A’ja Riyadh Wilson, born August 8, 1996, is an American professional basketball player for the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) Las Vegas Aces.
Wilson was a college basketball player for the South Carolina Gamecocks, where she helped lead the Gamecocks to their first NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship in 2017, as well as winning the NCAA basketball tournament Most Outstanding Player title.
She won a record third straight SEC Player of the Year award in 2018, leading South Carolina to a record fourth straight SEC Tournament Championship, becoming the all-time leading scorer in South Carolina women’s basketball history, and being named a consensus first-team All-American for the third consecutive season.
Wilson was selected as the best player in women’s collegiate basketball for 2018 and earned every National Player of the Year award (Wade, AP, Honda, USBWA, Wooden, and Naismith). In the 2018 WNBA draft, the Aces selected her first overall.
In 2020, Wilson won her first gold medal at the Summer Olympics and her first WNBA MVP award. Wilson assisted in leading the 2022 Aces to win their first-ever league title.
A’Ja Wilson parents: Meet Roscoe C. Wilson Jr., Eva Rakes Wilson
A’Ja Wilson’s parents are Eva Rakes Wilson and Roscoe C. Wilson Jr. Her mother, Eva Wilson, worked as a court stenographer, and her father, Roscoe C. Wilson Jr., is a former professional basketball player who assisted her in her development on the court.
Roscoe was reared in the church because his father was a preacher and his mother was a missionary, and faith is still very important to them.
