MVP A’ja Wilson scores 31 as Aces beat Mercury for third WNBA title

League Most Valuable Player (MVP) A’ja Wilson scored 31 points and grabbed nine rebounds as the Las Vegas Aces beat the Phoenix Mercury 97-86 in Game 4 to sweep the WNBA Finals and win their third title in four seasons.

Four-time league MVP Wilson made 17 of 19 free throws while grabbing her second Finals MVP honour on Friday.

She won her first in 2023, the second of the Aces’ two straight titles. Only the Houston Comets, who won the first four league titles (1997-2000), have had a better run.

Jackie Young contributed 18 points and eight assists, Chelsea Gray also had 18 points, Jewell Loyd put up 12 points, and Dana Evans chipped in with 10 for the Aces, who made 12 3-pointers and committed only seven turnovers.

Mercury guard Kahleah Copper had a career playoff-high 30 points before fouling out in the final minutes. Alyssa Thomas had her 10th triple-double of the year, her second in the postseason, but Phoenix could not overcome the loss of leading scorer Satou Sabally.

Sabally, averaging 19 points a game in the postseason, missed the game after being diagnosed with a concussion when she collided with the Aces’ Kierstan Bell late in the Mercury’s 90-88 loss in Game 3 on Wednesday.

Thomas registered 17 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists. DeWanna Bonner, who started in place of Sabally, logged 10 points and 10 rebounds, but the Mercury committed 18 turnovers that led to 26 Las Vegas points.

Wilson ‘alone on Everest’

Wilson averaged 28.5 points and 11.8 rebounds in the series, finishing one rebound short of her fourth consecutive double-double. She had 30 points in four of her last six playoff games.

At the postgame media conference, Wilson celebrated with aquamarine goggles, a pink tambourine, a white 2025 WNBA championship towel, and a tiny little burp.

“I’m a Southern girl, and in the Baptist church,” Wilson said, shaking the tambourine, “you knew the word was powerful. The word was powerful for us today.”

Wilson was a huge reason why the Aces were champions again after falling in the semifinals last season. She became the first player to win the regular-season MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, and Finals MVP in the same season. The 29-year-old forward was the best player on the court and is already in the conversation for the greatest in league history.

“You have your Mount Rushmore, she’s alone on Everest,” Hammon said. “There’s no one around.”

3x WNBA Champion x Finals MVP, A’ja Wilson 🏆@LVAces | #WNBAChamps pic.twitter.com/chdArdRaGo^[1][2][3]

— WNBA (@WNBA) October 11, 2025^[4]

WNBA dynasty

The Aces finished with 25 wins in their final 28 games.

And while LA coach Becky Hammon did not call her Aces team a dynasty, she came close.

“These ladies are at the top of the game, and it is the best basketball that the WNBA has ever seen, from top to bottom,” Hammon said.

“These players are bigger, stronger, faster and more skilled than [the league] was 10 years ago,” Hammon said. “The skill set, the level these guys are at, is not comparable.”

Aces guard Chelsea Gray was more direct. A dynasty?

“Yes,” she said. “Yes.”

“This one hits different because it was different,” said Hammon, who is 10-2 in the WNBA Finals. “There was a lot more adversity than any of us anticipated. At the end of the day we’re all humans. We wanted to get it right and get it right together.”

The Aces won seven of the eight games played against the Mercury this season, including all four in Phoenix. Wilson did not play in the only match-up that the Aces lost, a 76-70 defeat in Las Vegas on June 15 .

“We ran into a really good team, right?” Phoenix coach Nate Tibbetts said. “We ran into a team that has been through it together. We ran into a team that had the ultimate belief and trust that they could get it done. I love what we have started to build here.”

Whether Las Vegas can keep their run going depends a lot on how negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement go. Most of the Aces, like a majority of players in the league, are free agents. The team could look very different next season if players decide to go elsewhere.

If Wilson, Jackie Young, Chelsea Gray and Jewell Loyd decide to stay, the Aces could keep this run going for a while. With a fourth title, Las Vegas would match Houston, Seattle and Minnesota for the most in league history.

𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐀 𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐃 🏆🏆🏆

The Las Vegas Aces are the 2025 @WNBA Champions!#RaiseTheStakes pic.twitter.com/ft5N01nJK0^[5][6][7]

— Las Vegas Aces (@LVAces) October 11, 2025^[8]