A'ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces has been named the 2026 WNBA MVP, CBS Sports reported. The award is her fifth, a league record, and it makes her the first player to win MVP in three consecutive seasons. Wilson has only just turned 30.
CBS Sports put the achievement in context with the NBA, a league that has existed for five more decades than the WNBA. In that league, only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with six, plus Bill Russell and Michael Jordan with five apiece, have won MVP at least five times. Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and Larry Bird are the only players there to win it three years in a row.
The Vote
Wilson received 65 of the 74 first-place votes. Minnesota Lynx rookie Olivia Miles placed second after collecting six first-place votes. Indiana Fever teammates Kelsey Mitchell and Caitlin Clark followed, with two and one first-place votes respectively.
The Season
Wilson averaged 26.2 points per game, the second-best scoring average in a single WNBA season. Only her own 2024 mark of 26.9 is higher. She also pulled down 9.4 rebounds a night, along with 3.2 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.9 blocks. Her shooting splits were 52.7/40.4/86.4, and CBS Sports noted that she finished just a dozen made free throws short of the 50/40/90 club. Her true shooting percentage of 62.5 was 6.4 points above the league average.
The scoring average earned her a third straight scoring title. According to CBS Sports, only Diana Taurasi (2008-11) and Cynthia Cooper (1997-99) have also won at least three in a row. Wilson led the league in blocks for a fifth consecutive season, matching a streak length reached only by Brittney Griner (2013-18) and Margo Dydek (1998-2003). CBS Sports called her a leading candidate for Defensive Player of the Year, an award that had not yet been announced.
She also set several marks this season. She became the first player with multiple 45-point games and the first with five 40-point games, and the fastest to reach 6,000 career points. She passed her coach, Becky Hammon, as the franchise's career scoring leader, and she is now the only player with more than one 1,000-point season.
Impact on the Aces
The Aces finished 31-13 and took the No. 3 seed in the playoffs. With Wilson on the court, they posted a net rating of plus-13.1. With her off it, they were at minus-11, a gap of 24.8 points.
Las Vegas, which won its third title in four years last season, beat the Indiana Fever in three games in the first round. In the semifinals, the Aces trail the Golden State Valkyries 2-0, with Game 3 set for Friday night.
Reporting sources: CBS Sports Headlines, “A'ja Wilson named 2026 WNBA MVP: Aces star wins third straight, becomes first five-time honoree”.
