Las Vegas Aces center A’ja Wilson has
been named the 2023 Kia WNBA Defensive Player of the Year, the WNBA
announced today. This is the second WNBA Defensive Player of the
Year Award for Wilson, who also earned the honor last
season.
Wilson received 32 votes from a
national panel of 60 sportswriters and broadcasters. For the
second consecutive year, Connecticut Sun forward Alyssa Thomas
finished in second place (24 votes). Washington Mystics guard
Brittney Sykes was third (three votes), and New York Liberty
guard-forward Betnijah Laney received one vote.
In her sixth WNBA season, Wilson led
the league with a career-high 2.23 blocks per game, ranked third in
defensive rebounds per game (7.5) and was 10th in
steals per game (1.40). Wilson grabbed at least 10 defensive
rebounds in a game nine times. She also recorded nine games with at
least four blocks and 10 games with at least three
steals.
Behind Wilson, Las Vegas (34-6) set a
WNBA single-season record for victories and earned the No. 1 seed
in the 2023 WNBA Playoffs presented by Google. The Aces have since
advanced to the WNBA Semifinals and will host Game 1 of their
Semifinals series against the Dallas Wings on Sunday, Sept. 24 (5
p.m. ET, ESPN2).
The 6-4 Wilson helped Las Vegas lead
the league in defensive rating (97.7), blocks (4.78 bpg) and
defensive rebound percentage (73.3) and rank second in fewest
points allowed (80.3 ppg) and opponent field goal percentage
(42.6).
Wilson ranked third in the WNBA in
scoring (22.8 ppg) and second in rebounding (9.5 rpg), recording
career highs in each category. The five-time WNBA All-Star also
shot a career-best 55.7 percent from the field, the third-highest
mark in the league.
Wilson, the 2020 and 2022 Kia WNBA
MVP, finished with the most fan votes for the AT&T WNBA
All-Star Game for the second consecutive year. She led Team Wilson
against Team Stewart in the All-Star Game on July 15 at Michelob
Ultra Arena in Las Vegas.
In honor of being named the 2023 Kia
WNBA Defensive Player of the Year, Wilson will receive $5,150 and
a trophy designed to commemorate the achievement.
Below are the voting results for the
2023 Kia WNBA Defensive Player of the Year Award:
Wilson was also selected to this
season’s All-Defensive First Team, the WNBA announced today.
