LAS VEGAS – Wait, there is more.
A’ja Wilson’s legendary quest for her fifth MVP is not slowing down. On Wednesday, she was named the Western Conference Player of the Month, sweeping the monthly honors for the season with her fourth.
With the feat, she became the first player ever to record a sweep in multiple seasons (2020).
Wilson beat out the rest of the pack by averaging 25 points per game on 49.5 percent shooting in August — helping the Aces go 7-5.
The consensus best player on the planet added 8.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 2.1 blocks while knocking down free throws at an 88 percent clip over an 11-game span. Wilson still leads the league in points (26) and blocks (2) per game with four regular season tilts remaining after the FIBA World Cup break.
It’s a fairly regular occurrence now, but last month was another of historical significance for Wilson.
Her 32nd Western Conference Player of the Week honor on Aug. 25 saw her get within one of Tina Charles’ record (33). In addition, Wilson has now won five of the last six Player of the Month awards dating back to the previous campaign.
The Aces superstar is the WNBA all-time leader with 17 Player of the Month recognitions. Charles (9) is second, and the closest active player is Breanna Stewart with six.
Wilson had highlights aplenty en route to her well-deserved August triumph. She kicked the month off with a bang — a 36-point, 12-rebound double-double in the Aces’ dramatic 84-83 road loss to Chicago on Aug. 1. She added four assists and two blocks.
The Aces bounced back with a pair of wins, the second of which came on Aug. 6 in Indiana, where Wilson dropped 26 points, 13 rebounds, three assists, two blocks, and one steal in the 86-84 overtime win.
Wilson’s red-hot streak continued back at home against the Washington Mystics. She put up 26 points, 13 rebounds, and four blocks in the opening game — an 86-76 win — of the two-game series (both wins).
The four-time and reigning MVP rearranged the history books on Aug. 16, when the Aces fell 92-87 to the Minnesota Lynx in Las Vegas. Wilson’s 32 points, seven rebounds, and two steals moved her into the No. 11 spot in the all-time scoring charts, passing Candace Parker. Wilson’s lone block was the 600th of her career, making her just the sixth player in history to reach the milestone.
Also against Minnesota, in the 98-87 road defeat on Aug. 8, Wilson became just the second player in WNBA history to notch at least 6,500 points, 2,500 rebounds, and 500 blocks. She did so in 106 fewer games than Parker (403).
The Aces fell again, 97-82 to Atlanta, on Aug. 18, but Wilson’s star continued to shine. Her 27 points and 14 rebounds put her just one game behind Elena Delle Donne (5) in the list of players to tally multiple games with at least 25 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 made free throws without a miss. They are the only two players to ever do it.
In their last two outings before the World Cup — which Wilson will sit out as a precaution due to her league-high usage rate — the Aces made fairly easy work of the Toronto Tempo.
Starting on the road, in Vancouver, Wilson dropped 27 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists in the 88-78 win on Aug. 23. It was her 191st career 20-point game, moving into second place all-time ahead of Charles (190). Only Diana Taurasi (259) has more.
Wilson’s 27 points and eight rebounds helped the Aces close out this stretch of the schedule with a 93-73 home win against the Tempo on Aug. 28.
When the Aces return from the break, at Seattle on Sept. 17, Wilson (962) will have four games to score 38 points and reach 1,000 in a single season for the second time in her career. She would become the only player to ever accomplish the feat twice.
Until last week, Wilson was the only player to have ever done it. However, Kelsey Mitchell’s 34 points in the Fever’s 111-91 win over Connecticut on Aug. 28 saw her reach 1,001 — becoming the first guard ever to do so.
Wilson holds the record for the most points in a single season with the 1,021 she racked up in 2024. But with the way Wilson and Eastern Conference Player of the Month Mitchell (25 ppg) are scoring, a new all-time high is looming large.