A'ja Wilson pulls up to Las Vegas Aces game wearing Dawn Staley t-shirt

After barely missing out on MVP honors last year, Las Vegas Aces superstar A’ja Wilson has been on a mission this year. She recently stuffed the stat sheet with her fifth 20-point, 10-rebound performance, logging a double-double in all of the Aces games this year.

And on Friday evening ahead of her game with the Atlanta Dream, she decided to honor her old college basketball coach, Dawn Staley, by wearing a t-shirt with her on it.

A'ja pulled up to Aces game rocking Dawn Staley shirt 🔥 pic.twitter.com/c23sbQNo0t

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 31, 2024

Staley led the Gamecocks to an undefeated season this year and another national championship. She’s built the Gamecocks into one of the greatest dynasties in women’s college basketball history. And the more time she stays there, the greater her legacy will continue to grow.

The Aces lost 78-74 to the Dream on Thursday night. Wilson is posting MVP type numbers this year for Las Vegas, averaging 26.2 points and 13.2 rebounds per game.

A’ja Wilson recently shared her thoughts on the WNBA and the attention the league has been receiving this year

Wilson recently discussed a number of topics during an interview with Boardroom, including the WNBA needing to take advantage of all the attention it is currently receiving.

“It’s like we know the moment is coming, but we don’t know how to just be ready for it,” A’ja Wilson said. “I feel like sometimes we have to let stuff hit the fan to then be like, ‘Oh, snap.’ And we can’t do that now. That may have worked years ago, but right now, in the moment, we have to be ready for anything. Because the first impression has to be the best impression when we’re talking about the WNBA.

“So I think for us, as the W, and I’m speaking for an entire league right now, which is scary. We have to really be better at being ready and in the moment.”

The league rebounded nicely on regular season opening night, with Caitlin Clark and the Fever bringing in more than 2 million viewers.

Wilson hopes that the newfound attention the league is getting is here to stay.

“We’re in a movement, and I pray it’s a movement and not a trend, because we die down very, very quickly. People die down. The hype can be here and then it drops,” Wilson said. “But the movement, I feel like we have to do a better job of understanding what the movement is and being ready for that and knowing that this is the growth that we’ve been wanting, this is the growth that we’ve needed and now it’s about time.

“So now it’s like, ‘No, people watch us.’ We’re not getting the ‘go back in the kitchen’ comments, the ‘make me a sandwich’ comments. It’s like, ‘No, fly us out.’ People are in my mentions saying, ‘We want to get flown out.’ 

Wilson has won two WNBA titles, two WNBA MVPs and a WNBA Finals MVP. She is doing her part to help promote the league and is optimistic fans will continue to tune in.

On3’s Matt Connolly also contributed to this article.