WNBA star A’ja Wilson reveals her ‘dream’ of starting a family with ‘life partner’ Bam Adebayo

A’ja Wilson might be TIME’s Athlete of the Year, but one day she hopes to be named mother of the year. 

In her TIME cover story, published on Dec. 9, the 29-year-old WNBA star — who is widely regarded as one of basketball’s GOATs — opened up about a man she rarely name-drops, but often talks about.

And that man is NBA player Bam Adebayo — someone she described as her “life partner.” 

“This is my life partner. Honestly, what on earth was my world before you? That’s how much he’s impacted my life, my family’s life,” Wilson said of Adebayo, who plays for the Miami Heat. 

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Sean Gregory, who wrote the TIME cover story, asked Wilson several questions regarding Adebayo — the types of questions fans have been wanting Wilson to answer for years. 

Most notably, she was asked about future marriage (and family) plans. 

“That is always a dream,” she said of her excitement about “starting a family” with Adebayo one day. 

As for a potential wedding, Gregory was directed to pass that question along to A’ja Wilson’s partner. 

WHAT A MOMENT FOR A'JA AND BAM ❤️ pic.twitter.com/E45DOqykjv

— ESPN (@espn) October 11, 2025

“That’s the question I need you to deliver to him!” she said. “I hope I’m not wasting my time. I hope he’s not wasting his time.”

Gregory did just that — and Adebayo, who described Wilson as his best friend and “twin,” remained coy. 

“Y’all will know, because people are nosy and they’ll look at her hands. There you go,” he responded. 

“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,” he said of Wilson. 

“She’s a strong Black woman, man, and she does it with so much grace and positivity,” he added.

A’ja Wilson shares her and Bam Adebayo’s origin story

Wilson and Adebayo have been at the center of dating rumors for several years now. 

Those rumors started heating up in the summer of 2024 when both basketball stars were representing their country at the Paris Olympics. A secret handshake told fans everything they needed to know.

Since then, they’ve quietly (and not-so-quietly) showed each other support through life’s biggest moments. 

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Aside from making appearances at each other’s games, Adebayo was sitting courtside at Wilson’s No. 22 jersey retirement ceremony with the South Carolina Gamecocks in February. 

He was also the one who handed Wilson her record fourth MVP trophy in September and was by her side after winning her third championship in four years with the Las Vegas Aces. 

But, according to Gregory, the couple have been dating for nearly four years — and first connected at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. 

Bam Adebayo presented A’ja Wilson her MVP trophy 😭 pic.twitter.com/ciH8aDNrUP

— Shabazz 💫 (@ShowCaseShabazz) September 21, 2025

“The best thing about our relationship, we started out as great friends,” Adebayo said. “We didn’t just jump to, ‘Hey, what’s up? You and I will make a great thing.’ Nah, we really eased into this.”

Now four years later, Adebayo is very much a part of her family — and a big part, at that. 

When her dad calls, he often asks for Adebayo instead of her. When she has news to pass along to her mom, Adebayo has already beat her to the punch. Even her nephew shows more interest in Adebayo. 

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“I’m like, ‘You don’t know him,’” Wilson joked. “‘He just got here.’”