Welp. Las Vegas Aces superstar A’ja Wilson has, once again, put her foot in her mouth. The now 5-time MVP made some controversial comments regarding her upbringing during her acceptance speech of her latest award.
During Friday’s Craig Carton Show, Carton took exception to Wilson stating, “15-year-old A’ja wasn’t sitting up here dreaming about being a 5-time MVP. She wasn’t dreaming about being a 3-time champion. She was dreaming about surviving this world.”
“It’s a bold-faced lie,” Carton stated.
A’ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces places a tiara over her 2026 WNBA MVP trophy as she arrives at a news conference at Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas, Nev., on Oct. 8, 2026. Wilson captured her third consecutive and fifth career MVP award. She won previous MVP honors in the 2020, 2022, 2024 and 2025 seasons. (Getty Images)
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“You went to Heathwood Hall [Episcopal School],” Carton continued. “That’s a private school, Clarence.”
To add a little background to Carton’s comments, if you were to put your child through Heathwood from first grade through high school today, it would cost almost $260,000. That’s how braindead and tone deaf these comments by Wilson really are.
“Why is A’ja Wilson cosplaying like she grew up in the streets of South Carolina? Or Poor? Or Disenfranchised? Or without a mom and a dad there to raise her without love?,” Carton asked.
“The exact opposite is actually true,” Carton said.
Those are the facts. Wilson grew up having a fairly privileged life in a stable home with her mother, Eva Rakes Wilson, and her father, Roscoe C. Wilson Jr., who was a former professional basketball player in Europe. They put her through an expensive private school, a privilege many of her fellow WNBA players, white players included, weren’t allotted.
“Is it insulting to the other women of the WNBA and other people in this country, who have had that exact plight when you grew up in a life of luxury,” Carton asked.
A’ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces wins her fifth WNBA MVP award on Oct. 8, 2026, at Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. (NBAE via Getty Images)
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Carton then lowered the boom on how Wilson is just trying to push propaganda by insinuating that she is somehow just like other athletes growing up in the inner cities of America with drugs and violence running rampant.
“But because there’s a narrative I can’t give up, which is: ‘Paige Bueckers, Sophie Cunningham, and Caitlin Clark grew up with ‘white privilege,’ if people found out that I grew up with the same privilege I’m accusing them of having, that people might look at me differently,” Carton said, as if he were Wilson.
That’s spot on. Wilson is clearly trying to make herself out to be some sort of sympathetic case to the black community, whether to fit in with some sort of victim narrative or to be considered “part of the club.”
Also, as noted by Carton, A’ja Wilson, while sitting next to Kelsey Plum and another WNBA player at one of Paige Bueckers’ college games, claimed that a key to Bueckers success was her “white privilege.”
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Speaking to Plum, Wilson said, “Paige reminds me a lot of you… She knows how her privilege has gotten her to that point. And also, like, she’s clearly good at basketball, obviously. But like, she understands her privilege. It like pushes her over the top in a sense.”
“What about your privilege?,” Carton directed to Wilson.
A’ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces greets her mother Eva Wilson after Game 3 of the first round of the 2026 WNBA Playoffs at Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas, Nev., on Oct. 1, 2026. The Aces defeated the Indiana Fever 94-83 to win the series 2-1. (Getty Images)
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In my opinion, that’s one of the most insulting things you can say to an athlete. Claiming that white skin color is why Bueckers and other white women have had success/opportunities, is insanity.
Carton went on to question why Wilson is embarrassed by her upbringing. “You are for some reason embarrassed that you had everything you needed to be successful in life, both educationally and athletically, and your parents provided that for you.”
“Isn’t that a shame that you’re embarrassed by your background? Isn’t that a shame that you want to convince the American public who’s, for the first time ever, somewhat interested in the WNBA, that at 15 years old, you were just trying to figure out how to survive in the big, bad world?”
Carton went on to mention how Heathbrook was also predominately white. “There’s nothing wrong with that. You should celebrate that your parents busted their a** to provide for you,” Carton stated firmly.
Here’s where things got very interesting in Carton’s monologue. He exposed Wilson’s clear hypocritical narrative, while comparing her to Sophie Cunningham’s upbringing.
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“Sophie Cunningham didn’t grow up in privilege. While your parents were together thriving, which is a great story, Sophie Cunningham and her parents were being evicted from their home during the 2008 financial crisis. Does anyone tell that story?”
It comes down to the simple question Carton asked: “Why cosplay that you grew up in a different manner than you did?”
The answer is: It doesn’t fit the narrative she’s trying to push as a black women, who wants you to believe white players fundamentally have an upper hand over black players.
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Wilson should embrace her upbringing.
“Your story is a story that should be celebrated,” Carton said. “What your parents and grandparents did to provide for you is a story that should be celebrated. You’re not a statistic. You’re the answer to the question little girls have in the South. Mommy, daddy, “Can I?” You’re the answer. And the answer is yes you can. That’s the story that you should embrace because that’s your real story. Your parents’ fight, your parents’ plight to provide for you and your siblings, a lifestyle that many people in the South could have never dreamt of.”