South Carolina's Dawn Staley Makes Bold Statement About A'ja Wilson's WNBA Future
February 2 marks a milestone day for the South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball program.
Not only do the No. 2 ranked Gamecocks face off against the Auburn Tigers at home, but South Carolina icon and 2024 WNBA MVP A'ja Wilson is having her No. 22 jersey retired by her alma mater.
There's no doubt that Wilson is deserving of this honor. Her incredible collegiate career accolades include her being the program’s first National Player of the Year winner, a four-time All-American, and the first three-time SEC Player of the Year in league history, according to South Carolina's website.
Wilson also led the Gamecocks to the program's first Final Four and first National Championship in 2018 before becoming the first No. 1 overall WNBA Draft pick in school history.
And she had followed this college success up by becoming a two-time WNBA Champion, three-time WNBA MVP, and appears poised to go down as one of the best WNBA players of all time.
Although Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley seems to believe that Wilson is just getting started, which she asserted when speaking about Wilson during a February 1 appearance on the SEC Network's Marty and McGee show.
"A'ja Wilson is, by far, a local hero [and] legend for us. But what she has been able to do, and touch so many lives in our community, nationally, internationally, is just a story that is not often written the way that she has displayed her talent, her voice, her everything," Staley said of Wilson.
"Everything that she has wanted to do and accomplish, she has done. And she's only 28 years old," Staley added.
"She's not even in her prime yet! I think about 30, you're in your prime... If I'm A'ja, I'm bored. I'm bored! I've checked this off, I've checked that off, I've wanted this, I've wanted that," Staley added.
"Everything that she's wanted to do and accomplish she has done, and she's only 28 years old. She's not even in her prime yet."@GamecockWBB's @dawnstaley reflects on the career @_ajawilson22 🤙 pic.twitter.com/dE26PoIfbw
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) February 1, 2025
The prospect of Wilson still perhaps not being in her prime is scary to imagine for opposing WNBA teams.
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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.