Dawn Staley Requests A'ja Wilson's MVP Snubber To Show Themselves
![[US, Mexico & Canada customers only] Sep 10, 2024; Washington, DC, USA; South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley speaks during a ceremony welcoming the women's basketball 2023-2024 NCAA championship team in the East Room of the White House. Mandatory Credit: Samuel Corum/Sipa USA via Imagn Images](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_4500,h_2531,x_0,y_87/c_fill,w_1080,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images%2FImagnImages%2Fmmsport%2Fwomens-fastbreak-on-si%2F01j865451ex2fwsgpfhd.jpg "[US, Mexico & Canada customers only] Sep 10, 2024; Washington, DC, USA; South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley speaks during a ceremony welcoming the women's basketball 2023-2024 NCAA championship team in the East Room of the White House. Mandatory Credit: Samuel Corum/Sipa USA via Imagn Images")
Las Vegas Aces star forward A'ja Wilson is expected to not only win the 2024 WNBA MVP award this season, but potentially become the first unanimous MVP winner since legend Cynthia Cooper did so with the Houston Comets in 1997.
While this year's MVP race isn't close, last year's certainly was. It came down to Wilson, New York Liberty star forward Breanna Stewart, and Connecticut Sun standout Alyssa Thomas.
Many people believed Wilson — who won 2022 WNBA MVP — should have won again in 2023. Yet, Wilson ended up taking 3rd place behind both Stewart (who won) and Thomas.
The way that voting works is that 60 people vote. 10 points are awarded to each first-place vote a player receives, 7 points to each second-place vote, 5 points to each third-place vote, 3 to each fourth-place vote, and 1 point to each fifth-place vote.
Stewart had 446 total points, Thomas had 439 points, and Wilson had 433.
Every voter (who all remain anonymous) had these three players in the top three except one, who put Aces guard Chelsea Gray in the third spot and had Wilson at No. 4.
This caused a lot of controversy within women's basketball. And legendary South Carolina Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley (who coached Wilson in college) showed she's still not over last year's snub.
"Let’s see if the last season’s 4th place voter reveals herself/himself with a 2nd, 3rd or another 4th place vote this season…..yeah I’m messy. 🤣🤣🤣," Staley wrote on X Thursday.
Let’s see if the last season’s 4th place voter reveals herself/himself with a 2nd, 3rd or another 4th place vote this season…..yeah I’m messy. 🤣🤣🤣
— dawnstaley (@dawnstaley) September 19, 2024
She seems to be suggesting that the voter who slotted Wilson at No. 4 last year has a grudge against the Aces icon, and may display similar disrespect this year.
What's for sure is that anybody who would consider Wilson outside of the very top MVP spot this year would have some explaining to do.
Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.