The star-studded 2025 WNBA MVP race came to an end on Sunday. The WNBA announced that A'ja Wilson is this year's Most Valuable Player. She received the award surrounded by her teammates, family, and boyfriend, Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo.
Bam Adebayo surprised his girlfriend A’ja Wilson with her FOURTH WNBA MVP trophy 🥹❤️
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 21, 2025
(via @WNBA, @LVAces , @NBA) pic.twitter.com/BWOq078bNA
Wilson became the first-ever player to win the award four times. She has only been in the league for 8 years — so yes, that means she's won MVP 50 percent of the time. You can clearly see how excited the people closest to her are, but her team still has work to do.
The Las Vegas Aces faced off against the Indiana Fever in Game 1 of the WNBA semifinals on Sunday afternoon. Vegas may have snuck past the Seattle Storm in round 1, but the Fever have proven to be a tough opponent, walking away with the 89-73 win — breaking the Aces' 13-game home winning streak.
Some of the Aces stars struggled in Game 1. Wilson, while having 16 points, only shot 27.3 percent from the floor. This is uncharacteristic, given she's shooting 50.5 on the season. Chelsea Gray had 13 points, and Jackie Young put up 19 herself. The Aces' starting forward, NaLyssa Smith, went down with an injury after playing only 15 minutes, recording only 4 points.
Kelsey Mitchell has never been better
We could highlight which Aces players underperformed, but the real story here is Indiana guard Kelsey Mitchell. She had a monster game; in fact, she's had a monster playoff run. Including her 34-point performance yesterday, she is averaging 26.0 points per game over the Fever's four playoff matchups. She shot 4-of-6 from beyond the arc yesterday afternoon. She even broke a few records.
Kelsey Mitchell in Game 1 vs. the Aces:
— espnW (@espnW) September 21, 2025
🏀 Most points by a player in their first career semifinal game
🏀 Second-most points in a playoff game in Fever history
🏀 First Fever player with 30 PTS in a playoff game since 2012 pic.twitter.com/KWYpOyVZkY
Kelsey Mitchell had a great regular season, but fans knew she would have to take it up a notch in the postseason, mostly because the Fever have been riddled with injuries. Sophie Cunningham, Caitlin Clark, Sydney Colson, Chloe Bibby and Aari McDonald all suffered season-ending injuries.
I am sure Fever fans were already on cloud nine after pulling off the upset against the Atlanta Dream in round 1 — they're probably feeling even better after watching Mitchell's performance against the Aces in Las Vegas yesterday.
As for the Aces, I am confident they will recover from this setback. They are a dominant squad, but must find an answer for Kelsey Mitchell and her efficiency. This most likely includes some Vegas players stepping it up a bit. Aces guard Dana Evans put up 14 points off the bench yesterday — but they will also need to see some more productivity from Jewell Loyd and Kierstan Bell if they want to keep this series, and playoff run alive.