“Its truly special": Former NCAA champ A'ja Wilson has moving words after winning Dawn Staley Community Leadership Award 

Las Vegas Aces star A'ja Wilson was announced as the recipient of the 2024 Dawn Staley Community Leadership Award on Wednesday. Wilson was honored for her dedication and for being an inspiration to the community.

The two-time WNBA MVP played for four seasons at South Carolina under Dawn Staley's coaching. Wilson was a key player in Staley's first NCAA national championship win in 2017. The six-time All-Star started the A'ja Wilson Foundation to help kids with dyslexia and to support anti-bullying causes in 2019. Earlier in March, she held the Unapologetic Girls Summit in Las Vegas.

In an interview with a reporter after winning the award, Wilson shared her motivations behind helping people and what she hopes to achieve in the future:

"I'm doing things intentionally, but also it's genuine to me. And that's what I can really appreciate when it comes to interacting within the communities or anything, just being myself, I'm so glad that we're kind of making the world a better place," Wilson said.

"We're changing some people's lives, different things like that mean the world. So just to win this award, it's truly special," she added.

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Wilson also talked about what it felt like to receive the award directly from her college coach, Dawn Staley:

"It caught me by surprise, honestly. I didn't even know what was going on, but truly special," Wilson continued. "Obviously, everyone knows the type of person Coach Staley is and who she is to me and what she means to me. So to win an award by her is truly amazing."

A'ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart speak out on lack of time off following 2024 Paris Olympics

A'ja Wilson and New York Liberty star Breanna Stewart, who led Team USA to win a gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, were not happy about having limited time off to rest and recover after returning from the competition (via The Associated Press):

"I think if it is a chance for us to go to the table and say, 'Hey, we should get more rest time,' even if it’s... just a couple of days. It’s crazy to see players play fresh off of a plane in a sense. So yeah, I don’t mind asking for that," Wilson said.

"I think that even in a non-Olympic year, you think about All-Star, it’s like, everybody needs some time after All-Star break, or it’s not a break," Stewart added.

The WNBA regular season resumed just four days after the Olympics ended. Stewart and Co. currently lead the WNBA standings with a 24-4 record for the season so far. Meanwhile, A'ja Wilson and Co. are third in the Western Conference with a 17-10 overall record.

The back-to-back defending champions take on the Minnesota Lynx next at Target Center on Friday.