A’ja Wilson ran off the basketball court after another historic performance. She became the first player in WNBA history to finish a game with 25 points, 15 rebounds, five blocks, and three 3-pointers. After speaking to her parents, as well as another group of fans who made the three-and-a-half hour trip from her home state of South Carolina when the final buzzer sounded in an 84-70 win over the Dream in Atlanta, Wilson sprinted into the locker room while waving and smiling at another horde of fans who hoped to get a selfie or autograph with the league’s two-time MVP.
At the postgame press conference, sitting next to head coach Becky Hammon, Wilson downplayed the consistent bar she raises on a nightly basis on the road to her second Olympic gold medal, third MVP, and third WNBA championship. When Nia Symone asked her about inspiring the youth, her face lit up as she received a break from the typical praises she’s received from the media this season.
“Believe in yourself and bet on yourself,” Wilson told journalists at the press conference on July 12. “Those are two things you can just do in this crazy world. You can deal with a lot of things, particularly Black women, but if you believe in yourself, no outside noise is going to block you from achieving your goals.”
Wilson has a signature shoe with Nike on the way and her smiling face is on the bag of Ruffles chips. In addition to the Gatorade deal she landed in May, she’ll also be on the cover of NBA 2K25. It’s not a bad run for the 27-year-old who didn’t want to play basketball as a child.
“As I watched [basketball], I started to fall in love with it,” Wilson said. “That’s when I just started believing that I wanted to achieve these goals. I started writing goals for myself. I literally write them down. Then once you start checking them off, you start getting like, ‘OK. I want some more, and I want some more.’ So you add more, and you just start checking it off. Then, you look and you’re like, ‘Wow. This is my passion. This is what I’m set to do on this earth. ‘”
Wilson also became a New York Times best-selling author with her book Dear Black Girls: How to Be True to You.
“I’m blessed,” she said. “I pray a lot, but I believe in myself a lot. I’m going to always bet on myself. When I do that, then I can put up a mirror to teammates and say, ‘Now you do it.’ I can’t do it if I don’t believe in myself.
“Dig deep into your well-being, and understand you have a purpose here.”
And what is Wilson’s purpose?
“Every time I see a young girl that’s smiling at me, holding my book, dragging her dad or mom down to take a picture with me, I’m like, ‘That’s my purpose,’ ” she said. “That’s my why, and I feel like I’m living that and I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
Wilson will play in the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game on July 20 in Phoenix as part of Team USA. The Olympic team will have an exhibition match against Germany on July 23 in London before beginning official Olympic play on July 29 against Japan in France.
