will be the highest in league history by a wide margin if she maintains her pace. The next highest mark is a distant 25.3 by Diana Taurasi way back in 2006. Wilson could be on her way to rewriting the league’s record book.

If Wilson maintains her league lead in scoring and rebounding average through the regular season, she will become just the fourth player in WNBA history to do so, joining Chamique Holdsclaw (2002), Lauren Jackson (2007) and Tina Charles (2016).

Opponents don’t want to meet the 6-foot-4 Wilson in the paint, either, because she leads the league with 2.4 blocked shots per game. On offense, her footwork and ability to finish at the basket are smooth and fluid. She’s shooting an efficient 52.4% from the field overall and a career high 40% from 3-point range. Wilson can make the game basketball look effortless, but if you watch closely, you’ll see how hard she fights for every bucket, board and block.

The Aces struggled to a 6-6 start — but now they’ve won three games in a row since point guard Chelsea Gray returned from injury . Their most recent victory came in Chicago on Thursday night, when Wilson scored a game-high 31 points to lift Las Vegas (9-6) past the gritty Sky (6-10).

There figures to be only two scenarios in which Wilson doesn’t clearly lay claim to the greatest statistical season in league history: injury or a change in the Aces’ on-court strategy. The first is largely out of her control, and the second seems unlikely on coach Becky Hammon’s watch.

Highest Single-Season Scoring Averages in WNBA History

Basketball-Reference.com

Wilson is averaging a career-high 19.5 shot attempts per game this season. But even with Gray re-inserted into the starting lineup against Chicago on Thursday, Wilson took her usual 19 shots. If that’s any indication, the Aces will continue to run the offense through Wilson as she flirts with history.

Despite the mediocre start, everything appears to be looking up for the Aces and Wilson.

In a month, Wilson and three of her Aces teammates (Gray, Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young) will represent Team USA as it tries to win its eighth consecutive Olympic gold medal in women’s basketball. From there, they will return to their pursuit of a third consecutive WNBA championship.

Only one other team in WNBA history has ever achieved a three-peat — the Houston Comets, who won the league’s first four titles in 1997-2000. It won’t be easy for the Aces, as opponents likely will be saving their best effort for Las Vegas. But from an observer’s perspective, that only makes it more entertaining.

The best women’s basketball player in the world is only 27, and she’s only getting better.

She’s A’One of One.

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