"I gotta cop both them!!": South Carolina HC Dawn Staley reacts to A'ja Wilson rocking her SLAM 250 cover feature merch

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley featured on the SLAM magazine cover for its 250th issue. She is the first coach to have a solo cover after appearing in 2022 with Aliyah Boston, Destanni Henderson and Zia Cooke.

SLAM released merch with the cover image to celebrate the feature. Former Gamecock player and LV Aces star A'ja Wilson was photographed wearing the T-shirt while arriving for the game against Atlanta Dream on Friday.

Coach Staley replied to the post and said:

"The black one too! I gotta cop both them!! 🥰🥰🥰"

Just a few days earlier, Wilson was photographed wearing the white version of the shirt.

Wilson was part of South Carolina's championship-winning squad in 2017. It was the program and Dawn Staley's first of the three NCAA titles. A'ja Wilson was drafted No. 1 overall in 2018.

In addition to the NCAA title, Staley also coached Wilson and the USA team to win a gold medal at the 2020 Japan Summer Olympics.

A'ja Wilson's tribute to 'second mom' Dawn Staley

Coach Dawn Staley is known to maintain a close relationship with her students. During A'ja Wilson and the Aces' second run for the WNBA title, Staley attended Game 3 and Game 4.

After the win, Wilson spoke about her special bond with Staley in the post-game press conference.

“She’s watched me win on every level at this point," A'ja Wilson said. "That’s a special moment between us. Everyone knows in this room, Coach Staley is like my second mom. So for her to come out – and she texted me, she was like, ‘I’m coming to this one’ – she didn’t surprise me this time. It was just a true moment and I knew I had to find her.

“She has really molded me into the player that I am today. She spent countless hours just telling me what I need to do at the pro level. I thought that relationship was kind of going to disappear as I got to a pro (level) but we’ve still stayed together.

"It was just truly a special moment. It was a moment that, that’s gonna be forever, something that I tell my kids about.”

What do you think of Dawn Staley staying in touch with her former players? Let us know in the comment section below.