A’ja Wilson won the WNBA MVP on Thursday for a third straight year and record fifth time overall.

Besides becoming the first player to three-peat, Wilson also won the award in 2020 and 2022.

The 30-year-old Wilson once again led the league in scoring (26.2) while shooting nearly 53% from the field. She also averaged 9.4 rebounds, a career-best 3.2 assists and 1.9 blocks.

Wilson received 65 first-place votes and nine second-place votes (total 713 points) from a national panel of sportswriters and broadcasters.

Lynx rookie guard Olivia Miles received six first-place votes and 40 second-place votes (442 points). In doing so, she became the first guard since 2014 to finish in the top two of MVP voting. Diana Taurasi of the Phoenix Mercury was the last guard to win the MVP, earning the honor in 2009.

Miles, who was unanimously named the league’s rookie of the year on Sept. 28, started in all 40 of her appearances for Minnesota this season. She averaged 19.8 points, 6.0 assists, 4.7 rebounds and 1.3 steals in 31.0 minutes and shot 49.2 percent from the field, 38.8 percent from three-point range and 87.0 percent from the free throw line.

Indiana guards Kelsey Mitchell and Caitlin Clark followed with 287 and 212 points, respectively.

MLB

League proposes 154-game season

Major League Baseball proposed to shorten the regular season to 154 games from 162 starting in 2029 and to expand the Division Series to best-of-seven in a plan given to players during a collective bargaining session.

Owners also proposed adding nine additional days off to the current postseason format, extending it to a maximum 42 days in a move that would give top starting pitchers potential to appear more often.

MLB would allow higher-seeded teams in the first two rounds of the postseason to pick their opponents beginning next year and would make most regular-season Mondays a day off for the vast majority of teams starting in 2029 except for those in up to two nationally broadcast games.

Cutting regular-season games would reduce the opportunity for players to set season and career records.

The players’ association said it will review the plan and will respond at the bargaining table.

Clemens to receive award from Trump

President Donald Trump announced that he would award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to fireballer Roger Clemens, calling the seven-time Cy Young winner “maybe the greatest pitcher of all time.”

Addressing a rally in San Antonio, Trump renewed his calls for Clemens to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. That’s an honor the pitcher known as “The Rocket” has yet to receive because of suspicions he used steroids during a 24-year career that featured time with the Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, New York Yankees and Houston Astros.

nfl

League urges ruling on Prediction markets

The NFL is urging the Supreme Court to rule on the regulation of prediction markets after the league accounted for $1.8 billion in trading volume on the first Sunday of this season alone, arguing that states are better positioned to oversee sports-related contracts “given the current landscape.”

The NFL filed a brief Thursday in support of New Jersey’s request for a high court decision on the governing authority for prediction markets, which provide an opportunity to trade — or wager — on the result of future events.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has maintained it has exclusive jurisdiction, while states have argued that the array of typically yes-or-no questions is akin to gambling and falls under their purview.

According to the NFL’s brief, on the first Sunday of this season, more than half of the trading volume on prediction markets — $1.8 billion out of $3.3 billion total — was connected to the league.

college basketball

One player detained by ICE, another freed

A Kentucky State women’s basketball player from Senegal, who was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, has been released after spending two months in custody.

At a hearing on Tuesday, a judge granted a $2,500 bond for Aminata Seck and it was posted Wednesday after ICE did not appeal, according to Hishem Alsalman, managing partner of the Alsalman Law Office.

Meanwhile, a men’s basketball player from Mississippi Valley State has been placed in ICE custody.

Qingfang Pang, who is from China, was detained on Sept. 29 and is being held at the Richwood Correctional Facility in Richwood, Louisiana, according to the ICE database.

Ex-Bearcat Kriisa guilty of fraud

Former college basketball player Kerr Kriisa admitted to demanding $9,000 from a victim as part of a fraud scheme.

Kriisa pleaded guilty to one federal count of wire fraud as part of a plea agreement, U.S. Attorney Matthew L. Harvey announced in a news release.

Last February, Kriisa posed as a made-up person named “Irene” and emailed a person asking for money in order to avoid litigation and publicity concerning a financial dispute, according to the plea agreement.

Kriisa, a 6-foot-3 guard from Estonia, faces up to two years in prison. Sentencing was set for Dec. 22.

briefly

Horse racing: Don Pierce, who won 3,546 races during a 30-year riding career that culminated in his election to racing’s Hall of Fame, has died. He was 89. Pierce began his career with a victory on his first mount at Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico in 1954 and went on to dominate the Southern California circuit before retiring in 1984.

— From news services