Inside A'ja Wilson & Bam Adebayo's Winning Romance

Why WNBA's A’ja Wilson Says Met Gala Prep Feels Just Like Game Day

When A'ja Wilson gets to the line, Bam Adebayo is there to make sure she stays balanced.

"He'll do the smallest of things, like opening a car door when he feels like I'm overstimulated," the Las Vegas Aces' star center—and 2026 ESPYs nominee for Best Athlete, Women's Sports, and Best WNBA Player—said on The Run-Through With Vogue in March, "or like having just a moment where he just holds my hand and knows if I'm getting too high, if my anxiety is blowing out the water."

As a standout center for the Miami Heat, Adebayo—also an ESPYs nominee heading into the July 15 ceremony, Best Single-Game Performance for his historic 83-point showing against the Washington Wizards in March—certainly gets both the pressure of outside expectations and the kind that comes from within.

So, when he and Wilson first got together in 2021, neither felt compelled to promote their game of one-on-one.

"The best thing about our relationship, we started out as great friends,” Adebayo told TIME when the magazine named Wilson Athlete of the Year in December 2025. “We didn’t just jump to, ‘Hey, what’s up? You and I will make a great thing.' Nah, we really eased into this.”

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But they sparked speculation early, Adebayo telling reporters in August 2021 when asked what he thought about Wilson, "I always tell her, you know, when I see her, she's the GOAT. She doesn't agree with it, but I did a little MVP chant every once in a while, just for kicks and giggles."

Eventually their displays of affection became undeniable—not least the custom handshake they still break out to celebrate each other's triumphs—though it would be several years before they confirmed that they were a couple, taking pains to keep their relationship out of the spotlight.

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But in September 2024, Wilson watched Adebayo be presented with a key to Miami-Dade County, and then he wore her signature Nikes on the court during a Jan. 25, 2025, game. And he was there the following month when the University of South Carolina—where Wilson led the Gamecocks to their first NCAA championship in 2017—retired her No. 22 jersey.

Less than two weeks later, Wilson told People during NBA All-Star Weekend in San Francisco, "My NBA All-Star is not here."

Adebayo was busy "getting the rest he needs," she explained, "and that's the best Valentine gift that I can truly give him, is just the rest."

And after that, there was no more jumping through hoops to figure out their relationship status. Speaking to TIME, Wilson called Adebayo her "life partner" and said starting a family "is always a dream."

"I hope I'm not wasting my time," she quipped when the question of when they might get married was posed. "I hope he’s not wasting his time."

To which Adebayo cracked, "Y’all will know, because people are nosy and they’ll look at her hands. There you go.”

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But however the Newark, N.J., native proposes, it'll be tailored to his future wife's tastes, let alone ring size.

"I'm in love," Wilson told Vogue in March, "but I also have to credit Bam because he loves me properly. I think that doesn't get talked about a lot. He loves me on my days where I don't know if I love myself, and he does it in a way that's not love-bombing. It's more, 'What do you need?'"

And while their shared calendar is packed, Wilson uses whatever downtime they have "to connect with him, pour into him, just be there for him."

They also train together, the 29-year-old telling TIME, "We sharpen each other’s skills. That’s kind of what makes us go. The gym is a happy place."

Moreover, she told Vogue, "Bam never shies away from the work. It motivates me to want to be great for him."

And vice versa, Adebayo telling TIME, "That's what makes it so great. We’re striving for the same thing. We want each other to be better. We want to make it easier on one another, and we want to do this together. She’s a strong Black woman, man, and she does it with so much grace and positivity.”

The 28-year-old also relishes her wins as much as his own, surprising Wilson at practice with the trophy when she was named league MVP for a record fourth time in September.

"That's the thing about shared success," Adebayo told reporters after Wilson went on to win her third WNBA championship with the Aces on Oct. 10. "You're blessed to be a part of it, you're blessed to see somebody have that much success."

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And Wilson—who used the word "boyfriend" publicly for the first time a couple weeks later when she was inducted into her alma mater's Athletics Hall of Fame—considers Adebayo no less than "perfect." (Even though, as she noted in her speech, he went to "Ken-yucky.")

Supporting each other is "just what we do," she explained to Good Morning America's Robin Roberts in November. "That's our foundation that we just built when our relationship first started. We were like, 'This isn't going to be easy with our schedules and our lifestyle,' but at the end of the day, if we want it to work, we're going to make it work for each other."

On down days, "you have to show up," she continued, "because you know the work that it took to get to that point."

"In my eyes, he's perfect," Wilson added with a huge smile. "He can do no wrong. Obviously, he's human, but the support that he gives always, it's just incredible to think that I've kind of met my match."

Which is why Adebayo has been her MVP for five years and counting. See more WNBA players who've met their match: