Las Vegas Aces ahead A’ja Wilson is the 2022 WNBA MVP, the league introduced on Wednesday. Wilson, who first received the award in 2020, is the seventh participant in league historical past with a number of MVP trophies. She was additionally named Defensive Participant of the Yr this season and is the fifth participant to earn each honors in the identical season.
Wilson discovered the information on Tuesday night time after placing up 23 factors and 13 rebounds within the Aces’ series-clinching Sport 4 win over the Seattle Storm that despatched them again to the WNBA Finals for the second time previously three seasons. Aces head coach Becky Hammon broke the information within the locker room after the sport, and Wilson’s teammates mobbed her in celebration.
In a slender race, Wilson obtained 31 out of 56 first-place votes from a nationwide panel of broadcasters and sportswriters. Settle Storm ahead Breanna Stewart obtained 23 first-place votes and completed in second place. Chicago Sky ahead Candace Parker and Aces guard Chelsea Grey have been the one different gamers to obtain first-place votes.
Trying nearer on the voting tallies, it is notable that each Wilson and Stewart solely obtained 55 whole votes, which suggests every participant was left off a poll completely — a weird and admittedly unacceptable determination. Voters have been allowed to rank 5 gamers on their ballots, and gamers obtained 10 factors for a first-place vote, seven factors for a second-place vote, 5 factors for third, three factors for fourth and one level for fifth. All instructed, 17 gamers obtained at the least one vote. Here is a take a look at the top-five:
|
A’ja Wilson |
Las Vegas Aces |
First (478) |
|
Breanna Stewart |
Seattle Storm |
Second (446) |
|
Kelsey Plum |
Las Vegas Aces |
Third (181) |
|
Alyssa Thomas |
Connecticut Solar |
Fourth (94) |
|
Candace Parker |
Chicago Sky |
Fifth (78) |
Wilson averaged 19.5 factors, 9.4 rebounds and 1.9 blocks, whereas capturing 50.1 p.c from the sector and 37.3 p.c from 3-point land. Save for factors, all of these numbers have been career-highs, and he or she completed fifth within the league in scoring, second in rebounding and first in blocks; nobody else was within the top-five in all three classes. Moreover, she turned the primary participant in league historical past to place up 700 factors, 300 rebounds and 70 blocks in a season.
With Wilson main the way in which, the Aces received a franchise-record 26 video games and earned the No. 1 general seed within the playoffs. She’s continued her stellar play within the postseason, making historical past within the semifinals as the primary participant ever with back-to-back 30-point, 10-rebound video games within the playoffs. Now, she has the Aces again within the Finals and three wins away from the primary title in franchise historical past.
