A’ja Wilson and Caitlin Clark had record-breaking seasons, putting up stats the WNBA had never seen before.
Wilson became the first player in league history to score more than 1,000 points in a season, and she averaged a record 26.9 points. Clark broke the league’s single-season assist mark and scored the most points ever for a rookie.
So it’s no surprise the two were honored Sunday as the unanimous choices for the AP Player and Rookie of the Year awards, respectively, by a 15-member media panel.
“It means a lot,” Wilson said in a phone interview with The Associated Press. “The preparation you put in, the approach I set myself up for this season.”
The Las Vegas Aces star was named the league’s MVP earlier Sunday, also unanimously. The WNBA will announce the rest of its awards over the course of the postseason, which begins Sunday.
Wilson finished the regular season with 1,021 points and 451 rebounds and led the league with 98 blocks. She finished third in the WNBA MVP voting last season, receiving one fourth-place vote that she said fueled her in the offseason to get better.
“It propelled me a little bit as I started my offseason workouts, but around February I was over it,” Wilson said. “I didn’t want to give that person that energy, that’s when I started to lock in.”
Clark…
