Congratulations to the Las Vegas Aces’ A’ja Wilson, winner of the 2023 KIA WNBA Defensive Player of the Year award for the second-straight season.
Wilson captured 32 of 60 votes from a panel of media members. Finishing second for a second-straight season was the Connecticut Sun’s Alyssa Thomas, who earned 24 votes. With three votes, the Washington Mystics’ Brittney Sykes was third. The New York Liberty’s Betnijah Laney also received one vote.
Wilson followed up her first Defensive Player of the Year campaign with a similarly spectacular encore effort, approximating her averages for defensive rebounds and steals per game while jumping to a league-leading 2.2 blocks per game. When she was on the court, the Aces’ WNBA-best defensive rating of 97.7 improved to 96.8, with both marks representing improvements on 2022’s numbers.
A’ja already is legendary
With a second-straight Defensive Player of the Year honor, Wilson added her name a legendary list of back-to-backs winners: Alana Beard (2017-18), Brittney Griner (2014-15), Tamika Catchings (2005-06, 2009-10), Sheryl Swoopes…
