A'ja Wilson Isn't Surprised by Megan Gustafson's Fire Breakout: 'This is Who She's Always Been'

📍PORTLAND, Ore. — Megan Gustafson spent the past two seasons backing up the best player in the WNBA. On Thursday night, she started against her.

The Fire's 105-89 loss to the Las Vegas Aces was Portland's fourth loss in a row, highlighted by a 42-19 rebounding disparity, a record-tying nine three-pointers by Chelsea Gray and a dominant second half by A'ja Wilson. The Fire stayed in it until the fourth quarter, but this a game that reminded you that one of these teams is an expansion team and the other has won three titles in the last four years and has the four-time league MVP.

Gustafson, making her fifth start of the season after replacing Luisa Geiselsöder as Portland's starting center before a May 30 win over Indiana, scored 17 points. Her mini-breakout since moving to the starting lineup, highlighted by outplaying Aliyah Boston in that win over Indiana, has been one of the defining developments of the Fire's expansion season.

Wilson saw it coming after playing with Gustafson for two years in Vegas.

"Meg is being Meg," she told me before the game. "She's doing the hustle plays and the little things that don't show up on the stat sheet, and she's ready for her moment. When she had that breakout game where she started for the first time, I was like, 'Oh yeah, that's Meg.' We always knew she could do that."

Gustafson signed with the Aces ahead of the 2024 season after spending the previous two years backing up Brittney Griner in Phoenix. By then, she'd made herself into a reliable three-point shooter, providing a different look for a Vegas frontcourt that needed it.