It took too long, but the best player in the WNBA now has her own shoe

A’ja Wilson, a centre for the Las Vegas Aces, is widely acknowledged as the best player in the WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association).

- Tania Ganguli

NEW YORK - A’ja Wilson, a centre for the Las Vegas Aces, is widely acknowledged as the best player in the WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association). She is something like the league’s on-court answer to LeBron James or Michael Jordan.

She was the WNBA’s rookie of the year in 2018, was named league MVP in 2020 and 2022, and won a championship in 2022. But while she racked up achievement after achievement, one marker of basketball stardom eluded her: the shoe.

If Wilson were playing in the NBA, she would have long ago received a signature shoe, the on-court footwear designed with and for a player. More than two dozen NBA players have them.

For years, marketeers largely ignored the women’s game. But her star has risen alongside that of the league she plays in, and in early 2023, American athletic footwear and apparel corporation Nike finally told her that it planned to create a signature shoe for her.

“I probably cried for a couple of days,” she said.

The plan remained secret, and her fans got angry as Wilson continued to dominate on the court winning another championship in 2023 — without any news of a shoe. They were appeased in May 2024, however, when Nike announced that it would release her signature shoe, the A’One, in May 2025, alongside an apparel collection.

The A’One went on sale last week, with a Pink A’ura version, making Wilson the first black WNBA player to have a signature shoe since 2011.

“It’s time for people to have a shoe and see a shoe from someone like me, considering it hasn’t been done in a long, long time and it comes from a black female athlete in this world,” she said. “I’m grateful.”