Ranking the biggest shots in WNBA Finals history: Where does A'ja Wilson's game-winner fall?

A'ja Wilson hit the biggest shot of her career on Wednesday night, a fadeaway jumper with 0.3 seconds remaining in Game 3 of the 2025 WNBA Finals to gave the Las Vegas Aces a commanding 3-0 lead over the Phoenix Mercury. The Aces are now one win away from claiming their third title in four years. 

Las Vegas was up by 17 entering the fourth quarter, and should have cruised to victory, but Phoenix embarked on an incredible comeback to tie the game in the final minute. Wilson ensured that the Aces' work over the first three quarters did not go to waste. 

Wilson finished with 34 points, 14 rebounds, four assists and three blocks in one of the best individual Finals performances ever. But what about her shot, specifically? Where does that rank in Finals lore? Let's take a look back through the archives to put her shot into historical context. 

Here are the biggest shots in WNBA Finals history:

8. Alana Beard: Game 1, 2016 Finals

Beard, who won two Defensive Player of the Year awards and made nine All-Defensive Teams, was not much of a scorer later in her career with the Los Angeles Sparks, but she became an unlikely hero with a buzzer-beating jumper in Game 1 of the 2016 Finals. 

As time wound down at the end of regulation, Chelsea Gray drove to her right and kicked it out to Beard in the corner. Beard buried the shot, which turned out to be a two-pointer, while falling into the Sparks' bench and was mobbed by her teammates. 

The Sparks would go on to win the 2016 title in five games. More on that later. 

7. Diana Taurasi: Game 3, 2014 Finals

After leading the Phoenix Mercury to championships in 2007 and 2009, Taurasi got her team back to the Finals in 2014, where they faced off against the Chicago Sky. The Mercury were far superior to the Sky and won Games 1 and 2 by a combined 50 points. 

Game 3 was much closer. With less than 30 seconds to play, the score was tied at 82-82 and the Mercury had possession. To no surprise, they put the ball in Taurasi's hands and let her go to work. She drove to the basket, drew the contact from Coutney Vandersloot and converted the and-one with 14 seconds left to give the Mercury the win and the title. 

Taurasi was named Finals MVP for the second time in her career. 

6. A'ja Wilson: Game 3, 2025 Finals

The Aces were well on their way to a comfortable Game 3 win until Kahleah Copper and the Mercury embarked on a major comeback. After trailing by 17 points entering the fourth quarter, the Mercury tied the game at multiple points in the final minutes. They even had a chance to take the lead with less than 30 seconds to play, but missed. 

With five seconds left, the Aces called a timeout and set up a simple play: get the ball to A'ja Wilson. The four-time MVP knew what to do. Despite being surrounded by multiple defenders, Wilson rose up for a fadeaway jumper that hit the rim three times before dropping through the net to put the Aces up, 90-88, with 0.3 seconds remaining. 

Wilson's jumper is the fourth-latest game-winner in Finals history and gave the Aces a commanding 3-0 lead in the WNBA's first-ever best-of-seven series. 

5. Sabrina Ionescu: Game 3, 2024 Finals

For much of Game 3 of the 2024 Finals, Ionescu was a mess. She was barely shooting, her few attempts weren't going in and she couldn't take care of the ball. Then, suddenly, she flipped the switch. She assisted on a go-ahead bucket by Jonquel Jones, then hit a 3-pointer to give the Liberty, once down by 15, a four-point lead. 

The Lynx would come back to tie the game at 77-77, but the Liberty were able to hold the ball for one final shot. Ionescu let the clock melt away before she shook her defender and let it fly from just inside the logo. Her 28-foot triple caught nothing but net and gave the Liberty a pivotal win. 

The Liberty went up 2-1 in the series with their dramatic Game 3 win, and would go on to win the first title in franchise history with an equally thrilling victory in Game 5. 

4. Nikki Teasley: Game 2, 2002 Finals

Teasley was the No. 5 overall pick in the 2002 WNBA Draft and became an immediate contributor for the Los Angeles Sparks. That didn't change in the playoffs. In fact, she only got better. While she primarily made her mark as a playmaker, dishing out 7.8 assists per game in the playoffs, her most memorable moment came as a scorer.

Back in those days, the Finals was a best-of-three series, and the Sparks won Game 1 over the New York Liberty. In Game 2, the score was tied at 66 and the Sparks had the ball. Teasley was trying to feed Lisa Leslie in the post, but there was no room to make a pass so she had to fire away herself. Her 3-pointer went in with two seconds remaining to win the game and the title for the Sparks. 

The Sparks 2002 title completed their repeat, and they remain one of only three teams to ever win back-to-back titles. 

3. Teresa Weatherspoon: Game 2, 1999 Finals

With just two seconds remaining in Game 2 of the 1999 Finals, Tina Thompson scored to put the Houston Comets in front. Everyone expected that to be the game- and title-winning shot for the dynastic Comets, but Teresa Weatherspoon had other ideas. 

The Liberty point guard, known far more for her defense than her offense, put up a halfcourt heave that went in off the glass and gave New York a stunning victory that tied the best-of-three Finals. Unfortunately for Weatherspoon and company, they would go on to lose Game 3 and the Finals just 24 hours later. 

Known as "The Shot," Weatherspoon's miraculous effort is still perhaps the most well-known single moment in league history. 

2. Maya Moore: Game 3, 2015 Finals

Moore's career only lasted eight seasons, but she packed two decades worth of accolades and highlights into those years. The third of the four titles she won with the Minnesota Lynx came in 2015, when they defeated the Indiana Fever in five games. 

In Game 3, with the series tied at 1-1, the two teams battled back and forth in an incredible game that looked like it could go either way down the stretch. Moore ensured it went to the Lynx with an iconic buzzer-beater. After catching the inbounds pass, she pump faked to create space, then pulled up from the top of the arc and held her follow through as the ball fell through the net to give the Lynx an 80-77 victory.

The angle from the opposite baseline, which shows Moore's shot in mid-flight in front of the opposing crowd, is often compared to Michael Jordan's game winner in Utah during the 1998 NBA Finals. 

1. Nneka Ogwumike: Game 5, 2016 Finals

The 2016 Finals, which the Sparks won in five games over the Lynx, was only possible because the league altered the playoff format that season to make conference affiliation irrelevant. That turned out to be a prescient decision, as it produced one of the best Finals ever. 

The series was tied after four games, and the teams traveled back to Minneapolis for a winner-take-all Game 5. In one of the most dramatic games ever played, there were 11 ties and 23 lead changes. The last one came with 3.1 seconds remaining when Nneka Ogwumike grabbed an offensive rebound, got her initial shot blocked, then went up again with a fadeaway that she converted. 

Ogwumike's shot remains the only game winner to decide a winner-take-all Finals game.