Reigning WNBA DPOY A’ja Wilson Lives Up to the Hype as Team USA Extend Winning Streak to 58 Games With Hard-Fought Win

The USA’s women’s basketball team continues to dominate at the Paris Olympics. Despite a valiant effort by the German team, A’ja Wilson and Co. proved to be too much for the Olympic debutants. To everyone’s surprise, Germany took a 19-16 lead in the first quarter. However, Team USA’s defense suffocated its opponents in the second quarter, as the 9x Olympic Gold medalists held them to just 10 points. The WNBA’s 2x defending Defensive Player of the Year was to thank for the large parts of it. Owing to another brilliant performance, Wilson is now leading the pack in Paris, something she is quite used to.

Wilson averages 2 blocks and 2 steals and leads the Olympics in steals and blocks combined. In total, she has 6 blocks and 6 steals. In the opening game against Japan, Wilson had zero steals but supported her team with 4 blocks. Against Belgium, though she couldn’t block any shot, she nabbed 3 steals. As for her recent game against Germany, she added 3 steals and 2 blocks as the US ran out comfortable 87-68 winners.

It was her effort that helped her team cruise to their 58th consecutive win at the Olympics. Anyone who follows the WNBA, though, knows it’s nothing surprising. It was due to her exceptional gameplay that the Las Vegas Aces won the Championship in 2022 and 2023 and both times she was named the WNBA DPOY.

In the 2022 season, Wilson averaged a league-leading 1.9 blocks and 1.4 steals per game. She was third in Defensive Win Shares with 2.4, only trailing Alyssa Thomas (2.7) and Breanna Stewart (2.5). DWS is an estimate of the number of wins contributed by a player due to defense. Next season, Wilson again led the league in blocks with 2.2 and 1.4 steals per game. She also led the league in Defensive Win Shares with 3.5.

Even before coming to Paris, in this WNBA season, A’ja Wilson is averaging 2.9 blocks and 1.9 steals per game. The Aces started the season slowly but seemed to have found their groove before the Olympic break. Meanwhile, as mentioned, Team USA strolled to their 58th consecutive Olympics women’s basketball victory in style.

A’ja Wilson leads the USA to another win

Team USA started on a sour note as Germany outsmarted them to take a 3 point lead in the first quarter. However, the Cheryl Reeve-led team made a quick comeback in the second and third quarters when they hit 25 and 28 points respectively, whereas Germany struggled to match up to the performance and were restricted to 27 combined points.

By then, Team USA had taken on an unassailable lead and the final score read in Wilson & Co.’s favor with 87-68. Team USA showcased why they are the favorites to win their eighth consecutive gold. Apart from her defensive numbers, Wilson had 14 points and 3 rebounds and she had the best +/- among the starters with +14.

The USA will hope to continue its dominating performances as we move to the quarterfinals of the Olympics. And it won’t be surprising to see A’ja Wilson continue to lead her team to victories, as she has been doing since her days at the University of South Carolina.

Stay tuned for more such updates and join us for the exciting pilot episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and SEC All-Freshman Team Selection, Silas Demary Jr.