LAS VEGAS — The WNBA announced on Thursday that Las Vegas Aces center-forward A'ja Wilson has been named the 2026 Kia WNBA Most Valuable Player. Wilson is the first player in the 30-year history of the WNBA to win the MVP award in three consecutive seasons.

Wilson received 65 of 74 first-place votes and nine second-place votes for a total of 713 points from a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. Minnesota Lynx rookie guard Olivia Miles finished in second place with 442 points and six first-place votes, while Indiana Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell took third with 287 points and two first-place votes.

Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark finished fourth with 212 points and one first-place vote, and New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart placed fifth with 171 points. Wilson will receive $60,000 and a trophy designed by Tiffany & Co. for the honor.

The award extends Wilson's WNBA record to five Kia WNBA MVP titles, having previously won in 2020, 2022, 2024, and 2025. Cynthia Cooper is the only other player to have earned the WNBA MVP award in back-to-back seasons, winning in 1997 and 1998.

In the 2026 season, Wilson averaged 26.2 points, 9.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.9 blocked shots, and 1.4 steals in 32.0 minutes per game across 41 games. She led the league in points per game for the third straight season and in blocks per game for the fifth consecutive season, while pacing the WNBA in efficiency rating with a 30.4.

Wilson's 26.2 points per game rank second in league history, behind her own mark of 26.9 set in 2024. Her career scoring average has increased to 22.1 points, the highest figure in WNBA history, though she ranked second in total points for the season with 1,073, behind Mitchell's 1,086.

She shot 52.7 percent from the field, 40.4 percent from three-point range, and 86.4 percent from the free throw line, setting career highs with 38 three-pointers made, 94 attempts, 279 free throws made, and 323 attempts. Wilson also climbed to 11th on the WNBA's all-time scoring list with 6,792 points after beginning the season 21st, leaving her 12 points from passing Sue Bird for 10th place.

During the regular season, Wilson earned all four Kia WNBA Western Conference Player of the Month awards and was recognized as the Western Conference Player of the Week five times in Weeks 1, 5, 10, 13, and 15. On May 15, 2026, she scored 45 points against the Connecticut Sun, becoming the first player in WNBA history to record multiple games of at least 45 points in a career. The Las Vegas Aces finished the 2026 regular season with a 31-13 record and earned the No. 3 seed in the WNBA Playoffs.