Las Vegas Aces star A’ja Wilson, the WNBA MVP frontrunner, broke the league’s single-season rebounding record just minutes into the Aces’ 85-72 win over the Seattle Storm on Tuesday night.
This comes just days after Wilson both set the league’s single-season scoring record and became the first player in WNBA history to score more than 1,000 points in a season.
Compared to the attention on her scoring record, Wilson was surprised when informed during postgame interviews, according to ESPN.
Wilson then said, “It’s a blessing. This league is tough, so if my name can be in the record books in some sort of way, it’s a blessing. So that’s cool.”
Becky Hammon, Aces coach jokingly added, “No, she didn’t know.” “You can tell.“
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“Only because I don’t hunt rebounds, so it’s not something that’s always on my mind,” Wilson replied. “She doesn’t hunt rebounds”. “She just has 13 of them all the time.” Hammon countered
She went on to say, “I’m 6-foot-4, and I’m around the basket; I hope I can grab a couple of rebounds for my team but when it comes to just getting them, I’m not focused on that. I’m focused on putting the ball in the hoop.”
This record was previously set by Angel Reese who racked up 446 rebounds this year before going down with her season-ending wrist injury.
Angel is still leading the league with 13.1 rebounds per game despite her injury, which is more than one full board per game better than Wilson.
These two are the only players in the WNBA averaging double-digit rebounds per game.
Both of their season averages are the two highest in WNBA history.
Former Minnesota Lynx star Sylvia Fowles held the previous record with 404 rebounds during the 2018 campaign.
As the new overwhelming favorite to earn WNBA MVP honors this season, which would be the third of her career.
A’ja Wilson is averaging 21 points per game across her career, too, which is tied with Cynthia Cooper for the best scoring output in league history.
The Aces, who have won eight of their last nine games, will end their season on Thursday against the Dallas Wings.
