A'ja Wilson makes unwanted history in Aces' playoff exit

A'ja Wilson entered the 2024 WNBA playoffs as the third player in NBA/WNBA history to unanimously win the MVP award, joining Stephen Curry (2016) and Cynthia Cooper (1997) for the rare honor.

Wilson, though, couldn't follow up on her historic campaign with a deep postseason run. On Sunday, her Aces suffered a 76-62 loss to the Liberty , which ended their pursuit of three consecutive WNBA titles.

In comparison, Curry and Cooper led their teams to the championship rounds in their unanimous MVP seasons. While Curry fell short of completing the mission as his Warriors blew a 3-1 lead to the Cavaliers in the 2016 NBA Finals, Cooper's Houston Comets defeated the Liberty to win the 1997 WNBA title.

While she failed to lead her squad back to the WNBA Finals, Wilson was her usual dominant self in the postseason, averaging 21.3 points, 9.7 rebounds and 2.5 blocks while shooting 53.5 percent from the floor. The Aces were simply outplayed by a better team led by the dynamic duo of Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu, a fact that their head coach, Becky Hammon, acknowledged after Sunday's season-ending loss.

"They've been the best team all year — let's be real. Their group earned it. They earned it all year," Hammon said, via ESPN's Alexa Philippou.

Wilson highlighted the physical and mental toll of pursuing three consecutive titles, a feat not achieved in major American sports since the Lakers three-peated between 2000 and 2002.

"Everybody wants to beat you. You're everybody's Super Bowl. That's hard to come into," Wilson said.

Sunday's outcome was another reminder of why great teams usually beat out individual heroics. For most of the 2024 season, the Liberty were the best team in the league, so much so that they didn't suffer back-to-back losses through 40 regular season games and the first two rounds of the playoffs. The Liberty were also out for revenge after losing to the Aces in last year's WNBA Finals.

New York will host either Minnesota or Connecticut in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals on Thursday.