Editor’s Note: This story is part of a series from SB Nation profiling the 2025 WNBA All-Star teams. Today, let’s get to know A’ja Wilson.
After MVP season, A’ja Wilson is only getting better
While the Aces have struggled this season, it’s been in spite of an improving A’ja Wilson, who is showing her greatness in new ways.
Photo by Erica Denhoff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Jacob Rude covers Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever as an in-person, credentialed journalist based in Indianapolis for SB Nation, in addition to writing and managing Lakers coverage at Silver Screen and Roll.
A’ja Wilson’s 2024 season was one of the best in league history. Her accolades for the year read like a lengthy shopping list, highlighted by a unanimous MVP selection and single-season records in points and rebounds.
So, how does one follow up a historic season? Well, if you’re A’ja, by showing she has even more to offer.
To be clear, 2025 has been a step backward for A’ja, though it’s hard to imagine an even better version of her 2024 self. Still, she’s putting up 22.3 points (third most in her career), grabbing 9.2 rebounds and swatting 2.4 shots per game. In her final two games prior to the All-Star break, she scored a combined 71 points on 27-41 shooting with 26 rebounds across the two contests.
The difference this season has been her playmaking, a newfound aspect of her game. After an offseason shakeup that saw the Aces trade away point guard Kelsey Plum, the Aces have looked to fill some of the playmaking void through Wilson.
While her usage rate has actually gone down from last season, her assist percentage has skyrocketed to career-best levels. Prior to this season, her best season saw her assist on roughly 15.6% of the Aces’ baskets while on the floor.
This season that number has jumped to 23.9%, an indicator of just how much responsibility she’s taken on this season. The 147 points she’s generated via assists through 17 games put her on a pace to a career-best mark by season’s end, too.
Despite the increase in playmaking, her assist-to-turnover ratio has actually improved from each of the last two seasons. The Aces are putting the ball in her hands, asking her to do more than she ever has before and she’s stepping up to the plate.
All this has taken place with A’ja still being her usual dominant self. She’s had three 30-point games this season and, in each one, has recorded a double-double. Napheesa Collier is the only other player to do that this season and she’s “only” managed it once.
Las Vegas has needed every bit of it all as well. Because despite A’ja showing new aspects of her game along with her reliably great play, the Aces have struggled mightily. After years atop the WNBA as one of the league’s best, the cracks in the foundation have turned into canyons.
Instead of battling for the No. 1 seed, the Aces are fighting for a spot in the playoffs. So much of their struggles have come in spite of brilliance from A’ja.
In an omen of what was to come this season, the Aces opened 2025 with a double-digit loss to the Liberty in a game where A’ja had 31 points and 16 rebounds. Weeks before the All-Star break, Vegas lost 81-54 to the Fever in a game where Wilson scored 29 points.
The Aces have needed A’ja to be brilliant this season and when she is, even that hasn’t always been enough. It’s raised some questions as to what their path forward should be and if continuing to make win-now gambles or tearing it all down is the best option.
It’s a big picture question about the franchise centered around the fact that A’ja is still dominant and the team around her is not good enough.
While the future of the Aces feels as murky as it has been in some time, what’s become crystal clear is that there appears to be no limits on what A’ja can accomplish on a basketball court as her game just keeps expanding.
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