Sources: Aces' Wilson is WNBA's first 4-time MVP

A'ja Wilson has become the WNBA's first four-time MVP after earning the league's top individual honor for the second straight year, sources told ESPN's Shams Charania on Sunday.

The Las Vegas Aces star was named MVP in what had been considered a tight battle with Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier. Atlanta Dream guard Allisha Gray, Indiana Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell and Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas were also finalists for the award.

This year's award puts Wilson ahead of three-time MVPs Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie and Lauren Jackson. In 2024, Wilson joined Cynthia Cooper of the 1997 Houston Comets as the WNBA's only unanimous MVP selections; Cooper also is the only other back-to-back honoree, winning the award in the WNBA's first two seasons (1997, 1998).

Wilson, 29, was also named MVP in 2020 and 2022. The other four finalists had not won the MVP award.

Wilson led the WNBA with averages of 23.4 points and 2.3 blocks per game for the second-seeded Aces while also contributing 10.2 rebounds and 3.1 assists per contest. She was named the league's Co-Defensive Player of the Year along with the Lynx's Alanna Smith.

"By the time it's all said and done, she will be the greatest to ever do it," Aces coach Becky Hammon told ESPN's Michael Voepel. "Four [MVPs] already says she is. In a league that has continued to get much better, she keeps getting better.

"You're watching poetry in motion. You're watching history. And she's just 29 years old. She could win four more of these by the time she is finished."

Wilson told ESPN that this season has been a different challenge because of the Aces' struggles until things came together in August, when they began what turned into a franchise-record 17-game winning streak.

The Aces went from a 14-14 record to a 30-14 regular-season finish and the No. 2 seed in the WNBA playoffs. Las Vegas won its first-round opener against the Seattle Storm, saw the streak end in a Game 2 loss, then made it to the semifinals for the seventh consecutive year by winning Game 3 on Thursday behind Wilson's 38 points, which tied her playoff record.

"Just my mental aspect has gone up," Wilson told ESPN. "I work on tons of stuff, but I think my ability to read the defense and seeing what type of game it's going to be within the first couple of possessions [has improved]. I know as my career goes on, I'm going to see tons of different defenses, because that's what you deal with. I love just letting my basketball mind figure it out."

Wilson and the Aces face the Indiana Fever in the semifinals starting Sunday,

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.