In a candid revelation, Las Vegas Aces' star A'ja Wilson shared her deep disappointment on finishing below the top spots in the WNBA MVP race, a sentiment that became a driving force for her and her team during their WNBA Finals run last season.

Wilson didn't hold back her feelings in a recent interview with Draymond Green: “Yeah, that hurt, that hurt me to the core actually.”

“I don’t think I ever felt that low in my career honestly because I really felt like okay if I didn’t get it. But that fourth place, like being third and fourth, like that is what did it,” Wilson said on the Feb. 1 Draymond Green Show.

A previous MVP recipient, Wilson has consistently been a standout performer in the league, making her placement in the MVP voting particularly stinging.

“Not getting it, it's like I gotta like charge it to the game you know. I get it, voter fatigue, whatever you want to say, cool,” Wilson said. “But being third and fourth was like, absolutely not. It struck my core, I was like they’re playing with me at this point.”

Following the snub, Wilson channeled her feelings into a powerful performance against the Dallas Wings in the seminfinals of the 2023 WNBA Finals. Wilson put up 30 points in Game 2 against the Wings; it was her third consecutive 30-point game in the playoffs, making her the first WNBA player to have three straight 30-point games in the playoffs.

“It honestly did fuel me and It fueled my team as well,” A'ja Wilson said on the slight.

She didn't shy away from taking a not-so-subtle jab at voters during the Aces' championship parade in October, wearing a shirt that featured the MVP voting results on the back.