Caitlin Clark has sealed the deal for ROTY by officially helping the Indiana Fever qualify for the playoffs. Hence, the murmurs around her and A’ja Wilson’s MVP contention have gathered sound and pace. However, not so much for Clark. The first-overall pick recently had a media interaction where she praised Wilson, who has been the mainstay player for the Aces, much like how Clark has been for the Fever, and gave her vote to the 2x WNBA MVP.

The 2x AP Player of the Year quashed all chatters about the competition between her and Wilson on Tuesday. Clark was asked about Wilson’s game and the current WNBA assists leader didn’t shy away from praising her opponent. “She’s pretty incredible. I mean you watch her and it’s just unguardable… There’s nothing anybody can do to stop it. Like she just like dominates whether it’s her mid-range game, she puts it on the floor. She’s just so athletic but also she affects the game at both ends. She’s a defensive player, great rim protector. Just so athletic,” Clark shared while applauding the former South Carolina Gamecocks star.

Talking about Wilson’s additional growth as a team leader this year, the 2x National Player of the Year mentioned, “And obviously she’s been able to shoot the threes this year so… everybody in the league knows you can’t guard it, you basically live with what she’s going to do to you every single night. You contain it as best you can. She’s gonna make some shots, it’s gonna be tough and like I said it’s gonna be a tall task to contain multiple people.”

According to Clark’s fans, the Des Moines-born deserved to win the MVP award this season. However, Wilson’s exceptional performance had kept Clark on the back burner in the race. The 2x WNBA Champion, since the beginning of the season, wanted to redeem herself from the MVP snub last year. Hence, coming into the league, she made her intentions clear when she scored a whopping 36 points and 12 rebounds during a game against the Dallas Wings in June. From there on, her name for the MVP title gathered support from the W fans as Wilson took the onus of the team in the absence of Chelsea Gray.

The 2023 WNBA Finals MVP was the center of attention after she hit 42 points against the Wings in August, which was one of the defining performances of this WNBA season. Overall, she averages an exemplary 27.3 points per game with 11.9 rebounds per game and has led the team in both offense and defense. Currently, she leads the tally in points average and blocks average (2.7 blocks per game) this season apart from ranking second on the rebounds average list just next to Angel Reese. Plus, in last week’s game against the Phoenix Mercury, the Aces’ center had hit 33.3% shots from beyond the arc, proving her critics wrong about her long-range shooting skills. However, an injury has cut short her time on the court.

Will A’ja Wilson be able to redeem herself from last season’s MVP snub?

All was going well for Wilson before she sustained an ankle injury during the game between the Aces and the Connecticut Sun on Friday. With only 5 seconds for the game to end, the Sun star Marina Mabrey tried to score a layup but missed it. Wilson, who is already one of the best rebounders, collected a rebound as the Sun stars Brionna Jones and DiJonai Carrington tried to grab the ball.

Though the ball stayed with Wilson, Jones fell on her ankle as the 28-year-old limped to the sidelines. Nonetheless, the back-to-back WNBA champion didn’t walk out and scored a free throw off the foul, helping her team emerge victorious by a 72-67 margin. While the 2× WNBA MVP did not express much at that time, she could not ply her trade in the next matchup against the Liberty.

Hence, fans are hoping for a healthy comeback for Wilson. And hopefully, after Clark has given her nod, Wilson will be confident about bagging the MVP award this season.