The Golden Knights on Tuesday delivered Las Vegas its first Stanley Cup championship, beating the Panthers 9-3 in Game 5 to clinch the historic title.
But A'ja Wilson of the WNBA's Las Vegas Aces doesn't want people — including President Joe Biden — to think it's the city's first championship. The two-time WNBA MVP scoffed at a tweet from POTUS claiming the Golden Knights are the city's "first major professional franchise" to win a title.
Wilson, the No. 1 pick of the 2018 WNBA Draft, led the Aces to the franchise's first WNBA championship on Sept. 18 2022: 269 days before the Golden Knights hoisted the Stanley Cup. She was a force for the Aces in 2022, winning her second league MVP trophy and earning WNBA Defensive Player of the Year honors as Las Vegas beat the Connecticut Sun in four games in a best-of-five series.
MORE: Breanna Stewart, A'ja Wilson favorites in WNBA MVP 2023 odds
Congrats to the Vegas @GoldenKnights on their first Stanley Cup in just their sixth season. The first major professional franchise in such a proud American city.
— President Biden (@POTUS) June 14, 2023
Today, the team and entire community are champions.
Wilson, who said she could not quote tweet Biden, also claimed the franchise had not been issued a White House invitation to celebrate their championship. It's customary of title-winning teams, at both the collegiate and professional levels, to visit D.C., and the 2021 WNBA champion Seattle Storm visited the Biden White House.
Twitter not letting me quote tweet potus tweet but …BFFR 😐😐 when is our White House visit cause … pic.twitter.com/o9uc88Qg6U
— A'ja Wilson (@_ajawilson22) June 14, 2023
This isn't the first time Wilson has spoken about the Aces bringing Las Vegas its first professional franchise championship, either. She spoke on it when Las Vegas beat Connecticut in the WNBA Finals in September:
.@_ajawilson22 and @cgray209 speak on bringing the first major title to the city of Las Vegas ‼️ pic.twitter.com/5OQGG9V7Xb
— WNBA (@WNBA) September 18, 2022
GREER: A'ja Wilson closes out one of greatest individual seasons in WNBA history
Coincidentally, this isn't the first time the White House has been the subject of controversy in regard to women's basketball. First lady Jill Biden drew the ire of Angel Reese and LSU women's basketball fans when she mentioned potentially inviting Iowa — which lost to the Tigers in the NCAA women's tournament final — to the White House.
LSU's team did ultimately make the trip, which raises the question why the White House allegedly didn't issue the same invitation to the Aces. Considering the 2023 WNBA season has already started — and considering how long it has been since the Aces won their title — it's unlikely they will visit Washington to celebrate Las Vegas' first major championship.