TRENDING NFL Week 6 live updates Rays take 3-2 ALCS lead Zero carries for Cam Miami, BYU are 1-2 Fantasy Basketball sign up Story by Story by A’ja Wilson cried in her coach’s arms after a playoff loss. The moment revealed her own superpower Jayson Jenks Mon, October 19, 2026 at 4:16 AM UTC · 3 min read About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This story is part of Peak, The Athletic's desk covering the mental side of sports. Sign up for Peak's newsletter here .
Tanisha Wright coached A'ja Wilson, a five-time WNBA MVP, for two seasons as an assistant with the Las Vegas Aces. She is now the head coach of Penn State.
In 2021, when I was an assistant with the Las Vegas Aces, we lost in the semifinals against the Phoenix Mercury. We were clearly the heavy favorite to win that series and return to the WNBA championship.
As we were coming off the court, A'ja Wilson cried in my arms. I was shocked because I hadn't witnessed something like that before. Not just from her, but from someone of her caliber.
A'ja is clearly a superstar, but she understood what had happened. We were the higher seed. We made the Finals the year before and then we came back with an even better team. She took that all to heart, and she took the loss that hard. She cared that much. Her emotions were so raw.
And to me, that is her superpower: She cares. And she cares about every single aspect, not just on the court.
After that loss to Phoenix, she went to a different level. A completely different level. The jump she made in one single offseason was incredible to watch from afar. That's what I learned about her because of that loss: how devoted and committed she was to living up to her greatness.
She has such a deep care for how she approaches the game, how the team is, the whole experience. It translates to everything she does: her care for the game, her care for attention to detail, her care for her own growth and the growth of the game.
It shows up every day in her work. If you have a deep love and a deep care for what you're doing, then it shows up in how you show up every single day for yourself, for your teammates, for your coaches, for your community. That translates to her success on the court.
You can't do what she's done without being present, without having your feet exactly where they are. If you don't have that level of attentiveness, it's hard to show up every single day and be as great as A'ja is.
I started coaching with the Aces in 2020. You kind of think: Here's this budding superstar . We were in the bubble that year, and I started noticing that about her the minute I showed up.
I used to describe her this way: She's the right kind of superstar. She checks every single box.
She wanted to be coached. Here I was, a first-time WNBA assistant coach, and I ran a lot of our practices. I'd tell her: A'ja, you need to run harder .
Her response would be: OK, I got you, T .
It might seem overly simple, like there should be more, but that's just who she was.
It didn't matter if you were a first-time coach or a former player. You could laugh with her and talk trash to her. She set the tone for the team every single day.
And she did it because she cared so much about everything.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic .
Las Vegas Aces, South Carolina Gamecocks, WNBA, Sports Business, Peak, Sports Leadership
Source: Sports
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