Wilson’s fifth career 40-point game set a WNBA record and with Bam Adebayo watching courtside.
On Friday night at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, A’ja Wilson did something no player in WNBA history has done before. The Las Vegas Aces center scored 45 points to lead her team past the Connecticut Sun 101-94, recording her fifth career 40-point game. That puts her ahead of Breanna Stewart and Diana Taurasi, the two players she was previously tied with, and makes her the sole owner of a record that few expected to fall so soon.
Wilson was nearly perfect on the night. She shot 15-for-18 from the field, connected on both of her 3-point attempts, and made all 13 free throw attempts. No player in WNBA history has ever scored 45 or more points while shooting 80% or better from the field. She also added 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks, and a steal in 32 minutes. For the Aces, who had dropped their opening game of the season before winning three straight, the performance was exactly the kind of statement the team needed.
Wilson and Adebayo sit alone at the top
What made Friday’s performance travel further than a typical record-breaking night was who was watching from the stands. Bam Adebayo, Wilson’s boyfriend and the Miami Heat’s star center, was in the building when she made history, just as she had been courtside in March when Adebayo scored 83 points in a 150-129 Heat win over the Washington Wizards.
That 83-point effort remains the highest individual scoring performance in the NBA this season. Wilson’s 45 now stands as the highest in the WNBA. The two of them own the top single-game scoring marks in their respective leagues, and neither title was handed to them on a soft night against a short rotation.
Adebayo’s 83-point game included 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. Wilson’s 45-point night had its own supporting stats. Together, they have turned the power couple conversation into something that lives on the stat sheet rather than just in the tabloids.
A’JA WILSON TONIGHT 🔥🔥
• 45 POINTS
• 3 REBOUNDS
• 3 ASSISTS
• 2 BLOCKS
• 15/18 FG (!!!)
• 32 MINUTES PLAYED (!!!) pic.twitter.com/CXF4cplcZM— Women’s Hoops Network (@WomensHoops_USA) May 16, 2026
A building full of history
The setting carried its own weight. Mohegan Sun Arena has been one of Wilson’s favorite venues throughout her career. She scored her first WNBA point on that floor in 2018, during a 101-65 loss to the Sun as a rookie out of South Carolina. Three years later, she won her first WNBA championship on that same court.
With the Connecticut Sun organization set to move to Houston next season and rebrand as the Comets, Friday night was likely Wilson’s final game at Mohegan Sun Arena. She acknowledged as much after the final buzzer.
Wilson reflected on what Mohegan Sun Arena has meant to her career, from scoring her first professional point there to winning her first championship on that same floor. She said she will genuinely miss playing in that building.
What her teammates saw
Aces point guard Chelsea Gray recorded 10 assists and 7 rebounds and offered a perspective on watching Wilson from a few feet away, night after night.
Chelsea Gray said watching Wilson perform at that level never gets old, even from up close. She said she stays deliberately uncomfortable with complacency because what Wilson does night after night is still genuinely remarkable.
Chennedy Carter added 18 points off the bench, and Aces coach Becky Hammon spoke specifically about Wilson’s free-throw precision and her ability to keep spraying in 3-pointers without forcing anything.
Connecticut made a push late in the third quarter, trimming a 13-point deficit to two points following a run led by second-year guard Saniya Rivers. Wilson immediately responded, hitting a 3-pointer out of a timeout and converting a three-point play, igniting a 16-4 run that buried the comeback and closed out the win. The Sun played without veteran center Brittney Griner, sidelined with a left foot injury, and Olivia Nelson-Ododa, also out with an ankle issue.
Wilson, who turns 30 this year during the league’s 30th season, said playing against a young team sharpens something in her.
Wilson said facing a young, fast-paced team like Connecticut tests her conditioning in ways veteran matchups sometimes do not. She also praised the Sun’s roster, saying their young core has the ingredients to build into something worth watching if they stay together.