Aces' A'ja Wilson, Becky Hammon share jokes after new rebound record
09/18/2024 10:53 AM
There is no doubt that most believe that the best player in the WNBA is Las Vegas Aces star A’ja Wilson who just took the record for most rebounds in a season from rookie Angel Reese. On top of the Aces star already having the points record, she and her Aces head coach Becky Hammon would joke about the achievement after the team beat the Seattle Storm Tuesday night.
With Reese out for the season, it is Wilson’s record to keep on top of the scoring record and the first player in WNBA history to score 1,000 points in a year. When asked about the achievements, specfically the rebound record, she would call it a blessing which would then prompt a snarky response from Hammon according to ESPN.
“It’s a blessing,” Wilson said. “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.”
“No, she didn’t know,” Hammon said in response. “You can tell.”
Aces’ Becky Hammon keeps poking fun at A’ja Wilson
Wilson was positively emotional when she reached 1,000 points in a season since no one has done that in history, but after the win to the Storm where she scored 21 points to go with seven rebounds, Hammon would continue with the humorous responses. In retort to Hammon’s original aside, Wilson would say that rebounds are not “always on my mind” which resulted in another joke from the head coach making fun of the fact that the WNBA MVP favorite averages 11.9 of them per game.
“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,” Hammon countered. “She just has 13 of them all the time.”
Besides the rebounds, Wilson averages 26.9 points per game while shooting 51.8 percent from the field and 31.7 percent from the three-point range. Wilson would admit that she is more “focused on putting the ball in the hoop.”
“I’m 6-foot-4 and I’m around the basket; I hope I can grab a couple rebounds for my team,” Wilson said via ESPN. “But when it comes to just getting them to get them, I’m not focused on that. I’m focused on putting the ball in the hoop.”
“Earlier in the year,” Hammon said when looking back at Wilson’s rebounding talent, “it was midway through the third and I looked at her and said, ‘A’ja, you have two rebounds.’ She said ‘OK.’ In the next minute and a half, I think she had seven. If you remind her — oh hey, the other half of your job is to freaking rebound — and then she’ll be like, ‘OK, I got you.'”
Aces still in the fight for playoff seeding with one game left
The Aces are currently the fourth seed with a 26-13 record and could move up to third as they have one final game to go. However, Wilson would express that it “doesn’t matter” which seed they have as the postseason almost brings a fresh start to Las Vegas.
“I don’t care what seed we are,” Wilson said. “It would be nice to just like have a higher seed, play at home, cool, but that doesn’t matter. It’s a whole new basketball that you get a chance to play when it comes to playoffs, and it doesn’t matter what number is by your team’s name. You’ve just got to go out there and start playing the best basketball, and I think that’s what we’re trying to strive to.”
Wilson and the Aces will no doubt be a formidable team in the playoffs as they look to win their third straight championship. However, there is one final game as Las Vegas could be the third seed as mentioned before if they can beat the Dallas Wings and if the Chicago Sky can win against the Connecticut Sun.
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