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The 2024 WNBA season has been perhaps the best of A’ja Wilson’s decorated career, which is saying something for a player who won two league MVP awards before her 27th birthday.
Just how impressive has Wilson’s seventh professional season been? The former South Carolina women’s basketball star is no longer even aware of the records she’s breaking.
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With seven rebounds in the Las Vegas Aces’ 85-72 victory against the Seattle Storm Tuesday night, Wilson set the WNBA’s single-season rebounding record, with 451. When asked about it in the post-game news conference, however, Wilson didn’t seem to know what she had accomplished until the question was posed.
“That’s cool,” she said, nonchalantly.
“She didn’t know,” Aces coach Becky Hammon interjected. “You can tell right there.”
Wilson surpassed the previous record of 446 set by Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese earlier this year before she was sidelined with a season-ending wrist injury.
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It’s not the only notable WNBA benchmark Wilson has cleared this season. On September 11, Wilson scored 27 points in an 86-75 win against Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever to set the league’s single-season scoring record. The Columbia native is now at 1,021 points this season, well clear of Jewel Loyd’s previous record of 939 points that she set last season.
Wilson is averaging a WNBA-high 26.9 points per game this season, nearly five full points per game more than the next-closest player, Dallas Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale. Her 11.9 rebounds per game are second among all WNBA players, behind only Reese’s 13.1.
Wilson added that she doesn’t “hunt” rebounds and that collecting the ball off the rim is “not something that’s always on my mind.” Those remarks got an amused reaction from Hammon and Aces guard Kelsey Plum, who were sitting on either side of Wilson during the news conference.
“It makes me so mad,” Plum said while smiling.
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“I’m 6-4 and I’m around the basket,” Wilson responded. “I hope I can grab a couple of rebounds for my team. But when it comes to just getting them to get them, I’m not focusing on that. I’m focusing on putting the ball in the hoop.”
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The exchange prompted Hammon to share a story illustrating how little Wilson thinks of rebounding. In a game earlier this year, Hammon said she pulled Wilson aside in the third quarter to inform her she only had two rebounds. In the next 90 seconds, Hammon said, Wilson brought down seven rebounds.
With the scoring and rebounding records in hand, Wilson is a shoo-in to win her third WNBA MVP, which would tie Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie and Lauren Jackson for the most in the league’s history.
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“This league is tough, so if my name can be in the record book in some sort of way, it’s a blessing,” Wilson said. “That’s cool.”
Wilson was a three-time first-team all-American, a national player of the year and an NCAA champion under coach Dawn Staley at South Carolina before going on to be selected by the Aces with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 WNBA Draft.
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: A’ja Wilson has amusing reaction after breaking WNBA rebounding record
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