A’ja Wilson’s shoes sold out in minutes but she remains one of a kind | Opinion
At 28, A’ja Wilson is an NCAA champion, a two-time USA gold medalist, a two-time WNBA champion, a three-time WNBA MVP and the best-selling author of last year’s “Dear Black Girls: How To Be True To You.”
Add Nike icon to the list.
A limited number of her new pink signature shoes, the A’One, priced at $110 for adults and $90 for “big kids,” sold out minutes after going on sale online Tuesday, putting the Columbia native and University of South Carolina graduate on top of the world once again. Expect more shoes to be available soon in retail stores. Expect the basketball superstar to stay humble.
To Wilson, the world must look like a basketball she’s got in the palm of her hand. But she’d be the first to say her roots and her family are big parts of her success.
Her grandmother wasn’t allowed on USC’s campus. Her father was barely allowed to play basketball there. He played ball at Benedict College down the road the year that the first three Black men to play sports at USC enrolled there in 1969-70.
Now, Wilson has a bronze statue on the campus right outside the basketball arena and her 22 jersey has been retired inside it.
Since family is Wilson’s foundation, it’s become a key part of her shoe and Nike’s marketing. There’s a nod to the pearl necklace her late grandmother, Hattie Rakes, gave her as a child, Celtic symbols for “mom” and “dad” — Eva and Roscoe Wilson — and a quote on the outsole with a saying of her grandmother: “As a matter of fact, the best is yet to come.”
You’ll find another inspiring quote on the heel: “Weakness, weakness. We don’t have time for that.”
In case you’re wondering, the words are evident close-up but may not be noticeable by any opponent you blow past on the basketball court. Still, the writing is a nice touch on a cool shoe.
It was clear the shoe would sell well since Wilson unveiled it at the South Carolina State Fairgrounds in February.
Of course, she would strike gold again. The shoe’s as real as she is.
Anyone who hasn’t read her book — or better yet, listened to the audiobook, which Wilson herself reads — should put picking up a copy on their to-do list. It’s that good. Not just as a collection of life lessons for all the Black girls who have looked up to Wilson for so long but as a collection of life stories and advice for anyone who wants to know how to succeed at life and what to value in it.
“Life isn’t about perfection,” she writes. “It’s about progress.”
“When you make history, they make exceptions,” she writes.
“If you can see her, you can be her,” she writes.
The commercial that began airing this past weekend ahead of her shoe sale is no less genuine. It shows Black girls jumping rope, dancing, playing double Dutch and clapping in church then being scolded by an elder. The church scene was filmed in St. John Baptist Church in Columbia, her family’s church. Her parents and legendary USC coach Dawn Staley are also in the commercial.
Wilson remembers. How she holds onto her childhood and holds others up is a trademark of her success, at basketball and life.
Betting odds place Wilson, who plays for the Las Vegas Aces, as the second favorite WNBA player to win the 2025 MVP, just behind Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever. There are 44 games in the regular season, which starts May 16 and a day later for Wilson’s and Clark’s teams. It’s the longest season yet for the WNBA, and it promises to be a great one to watch.
It won’t be hard to miss Wilson. Look for the dominating performances and the pink shoes.
This story was originally published May 6, 2025 at 12:48 PM with the headline "A’ja Wilson’s shoes sold out in minutes but she remains one of a kind | Opinion."