Wilson has been called a lot of things this postseason: an elk, a shark, a lion. But is it time to call her the GOAT?
PHOENIX — THE MORNING after A’ja Wilson hit the game-winning shot in Game 3 of the WNBA Finals — the basket that gave her Las Vegas Aces a 3-0 series lead and became the defining image of Wilson’s already storied basketball career — Aces coach Becky Hammon texted her superstar a graphic comparing an elk and a deer.
Hammon had used the comparison for Wilson weeks earlier, but Wilson, like most people, wasn’t aware of the difference between the two. But when you see the bigger, stronger elk, said Hammon, who grew up in the Black Hills of South Dakota, you realize it’s in a class of its own.
Hammon is prone to using analogies for Wilson — “You run out of adjectives”, she told ESPN. “That’s why I start using animals and mountaintops and everything else to describe her.”
“I’ve been a gazelle, I’ve been a lion, I’ve been an elk all this year”, Wilson told ESPN. “If you could put that all into an animal, I think you get A’ja.”
But there’s a theme of metaphor Hammon has evoked often this season: an elk among deer. A great white among mako sharks. No longer on Mount Rushmore, but Everest.
“By the time it’s all said and done”, Hammon said, “she will be the greatest to ever do it.” Wilson lived up to that billing Friday, leading the No. 2 seed Aces to the 2025 title over the No. 4 seed Phoenix Mercury behind the first four-game sweep in Finals history. With a 31-point performance in Game 4, she cemented her case for series MVP — and became the first WNBA or NBA player to win the scoring title, MVP, Defensive Player of the Year and Finals MVP in the same season.
The greatest-of-all-time conversation picked up when, three weeks ago, Wilson was awarded her record fourth league MVP, the first player in WNBA history to win as many.
But as the Aces rose to dynasty status with their third championship in four years, Friday marked Wilson’s official coronation.
Not as a great white or an elk. But as a GOAT.
WELL BEFORE WILSON became the best player in the world, she had her heart broken. Twice.
The 2018 No. 1 pick led the Aces to their first Finals in 2020, during the COVID season in the bubble at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. Wilson had won her first MVP trophy that season, officially announcing her arrival as a superstar.
“And then I got my ass swept”, Wilson said. “. It motivates me pretty much every single day.”
In the next season’s semifinals, Wilson had the opportunity to send the Aces to overtime in a winner-take-all Game 5 versus the Mercury.
