“I don’t want it to ever get lost how good (A’ja Wilson) is,” Becky Hammon said last week. And under her tutelage, Wilson has just won her third WNBA MVP award, only the second player to win it unanimously since Cynthia Cooper in 1997-98. And while the Aces center’s former South Carolina Gamecocks, Dawn Staley, has been a huge influence on her career, A’ja Wilson is all about Hammon right now.

“She was someone that instilled just that boss, the leader,” the 2024 MVP told ‘Good Morning America’ today about Staley. But for Hammon, Wilson said, “She didn’t hold my hand, she didn’t cookie cut for me anything. I need that hardcore honesty.” Even after she graduated, the Hall of Famer head coach of the Gamecocks has been vocal in her support of Wilson as she dominates the league year after year. But it’s Hammon who’s been working with the 28-year-old for the last few years.

Last year’s revelation that an anonymous voter had put Wilson in fourth place for MVP caused havoc around the league. Two days ago, Staley took to X to ask if that voter would reveal themselves because she believed her former mentee deserved to be at the top. Similarly, when ESPN released their list for award rankings for 2024, Becky Hammon took issue with A’ja Wilson not being named the Defensive Player of the Year.

In a postgame press conference, the Aces HC recognized a reporter from ESPN and asked them, “A’ja Wilson — they got the MVP stuff right — the Defensive Player of the Year? If you have to, as a journalist or a reporter, have to go down a rabbit hole to find somebody else to be in the conversation, you already have the answer to all your questions.”

While this list will come in at a later date from the W, the coaches can find solace in the fact that this star center is a 3x MVP. And that’s not all! As Lisa Leslie, another three-time MVP, predicts, A’ja Wilson could become the first W player to win 4 MVPs! While the LV player doesn’t clarify it, she does have a sure response when the GMA host asks, “And with all of these records that you’ve broken, you still feel there is another tier above this?”

“Yeah, for sure, why not,” Wilson declares boldly to her. The number of awards and the statistical numbers that she has put up in her basketball career has been unlike any other. But just like each sport has its Novak Djokovic or Michael Jordan or Babe Ruth, the WNBA looks like it will have A’ja Wilson to boast.

But while Hammon might be by her side these days, the Aces center has not forgotten her OG coach.

When A’ja Wilson sported a Dawn Staley shirt at the LV Aces game

A’ja Wilson was off the court during the Las Vegas Aces meeting with the New York Liberty on September 9. She sat on the sidelines due to an injury scare, and the same face on her shirt was sitting beside her – Dawn Staley! When the Aces put up a post on X of Wilson rocking the t-shirt with her former coach, Staley herself took to X to give her a shoutout as well.

“peep the shirt 🤭” the original caption read. To this, the Gamecocks coach replied, “I couldn’t even pull this off like the @_ajawilson22 ! Love you A! Heal up soon!! 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾”

Wilson had tweaked her ankle late against the Connecticut Sun the previous Friday, which brought back worries about her 2019 injury. That was also the last time that Wilson missed a game before that Sunday, but she’s back in shape for the playoffs now. The LV Aces take on the Seattle Storm for the first game of the postseason, and it’s going to be a thrilling ride as the A’ja Wilson led-team guns for a three-peat!