Aces' A’ja Wilson named 2023 WNBA Defensive Player of the Year

Las Vegas Aces center A’ja Wilson hasbeen named the 2023 Kia WNBA Defensive Player of the Year, the WNBAannounced today. This is the second WNBA Defensive Player of theYear Award for Wilson, who also earned the honor lastseason.

Wilson received 32 votes from anational panel of 60 sportswriters and broadcasters.For thesecond consecutive year, Connecticut Sun forward Alyssa Thomasfinished in second place (24 votes). Washington Mystics guardBrittney Sykes was third (three votes), and New York Libertyguard-forward Betnijah Laney received one vote.

In her sixth WNBA season, Wilson ledthe league with a career-high 2.23 blocks per game, ranked third indefensive rebounds per game (7.5) and was 10thinsteals per game (1.40). Wilson grabbed at least 10 defensiverebounds in a game nine times. She also recorded nine games with atleast four blocks and 10 games with at least threesteals.

Behind Wilson, Las Vegas (34-6) set aWNBA single-season record for victories and earned the No. 1 seedin the 2023 WNBA Playoffs presented by Google. The Aces have sinceadvanced to the WNBA Semifinals and will host Game 1 of theirSemifinals series against the Dallas Wings on Sunday, Sept. 24 (5p.m. ET, ESPN2).

The 6-4 Wilson helped Las Vegas leadthe league in defensive rating (97.7), blocks (4.78 bpg) anddefensive rebound percentage (73.3) and rank second in fewestpoints allowed (80.3 ppg) and opponent field goal percentage(42.6).

Wilson ranked third in the WNBA inscoring (22.8 ppg) and second in rebounding (9.5 rpg), recordingcareer highs in each category. The five-time WNBA All-Star alsoshot a career-best 55.7 percent from the field, the third-highestmark in the league.

Wilson, the 2020 and 2022 Kia WNBAMVP, finished with the most fan votes for the AT&T WNBAAll-Star Game for the second consecutive year. She led Team Wilsonagainst Team Stewart in the All-Star Game on July 15 at MichelobUltra Arena in Las Vegas.

In honor of being named the 2023 KiaWNBA Defensive Player of the Year, Wilson will receive $5,150 andatrophy designed to commemorate the achievement.

Below are the voting results for the2023 Kia WNBA Defensive Player of the Year Award:

Wilson was also selected to thisseason's All-Defensive First Team, the WNBA announced today.