The Step Back Q&A: A’ja Wilson on building something special in the Las Vegas desert
By Ian Levy
Last week, Mtn Dew announced that they had signed the brand’s first-ever female basketball player — reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year, A’Ja Wilson. It was a big move for A’ja and a WNBA player to receive a sponsorship of this kind.
Alongside NBA superstars Joel Embiid and Russell Westbrook, A’ja will be joined by a whole host of exciting new players including Marvin Bagley III, Josh Hart, and Jaren Jackson Jr. who will represent Team DEW this season. To help promote this new sponsorship, A’ja took some time to speak with The Step Back by phone about her place in the league, the league’s place in the sports landscape and what’s next for her and the Las Vegas Aces.
The Step Back: Can you talk a little about this relationship with Mtn. Dew and what it means to become an ambassador for the brand?
A’ja Wilson: It’s definitely just a lot of fun to get things going, and continue to expand my brand in this way.
The Step Back: It seemed like this was a breakthrough season for the WNBA, both in terms of viewership and coverage, but also in making issues of equity in pay and coverage a bigger part of the conversation. How do you see this honor, the first WNBA athlete to represent Mtn. Dew, fitting into that larger issue?
Wilson: It just goes to show you that people are willing to give women a chance. I think Mtn. Dew did a great job of putting me out there and show everyone that we’re ready to continue to expand the brand. Like you said, this has been a great year for us in the WNBA and I was so happy to be a part of it. You saw a huge difference in the coverage and the fan support on Twitter, and just talking about the game as a whole. So being the first WNBA rep for Mtn. Dew, it’s a lot for me to take in, honestly, because I’m just so young. I’m new to everything. I’m new to this.
I mean, we can talk about the salary and the pay gap all day but it’s just one of those things that’s not going to happen overnight. And you just have a lot of people that are willing to speak out on it and push for change and it speeds the process up.
The Step Back: You had a fantastic rookie season, accomplished a ton but also had a chance to get your feet wet and learn about the league. What kind of things are you focused on adding to your game for next season?
Wilson: Probably just expanding my versatility as a player. Whether that’s venturing out to the 3-point line, being more consistent in the mid-range, that’s definitely what I’m looking at. And just mentally preparing myself. I think I learned a lot my rookie season, like the way I may prep for a 3:00 game is totally different than the way I may prep for a 7:00 game. Those little things really mean a lot and you just have to take it all seriously because you never know. For us to make that late playoff push, I think it spoke a lot about our team and I’m just excited to get back to Vegas and continue to work.
The Step Back: As a team, what kind of things are you focused on working on for next season to make sure you’re in that playoff hunt? And how much does pace play into what you all are trying to do at both ends?
Wilson: That is always going to be part of our focus, pushing the pace. I think we have one of the youngest teams in the league and we just want to continue to use that to our advantage, pushing the pace and not necessarily setting up in the halfcourt. Just playing basketball. With Coach Laimbeer, he doesn’t put us on train tracks, he lets us play freely and that’s always a good thing because we don’t have to think a lot, we just react. As a team, it just comes with chemistry. We were new to everything last year, we were new to the city and new to the coaching staff. Now that we have a year under our belt, we know what to expect from everyone I think it’s going to be nice for us next year to make that playoff push.
The Step Back: I’m guessing you can’t talk about specific players, but with the Aces holding the No. 1 pick going into the draft, what type of player do you think could help you all fill out the roster?
Wilson: Honestly, I don’t know. I think it’s a good position to be in. We have options. We have the opportunity to really surround ourselves with great players and I’m really interested to see who we go with. But I think it also comes over to being healthy and ready to come in and play because that’s something I really learned, there’s no drop-off quickly coming off from college. It’s non-stop, it happens so quick. So anyone that’s healthy and willing to learn is someone that we can take for the Aces.
The Step Back: Can you talk a little bit about the on-court chemistry between you, Kayla McBride and Kelsey Plum? I pulled some stats before we sat down and last year, the team’s offense was about 10 points better per 100 possessions when you three were on the court together. How do you three complement each other and how does that form the team’s core going forward?
Wilson: I think we do a great job of complementing each other. We have a great point guard in Kelsey Plum and a great shooting guard like Kayla McBride, it makes a forward like me, it makes my job pretty easy because the defense has to come out and guard us. Like I said, the offense that we run, it’s pretty free and we just get to play and feed off each other. I think our chemistry really started to grow as the season went on, and I think you could see, that’s when we started to get a lot better and we can help the other two players on the court get better as well. I’m just so excited to compete and play with those girls.
The Step Back: I’m wondering if there’s anything you picked up watching the Storm’s playoff run, especially with someone like Breanna Stewart, another young versatile forward like yourself, kind of driving everything for them.
Wilson: I think it comes down to having the right pieces. Of course, you have a great player in Breanna Stewart but she’s surrounded by great role players. Everyone on that team knew their role and they executed their role every time they stepped on the court. There were no mental lapses and no breakdowns, and that’s what it takes to be a championship team. You know, it takes me back to the 2017 National Championship team at South Carolina and that’s how we won. I think that’s a common factor in all championship teams and that’s something I really noticed throughout the playoffs.