Michael Jordan in 1992. Hakeem Olajuwon in 1994. Breanna Stewart in 2018. LeBron James in 2012.
Those are some players who had some of the most decorated years in basketball that we’ve ever seen. They absolutely racked up awards. MVP’s, championship trophies, gold medals, defensive player of the year awards. You name it and they’ve got them.
A’ja Wilson just joined that class herself with the season she had in 2022. She won her first WNBA Finals a couple of weeks ago. Then, immediately after, she went over to Australia and won another gold medal.
Wilson has had quite the year. Here’s a quick list of everything she won in this 2022 campaign.
It’s more than most players can ever hope for in their careers.
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The M'VP
Wilson won her second MVP award with the Aces heading into the playoffs this season. Things were neck-and-neck between her and Breanna Stewart, but she just edged her out averaging 19.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game in just 30 minutes per game.
Defensive Player of the Year
She also won her first career defensive player of the year award last season, too. She led the league in blocks per game with 1.9 and was 12th in steals with 1.2.
Her first WNBA Championship
Wilson had been searching for this one for so long. After losing the Finals in the WNBA Bubble of 2020, Las Vegas hadn’t been back until this season. They made up for it by winning the whole thing.
Another gold medal
A week and some change after winning her first WNBA championship, Wilson and Team USA took to Australia and won gold at the Women’s FIBA World Cup. This is her first FIBA gold medal and her second gold medal, overall, after winning one in the 2020 Olympics.
AND another MVP
Wilson won MVP at the world cup, too, by the way. She’s on a roll collecting trophies like Thanos did with the Infinity Stones.
She’s going to need a new trophy case after this season. The way it’s looking right now, it’ll probably get full pretty fast.
