“I feel like the most motivation for me—and everyone probably knows this story—is the fourth-place vote,” A’ja Wilson revealed during ESPN’s First Take after receiving the fourth-place vote in the WNBA MVP 2023 race that ignited the fire in her. Consequently, she led her team to their second consecutive WNBA Championship title in 2023. Wilson, who considered herself to be a competitor to the then MVP winner Breanna Stewart, has once again faced a harrowing situation as another Team USA star has been put on a pedestal by the FIBA instead of Wilson in the MVP race during the Paris Olympics. This time her fans look frustrated seeing a repeat of the WNBA 2023 situation, and are slamming the basketball committee.

In the MVP rankings released on Friday, Wilson occupied the third place in the list whereas Stewie was placed in the top position. “@fiba are you joking?,” one fan commented. The user was most probably pointing to the fact that Wilson has been one of the highest scorers for Team USA in this Paris Olympics. During the opening game against Japan, she hit 24 points with 13 rebounds. In the next game against Belgium, Wilson added 23 points with 13 rebounds.

When it came to fighting against Germany, Wilson didn’t back down with 15 points and 3 rebounds whereas during the quarterfinals against Nigeria, Wilson scored 20 points and 11 rebounds. Therefore, Wilson averages a whopping 20.5 points with 10 rebounds per game. Hence, she has proven her caliber in both offensive and defensive field. Meanwhile, Stewie averages 18.5 points with 5.7 rebounds per game which is considerably lesser than Wilson’s contribution. Hence, the fan was shocked to see Wilson occupy the third place while Stewie was positioned first.

This certainly looked to be a repetition of the WNBA MVP 2023 race where Wilson had 433 total points, and 17 first-place votes as the Las Vegas Aces star finished third. Meanwhile, Stewart had 20 first-place votes and 446 total points and she won the MVP battle. Though Wilson admitted that Stewart deserved the award, what she didn’t like was receiving a vote for the fourth place, and to show her disagreement, she even wore the shirt with the breakdown of the voting. Meanwhile, this time even Wilson’s fans are expressing their dissent.

Fans slam FIBA for A’ja Wilson’s third place

“A’ja Wilson should be 1st, no doubt about it,” one account commented. The user must be pointing to the fact that while Wilson averages 20.5 points with 10 rebounds per game, Stewart who occupies the numero uno place averages 18.5 points with 5.7 rebounds per game which is a little less than Wilson’s stats. Hence, Wilson deserves the first place, as per the user.

“The one who is literally averaging a double-double,” another fan pointed out that the double-double queen had extended her exceptional game into the Olympics. With 20.5 points and 10 rebounds per game, she had touched double-double even in the average.

“Stewie over A’ja 🤦🏾‍♂️ I’m just tired of fighting this,” another social media under commented. The netizen much like her and every other fan must have got a deja vu feeling as history was repeating itself. Even in the 2023 WNBA MVP race as mentioned before, Wilson finished third in the MVP race while Stewie won the MVP title that season.

“Wilson will bounce back to regain top spot,” another fan expressed. The fan must be pointing to the fact that Wilson will be plying her trade in the semi-finals against Australia, and if Team USA is to clinch their eighth consecutive gold, it can’t be without Wilson performing exceptionally well.

“Stewie 100%,” meanwhile one netizen looked satisfied with the rankings exclaiming that Stewart deserved her spot. Notably, Stewart is the other player apart from Wilson who has been firing all along and helping Team USA win games after games.

Hopefully, much like her WNBA race, these rankings will trigger Wilson who will use them in a positive light. And perhaps, this will help the USA bag its eighth consecutive gold in the Paris Olympics.

Stay tuned for more such updates and join us for the exciting second episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and Mountain West All-Freshman Team Selection, Asia Avinger.