She’s an athlete, she’s an author, she’s a philanthropist. She’s a record breaker and history maker. She is the first woman, a Black woman, to score 1,000 points in a single WNBA season. She is A’ja Wilson.
On Sunday, Sept. 15, Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces played against the Connecticut Sun in her most highly anticipated game yet — not because of the sheer excitement that comes with watching a WNBA game, but because everyone present knew they’d witness greatness. In the fourth quarter, with only a minute and 57 seconds left of the game, Wilson went for the groundbreaking two-point shot, taking her total from 998 to 1,000 overall season points.
The excitement didn’t end there. The Las Vegas Aces celebrated the iconic moment by bringing home an 84-71 win. And the celebration is still lively as ever as the team is dominating the playoffs season, giving Wilson plenty of opportunity to set the bar even higher.
She shared the height of the moment with an Instagram post of gratitude for her coaches, teammates, and fans.
“So blessed to share this moment with my family, teammates, coaches and our amazing fans,” said a teary-eyed Wilson.
While many have tried to argue that “NBA players hitting this career milestone all the time,” the women of the WNBA don’t get nearly as much credit as they deserve. To every NBA player’s 82-game season, the women only have time to capture their highlights in a 40-game season. A’ja Wilson did what NBA players do, in half the time.
This, of course, only adds to her long list of accomplishments. Wilson is the WNBA single-season rebound record holder of 2024, a two-time 2020 and 2024 Olympic Gold Medalist, a two-time WNBA 2022 and 2023 Champion, the 2018 WNBA Rookie of the Year, and the SEC 2015-2018 Player of the Year just to name a few. Her talent is so recognizable that she was honored with a statue outside the stadium of her alma mater, The University of South Carolina, in Jan. 2021.
The acknowledgment of how phenomenal an athlete she is on the court, also encompasses how phenomenal of a person she is off the court. With her book, Dear Black Girls: How to Be True to You, a self-help, empowering read on the realities of womanhood and The A’ja Wilson Foundation, an organization committed to offering resources for children struggling with dyslexia and bullying, Wilson brands herself as a triple threat.
A’ja Wilson is a force to be reckoned with. It is not a prediction, rather a promise, that she will continue to elevate her legend and her influence as time goes on.
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