Wilson celebrated the Aces’ title with a tambourine. Around the league, the sounds of reckoning grew louder.
A’ja Wilson’s college coach, the legendary Dawn Staley, once told her that great teams have a certain vibe. The best ones have a certain sound.
After the Aces’ sweep of the Mercury — their third championship in four years — they brought a new sound to the press conference: the jingle of Wilson’s pink tambourine.
When asked about it, Wilson smiled.
“You know me,” she said. “I’m a Southern girl. And in the Baptist church, when you heard the tambourine, you knew the word was powerful.”
She shook it to demonstrate.
“This is letting everyone know that the word was powerful for us today and this whole season.”
Her timing was perfect. Through the press conference, Wilson rattled the tambourine for comedic effect — punctuating key points from her teammates, Chelsea Gray, Jackie Young, and Jewell Loyd.
Wilson knew the tambourine was funny. But she also believed it meant something — a symbol of the joy they felt in that moment.
And it captured a truth that had rung throughout the series. The Mercury were serious, worthy opponents. But the Aces had a more memorable sound.
Becky Hammon’s bunch arrived at the Finals brimming with stories from their winding season — one that started flat and then caught fire at the right time. To build trust, Hammon put them through blindfolded egg exercises, showed them slideshows of their younger selves, even prescribed movies about fighter pilots.
It sounded like they’d been to a transformative sleepaway camp — the kind that could inspire both awe and a little snark.
The snark came from their excess of talent: did a team with the best post player (Wilson), the best guard (Young), and an all-time great point guard (Gray) really need trust falls and egg races to succeed?
But the awe, which ultimately won out, came from the nature of their bond.
