“Yeah, a lot of good things are happening. Yeah, we’re grateful in this space, in a game that’s growing, but it’s like, “Damn, at what cost? What are we doing?”
On a September morning after her Aces won in Seattle, A’ja Wilson walks inside a production studio a few miles south of Las Vegas, wearing her bonnet, sweats and Crocs, before a trio of hair and makeup assistants swarm her to get her ready for a photo shoot. An hour later, as she waits for the shoot to begin, she opens up about everything that is swirling around her.
Wilson has had one of the best seasons in basketball history: an Olympic gold medal, the single-season WNBA points record, the single-season rebounding record, and her third MVP, this one unanimous. Despite her greatness, her Aces haven’t looked like themselves for most of the season as they attempt a three-peat. Injuries, controversies and uncharacteristic losses landed them as the fourth seed in this year’s playoffs, where they now find themselves in a two-game hole in their best-of-five semifinal series against the Liberty, with Game 3 on Friday night.
This year’s struggles have come during a historic season that has earned the league unprecedented viewership and attention. But the players, including Wilson and her peers, have reported a rise in racist…
