Las Vegas Aces forward A’ja Wilson joked that her college coach, Dawn Staley, always needled her about defense, even though she won awards for it while starring at South Carolina. But Wilson has made that teasing a lot harder to do.
Wilson was named the WNBA Defensive Player of the Year for the second season in a row Friday. She is the eighth player in league history to win the award more than once. Wilson is a strong candidate for the league’s MVP honor, which she won in 2020 and 2022.
“Now she’s more like, ‘All right, you got it.’ And I’m like, ‘Thank you, Coach Staley,'” said Wilson, the No. 1 draft pick in 2018. “I always appreciate her. She helped me. She motives me to this day.
“Winning [a defensive award] in college, I was like, ‘OK, cool.’ But winning at this level feels different, because these are pros, world-class elite women. I’m excited to share it with my teammates.”
Wilson gave credit to Kiah Stokes, saying the Aces center deserves to have her name etched onto the award as well.
She received 32 votes from a national media panel of 60….
