Social media has ripped Las Vegas Aces star A’ja Wilson for one line in her speech after accepting her record-setting fifth WNBA MVP award.
Wilson, who won her third straight honor as the best player in the league, spoke at length about the award during a press conference on Thursday evening.
But in one part of her monologue, she mentioned her younger self in a way that had many accusing her of fibbing about her struggles growing up.
’15-year-old A’ja wasn’t sitting up here dreaming about being a 5-time MVP,’ Wilson said during the conference.
‘She wasn’t dreaming about being a 3-time champion. She was dreaming about surviving this world.’
For some, that last comment rang hollow considering her schooling and her parental situation growing up.
Aces star A’ja Wilson was criticized for her speech after winning her fifth MVP award
Wilson was named the best player in the WNBA for a record-setting fifth time
However, some comments led to people criticizing her for over-exaggerating her upbringing
Wilson’s father, Roscoe Wilson Jr, played basketball in college before embarking on a ten-year pro career overseas. Roscoe also works as the CEO of his own consulting firm and is a vice president at an agricultural tech company.
Her mother worked as a court stenographer and a school district administrator.
When growing up, she attended a private Episcopal school – Heathwood Hall – which currently charges tens of thousands of dollars per year in tuition. It’s not believed that Wilson was on scholarship to attend.
This led to multiple comments criticizing her for over-exaggerating her struggles: ‘Private schools and wealth is pretty hard. What a joke!!’ read one comment.
A similar post read, ‘Dang. That private school life must of [sic] been horrible. I feel for her.’
‘Is this satire? Did she not grow up, at the least, middle class?’ one user wondered.
One said, ‘she is a rich kid who went to private school… what is this nonsense?’
Wilson did not delve into the specifics of her struggles growing up, however, a 2021 profile of her may shed some light on her upbringing and her foray into basketball.
Wilson struggled with dyslexia and bullying growing up, leading to her making a foundation
Wilson also admitted to being bad at the sport growing up, leading to her work to improve
In a profile written by Katie Barnes of ESPN, Wilson says she was one of only a handful of Black students at her private school.
During her sophomore year of high school, which may have been around when she was 15 years old, Wilson was diagnosed with dyslexia. She once reflected on an instance where she was asked to read a pregame Psalm aloud and how that scared her more than playing in front of an opposing crowd.
Wilson has since established a foundation to support children with dyslexia and to combat bullying.
But Wilson also revealed that she wasn’t particularly good at basketball when she got her start in it: ‘I absolutely sucked,’ Wilson said in that 2021 piece. ‘I was the best teammate ever. You needed water, Gatorade, anything, I was there for you.’
Wilson said she stuck with basketball after watching her friends celebrate while she rode the bench. Her desire to be a part of that winning helped push her to be better.
But her father says that the hard work of improving would occasionally get to her: ‘I’d be on her, she’d go crying to [her mother], but I knew that she wanted to work hard. And I wouldn’t give her a break.’
Wilson herself added: ‘I was just so done with him, because I couldn’t separate coach from father. There would be times where I thought “God, I can’t stand this man.”‘
Eventually, Wilson pushed herself to improve. She won a national title with South Carolina and then went on to win three WNBA titles as well as her now-fifth MVP.
