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A'ja Wilson and the Las Vegas Aces are trying to make history this season and become the first team to three-peat since the Houston Comets did it in the late 90s. The three-time MVP is well aware that after winning back-to-back titles, the challenge gets harder and every team is trying to bring them down.
In an interview with Tyler R. Tynes published on Thursday, Wilson opened up on the hurdles of winning in this league and how embracing the villain role can extend their success and help them collect more trophies.
"It's a quote on our jumbotron. 'You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.' That is like us. They hail us, they hail us, they hail us, then they nail us and nail us, nail us. Sometimes you have no choice but to be like, 'F--- it, this is what y'all do to me. Let's rock. Let me show y'all exactly how we get down and never shake from that."
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"So, you just find beauty in it. If we got to be the villains and that gets us a third championship, call me the Joker. I am here ready to take on that role. We're going to always be the villain ... So it's like, all right, why fight that? Let's go ahead and fight this battle, man," A'ja Wilson said.
The Aces didn't have the best regular season, as they finished fourth in the standings (27-13) after winning 34 games last season to finish first. A'ja Wilson was their hero more than once and the main reason why their championship hopes remain alive.
A'ja Wilson, Aces on the verge of elimination against New York Liberty
After beating the Connecticut Sun in 2022 and the New York Liberty in 2023, the Las Vegas Aces have a more complex path to win a third consecutive WNBA title. Besides their inconsistency in the regular season, the playoff bracket pitted them against the Liberty in this year's semifinals.
Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu have been on a tear this season and not even A'ja Wilson's MVP form has been able to stop the star duo. They took a 2-0 lead in their series after taking the first two games at Barclays Center, putting the Aces in a complicated position ahead of Friday's Game 3.
