How many people can say they have a statue dedicated to them? Much less one in their hometown, where they also happened to play college basketball? A’ja Wilson sure can. The Columbia, South Carolina-raised basketball star did not have to travel far for college, committing to her hometown South Carolina Gamecocks, where she would not only go on to win big but also set an example for generations to come.
As the No. 1 high school recruit in 2014, Wilson could have gone virtually anywhere for college. The top schools in the league were likely all but begging her to join their program. She didn’t have to look far, though, deciding to stay close to home on South Carolina’s campus.
In four years at South Carolina, Wilson was on the First Team All-SEC every single season and led the Gamecocks for four consecutive SEC tournament championships. In her junior season, she led her team to the program’s very first NCAA National Championship. In her senior year, she won National Player of the Year, before going on to be drafted No. 1 overall to the Las Vegas Aces in the WNBA.
Wilson’s impact has only grown since college. She is the first WNBA player in history to win four MVP awards, getting the honor in 2020, 2022, 2024, and 2025. She is a three-time WNBA champion, leading the Aces to three titles in four seasons. She holds the record for the highest per-game points average in a single season in WNBA history, scoring 26.87 points per game in the 2024 season. She also holds the single-season points record, having scored a total of 1021 points in the 2024 season.
On the national level, Wilson is already making her mark on Team USA, as a two-time Olympic and World Cup gold medalist. In both of her Olympic appearances, Wilson was named to the tournament All-Star team, and at the 2024 Paris Olympics, she was the tournament MVP.
Off the court, Wilson is a trailblazer as well. In 2025, she launched her first signature shoe with Nike, the A’One. When the shoe originally launched, it sold out in less than five minutes. She also wrote a book, Dear Black Girls: How to be True to You, that launched onto the New York Times Bestseller list. All of which continues her mission to empower young people through her example.
In 2021, South Carolina announced they would be installing a statue of Wilson on campus. “A’ja Wilson’s accomplishments, on and off the basketball court, make this statue so deserving,” South Carolina Athletics Director Ray Tanner said in a press release at the time. “She is an outstanding representative of Gamecock Athletics and our University. I am delighted that we can celebrate her in this manner. Thank you to everyone who helped get this done, including our great donors.”
In 2025, South Carolina retired Wilson’s No. 22 jersey, holding a ceremony for her on campus, making her the second player in program history to be honored in that way.
So much of Wilson’s impact on the women’s basketball community and her own community at home hits harder because she chose to go to South Carolina. As a role model to young people in her community, she proved that you can be the best in the world, but that your community is still a huge part of that success. Wilson’s choice to go to South Carolina was also a huge part of the continued parity we see in women’s basketball, even over a decade later. She continued to break the mould of what it meant to be a top recruit, and what that meant for your future as a women’s basketball player.
The best part is that A’ja Wilson is still writing her own story. There is so much left to see and learn from one of the sport’s brightest stars.
