Second WNBA scoring title. Fourth MVP. Finals MVP. Third Defensive Player of the Year. Third championship. That’s how A’ja Wilson entered the offseason. Yet, if you thought she was done collecting awards, you’d be wrong.

“When you’ve collected everything, that’s Thanos. This year, I collected everything,” she said in an interview with TIME in New York a month after the Aces’ championship parade. However, Wilson even outpaced the MCU villain because she didn’t even have to go looking for this off-season honor that Catilin Clark won last year.

The Cherry on Top of a Historic Season

“It was only a matter of TIME. 4x MVP A’ja Wilson adds @TIME Athlete of the Year to her long list of accolades,” TIME posted on social media after they crowned the Las Vegas Aces star as TIME’s 2025 Athlete of the Year. 

Yet, for all her success, the run to the 2025 title didn’t come easy. Halfway through the season, the Aces were sitting at .500. They were coping with a 50-point blowout loss to the Minnesota Lynx, before everything changed.

Led by Wilson, LV rattled off 16 straight wins to close the season. They survived back-to-back playoff rounds that went the distance. They fought for every inch to get into the finals. And in Game 3 of the finals against the Phoenix Mercury, the Aces didn’t let the opponents breathe. 

Then, with Wilson hitting the game-winner with 2.2 seconds left, the Aces sealed the series. And with that, she pushed into the conversation for the greatest WNBA player of all time. Wilson owned the scoring title and became the fastest player in WNBA history to reach 5,000 points.

She was the first player in WNBA or NBA history to win a championship, be named Finals MVP, league MVP, and DPOY all in the same season. Also, she’s one of only four players in either league to win four MVPs before turning 30. So TIME’s recognition isn’t surprising. In fact, her father, Roscoe, summed it up perfectly: “I’m waiting on them to call for the Academy Award and the Emmy.” However, the fire we saw in her during the 2025 campaign had been lit a year earlier. 

A’ja Wilson Let Her Game Do the Talking

Wilson had dominated for years. But the motivation to become the undisputed best grew stronger with Caitlin Clark’s arrival. The Indiana Fever sensation, often associated with the “Caitlin Clark effect”, led to a significant upsurge. WNBA witnessed boosted TV ratings and attendance, and a narrative emerged that the then-rookie was responsible for the renaissance.

It bothered A’ja Wilson, especially after she earned her second Olympic gold medal and third WNBA MVP in 2024. It wasn’t just about her, either, as Wilson told TIME that many veterans had endured the “grimiest of grimy things to get the league where it is today.”

“I’m going to win this MVP, I’ll win a gold medal, y’all can’t shake my résumé,” she recalled thinking. And so Wilson let her performances on the paint do the talking, winning everything she aimed for and more this season. That’s why even with CC missing most of the year due to a groin injury, WNBA viewership still increased 5–6 per cent per game across ESPN networks.

“Sometimes you need the proof in the pudding,” Wilson said during her interview. “This was my biggest moment of doing it, because no one’s ever done what I’ve done,” she added. The best part is that Wilson’s extraordinary success isn’t just her own. Coupled with that 5-6% growth in viewership, the WNBA players get some leverage as they continue to negotiate the new collective-bargaining agreement with the league.

Written by

Yashika Dutta

Edited by

Sagnik Bagchi