South Carolina star set to become face of Aces
Laimbeer all but announces A’ja Wilson as WNBA’S top pick
A’ja Wilson was a wideeyed adolescent the last time she ventured to Las Vegas, dreaming of playing professional basketball in the WNBA and beyond.
The next time she’ll be in Las Vegas will be as the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA draft, the face of a new franchise vying for relevance in a flowering sports market and the fulfiller of that childhood prophecy.
Probably.
Wilson, 21, was the consensus national player of the year after an outstanding senior season at South Carolina and is expected to become Aces president of basketball operations and coach Bill Laimbeer’s first selection in his tenure with the team.
The 6-foot-5-inch forward gets buckets, grabs rebounds and blocks shots at the highest level, and ESPN women’s basketball analyst Rebecca Lobo expects a rather seamless transition from college to the pros.
“This is somebody that could eventually be an Olympian, who can be a WNBA All-star and who’s only going to continue to get better,” Lobo said. “She has the pieces necessary right now to immediately help a team.”
After going 8-26 in 2017, the Aces could use her help.
Wilson grew up just outside Columbia, South Carolina, admiring such WNBA stars as Lisa Leslie and Candace Parker. As the nation’s top high school recruit, she stayed home to play for the Gamecocks and coach Dawn Staley, who lauded her talent and versatility.
“She was the top player in her class in her senior year of high school, and she’s the top player in her class her senior year of college,” Staley said. “If you look at her stats from year one to now, you’ve seen her grow and seen her become more efficient in every area of her game.”
Wilson, indeed, improved her scoring average every year and stretched her range from the paint to the perimeter.
She scores from anywhere and everywhere, earning first-team All-america honors in her last three years, and guided the program to its first national title in 2017.
“I had to be a leader,” Wilson said. “Also, expanding my game, whether that’s taking it out to the 3-point line or coming off the dribble, doing different things. Every game or every season someone saw something different out of me.”
Speaking on a conference call Friday, Laimbeer raved about Wilson but stopped short of proclaiming her the No. 1 pick.
“I tell everybody I played cards the other day and I kept getting the ace of diamonds,