A'ja Wilson, Alanna Smith Make History as 2025 WNBA Co-Defensive Players of the Year

For the first time in WNBA history, two players are sharing the Defensive Player of the Year trophy.

Minnesota Lynx forward Alanna Smith and Las Vegas Aces center A'ja Wilson each received 29 first-place votes.

Smith is the third Lynx player to be named the DPOY, joining Sylvia Fowles and teammate Napheesa Collier. This is Wilson's third win in four years, tying Sheryl Swoopes for the third-most ever.

Smith's on-court production doesn't jump off the page. She averaged 9.6 points, 5.1 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 1.9 blocks.

But the versatile Australian was instrumental in Minnesota finishing with the league's best defensive rating (97.5), per WNBA.com.

Her block percentage (6.6) was second only to the Seattle Storm's Ezi Magbegor. According to WNBA.com, she held opponents to 39.2 percent shooting in the paint outside of the restricted area, and players only shot 32.4 percent on three-pointers above the break when matched up against her.

"I think right now, in the scope of the league, Lan is the most underrated for what she does," Lynx guard Kayla McBride said in August, per The Next's Terry Horstman. "She's on the best team in the league, but she probably does more and puts her body on the line more than any of us. We're not sitting at 27-5 without Lan and it starts on defense. She takes responsibility for the best post player, deflections, rebounds, steals, her and Phee are always our deflection winners. I just think it's very underrated what she does, especially on the defensive end."

Lynx forward Bridget Carleton elaborated on the indirect effect Smith can have through her presence inside.

"Lan's our anchor to what we do defensively," Carleton said, per the Star Tribune's La Velle E. Neal III. "We know as guards we can get under pressure and make things difficult for closing guards because we have them behind us, and Lan is playing against some of the biggest bigs in the league, as undersized as she is, and she still makes it hard for them."

Smith was generally considered one of the biggest omissions from the 2025 All-Star team. She wasn't one of three Lynx players (Collier, McBride and Courtney Williams) who made the cut.

Now, the 29-year-old has some hardware to prove how valuable she was to Minnesota in 2025.

Wilson, meanwhile, adds to her sizable trophy cabinet. It's tough to say anything novel or new about the three-time MVP, who may be heading for a fourth, when she has maintained such an absurdly high performance level for multiple years.

Wilson averaged 10.2 rebounds, 1.6 steals and 2.3 blocks to build her DPOY candidacy. According to WNBA.com, she held opponents to 61.9 percent shooting inside the restricted area and 41.5 percent elsewhere in the paint. Three-point shooters also made just 30 percent of their attempts above the break when matched up against the 6'4" big.

The Aces went on quite the roller-coaster ride in 2025.

After suffering a 27-point loss to the Indiana Fever in July, head coach Becky Hammon said her team displayed "a complete lack of professionalism" in the game. The worst was yet to come as Las Vegas was blown out by 31 points and then 53 points in matchups with the Lynx. After the first of those two outings, Hammon called the defense "atrocious."

The Aces proceeded to close the regular season on a 16-game winning streak. During that span, they were second to the Atlanta Dream in defensive rating (98.2), per WNBA.com.

In the most critical point of the regular season, Las Vegas transformed into an elite team again, and Wilson was front and center making it happen.

The Associated Press already honored the 29-year-old as its overall Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year in the WNBA.

"Considering coach (Dawn) Staley was so hard on me about my defense in college, I'm glad I can have some success at the pro level multiple times," she told the AP's Doug Feinberg.

This may not be the last accolade Wilson collects. She's bound to be an MVP finalist ahead of Sunday's announcement, and she's all but guaranteed to be an All-WNBA first-teamer for the fifth time when those are revealed Oct. 7.

Maybe the Aces will even be lifting a third WNBA title next month.