A’ja Wilson hasn’t forgotten her MVP snub. In fact, she brought the receipts.
On Monday, the Las Vegas Aces held their championship parade. It was one of the wildest, totally off-the-hinges celebrations the WNBA has seen in recent memory. The entire squad had words for their haters and those who doubted them. Even head coach Becky Hammon had smoke for anyone with something to say about her team, especially when it came to Wilson.
The 27-year-old center is a walking bucket with defensive chops to match. She’s dismantled nearly every obstacle in the way, including winning back-to-back Defensive Player of the Year honors. Still, she came up short in the voting totals for the 2023 season’s MVP award.
It likely stung not to win, but it’s the voting breakdown that stuck with Wilson. It fueled her so much that she printed it on a t-shirt and wore it to the Aces’ victory parade for everyone to see.
A’ja Wilson’s parade shirt has the 1 vote she received for 4th place in the MVP race 😂 pic.twitter.com/UxYSuGLRRb
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 24, 2023
.@_ajawilson22 got the MVP votes and put em on a shirt!
Petty A’ja is my favorite A’ja 🤭🔥 pic.twitter.com/boXXiB4o0d
— highlightHER (@HighlightHER) October 24, 2023
On the back of Wilson’s shirt were numbers indicating the votes she received during the season’s MVP race, reflecting how voters viewed her worthiness of receiving the league’s highest honor. This included a fourth-place vote that the other top two contenders — Breanna Stewart and Alyssa Thomas — did not receive.
Whew. That’s elite levels of petty.
But Wilson was not done. She thanked the person who voted.
Warning: NSFW language.
A'ja Wilson came with a message for the media member for voted her 4th. pic.twitter.com/eovt7pNVhJ
— Tyler DeLuca (@TylerDeLuca) October 24, 2023
“Whoever you are that voted me fourth, thank you. Thank you so much,” Wilson said sarcastically.
Wilson said the vote meant she had more work to do before telling the crowd, “We’re coming back, baby. We gon’ do this [expletive] again.”
Cold-blooded.