A’ja Wilson can make basketball look easy. She proved that Tuesday, leading the Las Vegas Aces to a 2-0 lead in the WNBA semifinals even after dealing with the stinging disappointment of her MVP snub.

The two-time WNBA MVP finished third in the voting for the award this season. Missing out on her second consecutive MVP award “hurt like hell,” she said before Tuesday’s game against the Dallas Wings.

Wilson responded to the snub by putting up 30 points and 11 rebounds in a 91-84 victory. The 27-year-old forward is the first player in WNBA history to score at least 30 points in three consecutive postseason games. And after the win, Wilson noted that there is still more to do.

“This award, it’s a cherry on top of all the mountain of ice cream that we’ve built up,” Wilson said. “The sundae is still good without the cherry. This team still has so much more to do.”

The Aces are seeking their second consecutive WNBA championship. They won the first title in franchise history in 2022.

“This is playoff basketball; these are the moments that we play for,” Wilson continued. “People want to hear: ‘Oh, [not winning MVP] is going to fuel her.’ But I’ve been fueled since I stepped foot in this league.”

Her ease with the basketball hasn’t gone unnoticed by other coaches around the league. Washington Mystics coach Eric Thibault told The Athletic that she looked “so comfortable” after Wilson dropped 40 on his team.

“The numbers she’s putting up and everything, it doesn’t look forced, it doesn’t look rushed. She plays on her time and her tempo,” he said. “She doesn’t force. She doesn’t take many bad shots. And I think that’s one thing about the great players in our league — she’s obviously in that group — is you don’t feel like you can speed them up. You don’t feel like you can rattle them, and she just looks so poised.”

Her Aces teammate Kelsey Plum called her a “selfless superstar.”

“We all talk about her and her talent and the way that she plays the game, but I don’t think we talk enough about her effort,” Plum said. “I just think she plays harder than everyone. When you have a superstar that actually plays that hard all the time, it’s unguardable.

“It’s just a pleasure to play with someone that just competes and doesn’t have an ego and just wants to win. And you see that, she wins everywhere she goes.”

Wilson has set her sights on becoming an all-time great in the game of basketball. And this season, there’s always been one goal: win another WNBA championship.

“I want another, I’m greedy,” Wilson told The Athletic. “I’m a pretty greedy person. I mean, I’ll give the shirt off my back to anyone, but when it comes to my career and my legacy, I’m greedy. I want it all.”

As the 2025/26 European club season shifts into full gear, a spike in ACL injuries is shedding new light on the increasingly dense women's soccer calendar.

Germany and Bayern Munich star Lena Oberdorf ruptured her right ACL during her club's Bundesliga match on Sunday, just weeks after the 23-year-old midfielder returned to play from rehabbing the same injury — in the same right knee.

"To now face a second such setback is incredibly hard," said Bayern Munich director of women's football Bianca Rech. "We are fully by Lena's side, will support her as best we can in her recovery and be there for her in every way."

Oberdorf is far from alone, with over 20 ACL injuries impacting multiple women's soccer leagues across the world in just the last three months.

Arsenal goalkeeper and Austrian international Manuela Zinsberger went down with an ACL tear during the Gunners' 2025/26 Champions League match last week, joining standouts like midfielder Sarah Zadrizil (Bayern Munich/Austria), striker Sophie Román Haug (Liverpool/Norway), forward Liana Joseph (OL Lyonnes/France), and midfielder Maite Oroz (Tottenham/Spain) on the injury's mounting hit list.

ACL injuries have long plagued the women's game, with FIFPRO recently developing the Project ACL research initiative to investigate and alleviate the issue.

The USWNT kicks off the first of their three October friendlies on Thursday night, facing Portugal as the team takes the pitch for the first time in nearly four months.

The matchup marks the first meeting between the two nations since the tense 0-0 group-stage finale at the 2023 World Cup that saw the USWNT narrowly advance to the knockouts.

"[Portugal] is a very good team," US midfielder Lindsey Heaps said earlier this week. "Many times that we've played them before, we get a tough game and a tough matchup."

The game also provides a glimpse of an evolving USWNT roster, bringing together NWSL standouts and European club stars ahead of next fall's World Cup qualifiers.

"That's the key right now — we need to finalize [the roster] in the next two years, and obviously leading up to qualification," continued Heaps. "That's an exciting process right now."

"It's just getting everyone together, everyone on the same page and know what the standards and levels are," she added. "What it takes to qualify for a World Cup."

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How to watch the USWNT vs. Portugal on Thursday

The world No. 2 USWNT will kick off a trio of friendlies with a match against No. 23 Portugal at 7 PM ET on Thursday.

The clash will air live across TNT, Peacock, and HBO Max.

The Toronto Tempo have apparently landed a head coach, with The IX Sports reporting Wednesday that the WNBA expansion side tapped ex-New York boss Sandy Brondello as their sideline leader for the team's 2026 season debut.

The Liberty parted ways with Brondello following New York's first-round exit in the playoffs last month — less than a year after the 20-year WNBA coaching veteran led the team to their first-ever championship.

Toronto expects to make the deal with Brondello official in the next few days, as soon as the parties finalize the terms of the contract.

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After her dismissal from the Liberty, Brondello reportedly fielded significant interest from several WNBA teams, opting to join the upstart squad as the Tempo continues to build out their front office.

Toronto brought on WNBA champion Monica Wright Rogers as GM in February 2025, later appointing longtime LA Sparks assistant GM Eli Horowitz as the new franchise's assistant GM and senior VP of basketball strategy.

With the Tempo now following fellow 2026 expansion side Portland in securing sideline leaders this month, the WNBA now has three vacancies remaining in its coaching carousel, with the Seattle Storm, Dallas Wings, and New York still searching for their next leaders.

Both the Toronto Tempo and the Portland Fire will now hope for clarity from the league's ongoing CBA negotiations in order to prep for an expected expansion draft and free agency period in early 2026.

Fresh off her rookie WNBA season, Seattle Storm star Dominique Malonga is causing a stir overseas, abruptly withdrawing from her offseason contract with Turkish club Fenerbahçe this week — and creating controversy in her wake.

Malonga initially signed a three-year deal with the two-time Euroleague champions in March before she "unilaterally terminated her professional player contract with our club without any just cause," according to a Fenerbahçe social media post on Monday.

"We inform the public that we will exercise all our legal rights to seek compensation for any material and moral damages incurred by our club during this process," the team continued.

While she didn't disclose a reason for leaving Istanbul, the 19-year-old did reveal that she recently required surgery to repair a dislocated tendon in her wrist, estimating that she'd be in a cast for six weeks.

The 2025 WNBA Draft overall No. 2 pick finished her debut WNBA season averaging 7.7 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, earning herself a spot on the stacked 2025 All-Rookie Team.

Should the contract dispute remain unresolved, Fenerbahçe could attempt to disrupt Malonga's second season in Seattle due to a longstanding "letter of clearance" rule requiring approval from both the WNBA and Europe's FIBA before athletes can move between leagues.

Front Office Sports reported on Tuesday that while the WNBA signed off on the 19-year-old's Turkish contract, Fenerbahçe could deny her ability to return to the US league "under the condition that she violated the terms of her contract."

"If the season tips off in May as it did in 2025, this would give Fenerbahçe and Malonga about six months to rectify any potential dispute and clear her for a WNBA return," warned FOS.