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The Las Vegas Aces may not be having the best time in their bid for what would be their third consecutive WNBA championship, but A'ja Wilson is doing her best to lift the team on a nightly basis. On Tuesday night, Wilson had herself another dominant outing, scoring 43 points on a sterling 16-22 performance from the field despite the Aces' heartbreaking 93-90 loss to the Dallas Wings.
The Wings barely had any answers for Wilson, especially in one-on-one situations. Wilson took her defenders to school even though the Aces star was drawing multiple defenders for most of the night. And in scoring nearly half of her team's points, Wilson made history.
According to SportsCenter, A'ja Wilson became just the fourth player in WNBA history to score 40 or more points in three separate games in one's career. The Aces star joined future Hall of Famers Diana Taurasi, Breanna Stewart, and Maya Moore in that exclusive club. It's difficult to top that group, as not only have they been some of the best players the WNBA has ever seen, they are also perhaps the sport's greatest winners.
This just goes to show that the scoring dominance of that aforementioned quartet translates quite well to the win column. The Aces may not have come out on top on Tuesday night, but Wilson definitely put up a performance worthy of a victory. It's too bad that Las Vegas' defense is not holding up their end of the bargain.
Wilson now has three 40-point games for her career, which is tied for the second-most in history. Both Taurasi and Stewart have four such games each, with Moore tied with Wilson with three. Nonetheless, the Aces star separates herself from the pack by being tied for the single-greatest scoring performance in WNBA history, when she scored 53 points in August 2023.
On the year, A'ja Wilson is now averaging 27.1 points, 11.7 rebounds, 2.7 blocks, and 1.9 steals per game — all career-bests. The Aces star appears to be on track to take home another MVP trophy, which would be the third of her career. If she bags home the MVP, she'll only be the fourth in WNBA history to win the award at least thrice, joining Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie, and Lauren Jackson.
Aces fall to fifth place in WNBA standings despite A'ja Wilson masterclass
A'ja Wilson is not just on track to take home another MVP award, she also might be the favorite to bag home the Defensive Player of the Year award — which would be her third consecutive. However, the Aces' team defense isn't helping matters at all. On Tuesday night, the Wings got whatever they wanted in the fourth quarter, thanks in large part to Satou Sabally, and the Aces hemorrhaged points, allowing 32 points. That simply won't cut it.
Aces head coach Becky Hammon is confident that this level of defense isn't their regular. However, they are running out of time to figure things out on that end of the floor with only 10 games to go before the postseason begins, and Hammon wants some urgency from her players.
“It can get a lot better, clearly, but it's the attention to detail. There are ways we can shave off [opponents'] points just by being disciplined, being alert. We couldn't defend our lunch in the second half. … At some point, people have to take accountability. When you know exactly what the other team needs to do and you can't handle it, that's concerning,” Hammon said, per ABC News.
