The final week of the WNBA regular season has begun, which means it’s time for voters — including the three of us — to submit their official ballots for the 2024 end-of-season awards.
The voting panel consists of 68 members of the media from national outlets and within the 12 WNBA markets. Votes are scheduled to be submitted at noon ET on Friday, and award winners will be announced throughout the postseason.
What might those ballots look like?
The NBA Women’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) race has been a one-man affair for some time now, with Las Vegas Aces forward Aja Wilson proving herself the frontrunner, earning 3 of 3 votes. The only question now is whether Wilson will become the second player, and the first since Cynthia Cooper in the league’s inaugural season in 1997, to receive the award unanimously. With voters tasked with ranking five MVP candidates, who will they end up voting for?
The ESPN trio also unanimously voted Rookie of the Year and Coach of the Year, and most of them were the same players on the All-WNBA first team, but they took different paths to other awards.
Here’s how we voted for the WNBA’s biggest awards.
best player
Kevin Belton: Aja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces
Alexa Philippou: Aja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces
Michael Voebel: Aja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces
Wilson’s historic season reached new heights last week. On Wednesday, she broke the single-season scoring record, surpassing Joel Lloyd’s previous total of 939 points set last year. On Sunday, Wilson became the first player to reach 1,000 points in a single season. Of course, focusing on scoring alone doesn’t do justice to everything Wilson does on the court, with her defense, rebounding and tenacity, not to mention her leadership of a team that has defended its title twice.
If Wilson hadn’t been playing so strangely, Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier might have won the MVP award this summer and is likely to finish second in the MVP voting. With voters ranking the top five MVP candidates on the ballot, don’t be surprised to see players like Brianna Stewart, Alyssa Thomas and rookie Caitlin Clarke in the top five as well. Philip
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Rookie of the year
Belton: Caitlin Clark, Indiana Fever
Philip: Caitlin Clark, Indiana Fever
Fobel: Caitlin Clark, Indiana Fever
Not only has Clark had one of the best rookie years in WNBA history, it’s also been a remarkable season for a player of any level of WNBA experience. She’s averaging 19.5 points, a league-best 8.3 assists, 5.7 rebounds and 1.3 steals. She’s set the WNBA single-season record for assists (329) and helped the Fever return to the playoffs for the first time since 2016. Everything the Fever could have hoped for with Clark’s No. 1 pick has happened — including a massive increase in attendance and merchandise sales.
Clarke will almost certainly be nominated on some MVP ballots, too. The league’s official ballots ask voters to list their top five picks for the MVP award. But voters only select one winner for the other individual awards. Does that mean Clarke will be a unanimous choice for Rookie of the Year?
She’s on our team, but some voters might pick Chicago Sky forward Angel Reyes, who averaged a double-double (13.6 points per game, 13.1 rebounds), had the longest double-double streak in WNBA history (15 games) and set the record for most rebounds in a season (446). Reyes’ season ended early due to a wrist injury, but she still played 34 games.
Reese had a solid season and might have been the best rookie in other years. But this award would be a landslide win for Clark. Foebel
Coach of the year
Belton: Cheryl Reeve, Minnesota Lynx
Philip: Cheryl Reeve, Minnesota Lynx
Fobel: Cheryl Reeve, Minnesota Lynx
After two seasons in which the team finished below .500, the Lynx returned to the top of the WNBA standings, the same spot they held during Reeve’s long tenure. Despite adding a pair of new starters in guard Courtney Williams and center Alanna Smith, Minnesota got off to a strong start, going 13-3 and winning the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup on the way.
After stumbling during the Olympic hiatus, with two of those losses coming in Collier’s absence, the Lynx have been the league’s best team since his return. Minnesota has a 12-1 record since the Olympics, including a win at Liberty on the road. A win Tuesday at Connecticut would secure the second seed, a remarkable feat for a team that was never certain to make the playoffs.
While Reeve was a consensus pick, Sandy Brondello deserves votes after leading New York to the best record in the WNBA, while title-winning Stephanie White kept the Connecticut Sun in contention despite a slump in the offseason. And Christy Sides deserves credit for the way the Fever adapted to Clark’s unique skill set during their turnaround from a 1-8 start against a brutal schedule to a .500 record (at worst) for the first time since 2016. Belton
Defensive Player of the Year
Belton: Nafisa Collier, Minnesota Lynx
Philip: Nafisa Collier, Minnesota Lynx
Fobel: Nafisa Collier, Minnesota Lynx
Wilson, a two-time champion, has set career highs in steals and blocks this season, leading the WNBA in the latter category. However, Collier has excelled as part of the league’s second-best defense on a per-possession basis (the Aces rank fifth, closer to average than the Lynx).
Like Wilson, Collier ranks 10th in steals, and ranks fourth among players with at least 750 minutes played. (Wilson is 10th.) Second Spectrum camera tracking data indicates that Collier has protected the rim as well as Wilson on a per-game basis. Opponents are taking 52% of shots inside the restricted area against both players as primary defenders. Add in Collier’s versatility to defend multiple positions depending on the matchup, and she has a chance to shake up the MVP voting order here. Belton
6th player of the year
Belton: Leonie Vibich, New York Liberty
Philip: Leonie Vibich, New York Liberty
Fobel: Tiffany Hayes, Las Vegas Aces
Hayes, a former Atlanta Dream great who played for the Suns in 2023, had previously retired from the WNBA before joining Las Vegas after the season and has played a pivotal role as a spark plug off the bench this summer. The Aces (Derica Hamby twice, Kelsey Plum and Alisha Clark) have won the award four of the past five years, going back to the days of Bill Laimbeer, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see Hayes continue the tradition.
On the other hand, Vibich, a 24-year-old rookie from Germany (and a member of its Olympic team at the Paris Games), has proven to be a huge addition to New York this year. She has started 15 games when some of New York’s players were in and out of the lineup. Her length on defense and her three-point shooting have been crucial for a Liberty team that has grown deeper and stronger defensively than last year, when they reached the WNBA Finals. Philip
Most Improved Player
Belton: Bridget Carlton, Minnesota Lynx
Philip: Chenedi Carter, Chicago Sky
Fobel: Dijonay Carrington, Connecticut Sun
This is the only award our committee has chosen in three different ways, all of which are worthy of recognition. Carlton is in her sixth season in the WNBA but her first as a full-time starter, and she has been key to Minnesota’s success. She’s averaging 9.6 points, her best since the 2020 season (6.6). She’s one of the league’s best three-point shooters (86 of 195, 44.1%).
Carrington, like Carlton, is a success story despite being an underrated second-round pick. Carlton was taken 21st overall in 2019; Carrington was taken 20th in 2021. This is Carrington’s fourth season and first as a starter. She’s setting career highs in minutes played (29.5), points (12.7), rebounds (4.9), assists (1.5) and steals (1.6) and has proven to be one of the league’s most effective ball defenders.
But Carter is a different story: She was selected fourth overall in the 2020 lottery by Atlanta and averaged 17.4 points per game and 3.4 assists per game, finishing second in the Rookie of the Year race during the pandemic-shortened season in the bubble. She then played just 11 games in 2021 while dealing with some disciplinary issues with the Dream. A fresh start with Los Angeles in 2022 didn’t go well either — she averaged 8.9 points per game — and Carter didn’t play in the WNBA in 2023. But she was the Sky’s leading scorer in 2024, averaging 17.5 points per game. Foebel
WNBA First Team
Belton: Aja Wilson, Napheesa Collier, Brianna Stewart (New York), Caitlin Clark, Kayla McBride (Minnesota)
Philip: Aja Wilson, Naveesa Collier, Brianna Stewart, Alyssa Thomas (Connecticut), Caitlin Clark
Fobel: Aja Wilson, Naveesa Collier, Brianna Stewart, Caitlin Clark, Alyssa Thomas
