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For all of three weeks, superstar rookie Angel Reese held the WNBA record for rebounds in a single season.
But Reese’s rookie season was cut short due to a wrist injury, allowing presumptive league MVP A’ja Wilson to break that record less than a month later.
And while the record clearly meant a lot to Reese, who was often accused of stat-padding and number hunting due to brutal shooting percentage, it doesn’t appear to mean all that much to Wilson.
I asked A’ja Wilson about setting the WNBA’s new record for rebounds in a season.
Wasn’t surprised by her answer, but Becky Hammon and Kelsey Plum always surprise me lol.
pic.twitter.com/PZx3H2064I— Callie Lawson-Freeman (@CallieJLaw) September 18, 2024
“Record for what?” Wilson said when asked what the record meant to her after breaking it. “Rebounds? Oh, um, that’s cool. I don’t hunt rebounds, you know, so it’s not something that’s always on my mind. But when it comes to just getting the basketball for my team—”
Even Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon got in on the fun.
“She doesn’t hunt rebounds, she just has 13 of them all the time,” she added.
Wilson is an elite rebounder. But she says that grabbing rebounds is often just something that happens within the flow of the game.
“I mean, I’m 6’4’’ and I’m around the basket, I hope I can grab a couple rebounds for my team,” she continued. “But when it comes to just getting them to get them, I’m not focused on that, I’m focused on putting the ball in the hoop… It’s a blessing, this league is tough, so if my name could be in the record books for some sort of way, it’s a blessing. That’s cool.”
That’s a stark contrast to Reese, who had a much different answer after she initially set the record on Sept. 1.
“Coming into [the WNBA] I just knew my motor,” Reese said. “Offensive rebounds and defensive rebounds is something that I know I can always do. I knew it was going to translate right away.”
Rebounding is, obviously, extremely important. So there’s nothing wrong with honing that skill and taking pride in it. But it’s a rough look when you’re accused of using them to stat pad. Especially when the league MVP outdoes you just weeks later while seemingly not even noticing.