"I just don't want no s**t to pop off" - A'ja Wilson goes unfiltered on black women facing heat in WNBA

Las Vegas Aces superstar A'ja Wilson has clapped back at the criticism black WNBA players have received this season. The 2024 campaign was expected to be one for the books and while the league's audience experienced growth, not everybody was happy with all the things happening around the league.

In an interview with ESPN's Tyler R. Tynes, Wilson agreed that it's been a "downer" seeing so many people criticize her colleagues as the league continues to grow.

"It really has, in my sense, because it feels like, it's not like we're timid, but it's like you don't want us to do stuff, you just don't want to hear the noise," Wilson said. "It strips us from the genuine [happiness] and pureness and love of the game. Just like, "I don't even want to go down this road." I know it's going to be some idiotic person that's going to talk crazy and then I have to continue to take the high road. That gets exhausting."

"That's something that I've really seen this year that I've never seen before. It's just like, damned, if you do, damned if you don't. And you constantly have to live in that life for four months and over time it's just, "Ugh." I dreaded being in Indiana, not because it was like the city or nothing, it was just like, I just don't want no s--- to pop off."

Wilson added that she disconnected from social media to take pressure off her shoulders and avoid seeing negative comments. It eventually helped her focus more on her real life.

A'ja Wilson's Paige Bueckers interaction with Kelsey Plum has gone viral

Amid the Las Vegas Aces' quest for the first three-peat in the WNBA since the Houston Comets, A'ja Wilson's comments about college star Paige Bueckers went viral this week. An old video shared on X showed the three-time WNBA MVP telling Kelsey Plum that Bueckers' skin color pushed her to the top.

"Us as black women, Paige reminds me a lot of you," Wilson said to Plum. "She knows how her privilege has gotten her to that point. And also, like, she's good at basketball."Like she understands her privilege. It's like what pushes her over the top in a sense. It reminds me a lot of you."

Bueckers is ready to play her fourth college season at UConn and is projected to be the No. 1 overall pick in next year's draft. A'ja Wilson, Caitlin Clark and company will be waiting for the talented guard.