A’ja Wilson is a highly-accomplished professional basketball player for the two-time world champion Las Vegas Aces of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Wilson played for the South Carolina Gamecocks in college, where she became the school’s alltime leading scorer and helped lead the Gamecocks to their first NCAA Women's Basketball Championship in 2017.
The consensus National Player of the Year in 2018, Wilson was selected first overall in the WNBA draft and went on to claim WNBA Rookie of the Year honors with the Aces. In subsequent years, Wilson has won two WNBA Most Valuable Player Awards, two WNBA Defensive Player of the Year Awards, a Best WNBA Player ESPY Award, and an Olympic gold medal (as part of the 2020 U.S. team).
Wilson has led the Aces to two WNBA championships, been named to the WNBA All-Star team five times, and won First-Team All WNBA accolades three times. Her versatility and allaround talent can be seen in the fact that she holds the single-game WNBA scoring record (53) while also leading the league in blocked shots three different times.
Off the court, A’ja is an entrepreneur, author, and spokeswoman. She started the Burnt Wax Candle Company with her mother, Eva, and is publishing a book entitled, “Dear Black Girls.” A’ja also serves as a spokeswoman for Nike and Starry and has been named to Forbes magazine’s “30 Under 30 List.”
A family-oriented, homegrown, and downto-earth media darling, Wilson is a graduate of Columbia’s Heathwood Hall Episcopal School and the University of South Carolina (where she majored in Mass Communications). Her A’ja Wilson Foundation advocates for preventing bullying and education around dyslexia.
Presented through a partnership between the South Carolina Department of Education and South Carolina ETV.
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