WNBA Most Valuable Player Award

Women's National Basketball Association awards and honors
Championship
Commissioner's Cup Champions
Individual awards
Honors

The Women's National Basketball Association Most Valuable Player (MVP) is an annual Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) award given since the league's inaugural season in 1997. MVP voting takes place immediately following the regular season. The award recipient is decided by a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States. Panel members were asked to select their top five choices for the award, with 10 points being awarded for a first place vote, seven for second, five for third, three for fourth and one for fifth.

In 2008, fans could also have a say in who won the award. Fans were able to vote online for their top five MVP picks. These selections accounted for 25% of the total vote, while the media panel's selections accounted for the other 75%.

Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie, Lauren Jackson and A'ja Wilson have won the award the most times, with three selections each. Two players have won the award with different franchises—Elena Delle Donne in 2015 with the Chicago Sky and 2019 with the Washington Mystics, and Breanna Stewart in 2018 with the Seattle Storm and 2023 with the New York Liberty. Cynthia Cooper and Candace Parker and have also won the award twice.

Candace Parker is the only player to win Rookie of the Year and MVP in the same season—2008.

Jackson, both born and trained in Australia, is the only award winner trained outside the United States.

The sculptor of the WNBA MVP Award is Marc Mellon, who is also the sculptor of the NBA MVP Trophy.

Winners

WNBA Most Valuable Player Award, presented annually.
Legend
Denotes player who is still active in the WNBA
* Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
† Inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame
Denotes player whose team won championship that year
Player (X) Denotes the number of times the player has been named MVP
Team (X) Denotes the number of times a player from this team has won
Season Player Position Nationality Team First-Place Votes Ref.
1997 Cynthia Cooper * † Guard  United States Houston Comets 37 out of 37 [1]
1998 Cynthia Cooper * † (2) Houston Comets (2) 37 out of 45 [2]
1999 Yolanda Griffith * † Center Sacramento Monarchs 23 out of 51 [3]
2000 Sheryl Swoopes * † Guard / Forward Houston Comets (3) 38 out of 62 [4]
2001 Lisa Leslie * † Center Los Angeles Sparks 51 out of 60 [5]
2002 Sheryl Swoopes * † (2) Guard / Forward Houston Comets (4) 29 out of 60 [6]
2003 Lauren Jackson * † Forward / Center  Australia Seattle Storm 23 out of 54 [7]
2004 Lisa Leslie * † (2) Center  United States Los Angeles Sparks (2) 33 out of 48 [8]
2005 Sheryl Swoopes * † (3) Guard / Forward Houston Comets (5) 16 out of 50[a] [9]
2006 Lisa Leslie * † (3) Center Los Angeles Sparks (3) 40 out of 55 [10]
2007 Lauren Jackson * † (2) Forward / Center  Australia Seattle Storm (2) 42 out of 48 [11]
2008 Candace Parker Forward  United States Los Angeles Sparks (4) 276.79 out of 300 pts[b] [12]
2009 Diana Taurasi Guard Phoenix Mercury 27 out of 39 [13]
2010 Lauren Jackson * † (3) Forward / Center  Australia Seattle Storm (3) 22 out of 39 [14]
2011 Tamika Catchings * † Forward  United States Indiana Fever 21 out of 40 [15]
2012 Tina Charles Center Connecticut Sun 25 out of 41 [16]
2013 Candace Parker (2) Forward Los Angeles Sparks (5) 10 out of 39[c] [17]
2014 Maya Moore † Minnesota Lynx 35 out of 38 [18]
2015 Elena Delle Donne Guard / Forward Chicago Sky 38 out of 39 [19]
2016 Nneka Ogwumike Forward Los Angeles Sparks (6) 31 out of 39 [20]
2017 Sylvia Fowles Center Minnesota Lynx (2) 35 out of 40 [21]
2018 Breanna Stewart Forward Seattle Storm (4) 33 out of 39 [22]
2019 Elena Delle Donne (2) Guard / Forward Washington Mystics 41 out of 43 [23]
2020 A'ja Wilson Forward Las Vegas Aces 43 out of 47 [24]
2021 Jonquel Jones Forward / Center  Bahamas /  Bosnia and Herzegovina Connecticut Sun (2) 48 out of 49 [25]
2022 A'ja Wilson (2) Forward  United States Las Vegas Aces (2) 31 out of 56 [26]
2023 Breanna Stewart (2) New York Liberty 20 out of 60[d] [27]
2024 A'ja Wilson (3) Las Vegas Aces (3) 67 out of 67 [28]
  1. ^ Second-place finisher, Lauren Jackson, received more first-place votes (20 to Swoopes' 16), but Swoopes earned 327 total points to Jackson's 325.
  2. ^ First-place vote counts were not released by the WNBA. For the first time, an online fan vote was included in post-season award voting, accounting for 25% of the vote. The other 75% came from a panel of 45 national sportswriters and broadcasters.
  3. ^ Parker and Maya Moore tied in first-place voting with 10 votes each. However in the overall vote tally, Parker earned 234 total points to Moore's 218.
  4. ^ Second-place finisher, Alyssa Thomas, received more first-place votes (23 to Stewart's 20), but Stewart earned 446 total points to Thomas' 439.

Multi-time winners

Awards Player Team(s) Years
3 Sheryl Swoopes Houston Comets 2000, 2002, 2005
Lisa Leslie Los Angeles Sparks 2001, 2004, 2006
Lauren Jackson Seattle Storm 2003, 2007, 2010
A'ja Wilson Las Vegas Aces 2020, 2022, 2024
2 Cynthia Cooper Houston Comets 1997, 1998
Candace Parker Los Angeles Sparks 2008, 2013
Elena Delle Donne Chicago Sky / Washington Mystics 2015, 2019
Breanna Stewart Seattle Storm / New York Liberty 2018, 2023

Teams

Awards Teams Years
6 Los Angeles Sparks 2001, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2013, 2016
5 Houston Comets 1997, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2005
4 Seattle Storm 2003, 2007, 2010, 2018
3 Las Vegas Aces 2020, 2022, 2024
2 Minnesota Lynx 2014, 2017
Connecticut Sun 2012, 2021
1 Sacramento Monarchs 1999
Phoenix Mercury 2009
Indiana Fever 2011
Chicago Sky 2015
Washington Mystics 2019
New York Liberty 2023
0 Dallas Wings None
Atlanta Dream

See also

References

  1. ^ "Comets' Cooper Wins Wnba's 1st Mvp Award". The Spokesman-Review. August 28, 1997. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
  2. ^ "Cooper Again MVP". Washington Post. August 24, 1998. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
  3. ^ "Griffith garners MVP honors". ESPN. September 15, 1999. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
  4. ^ "Swoopes Chosen WNBA MVP". CBS. August 17, 2000. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
  5. ^ "Sparks' Leslie Wins 2001 WNBA MVP". WNBA. August 26, 2001. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
  6. ^ "Sheryl Swoopes Named 2002 WNBA MVP". WNBA. August 20, 2002. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
  7. ^ "Lauren Jackson of The Seattle Storm Is Named 2003 WNBA MVP Presented By Chevy". WNBA. September 14, 2003. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
  8. ^ "Lisa Leslie of the Los Angeles Sparks Named the 2004 WNBA Most Valuable Player Presented by General Motors". WNBA. October 8, 2004. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
  9. ^ "Houston's Sheryl Swoopes Named 2005 WNBA Most Valuable Player". WNBA. September 18, 2005. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
  10. ^ "Lisa Leslie Wins 2006 WNBA Most Valuable Player Award". WNBA. September 3, 2006. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
  11. ^ "Seattle Storm Lauren Jackson Wins Second WNBA MVP Award". WNBA. September 5, 2007. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
  12. ^ "Sparks' Parker wins MVP, rookie of year honors". ESPN. October 3, 2008. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
  13. ^ "Diana Taurasi Named 2009 WNBA Most Valuable Player presented by Kia Motors". WNBA. September 29, 2009. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
  14. ^ "Seattle Storm's Lauren Jackson Named 2010 WNBA Most Valuable Player Presented by Kia Motors". WNBA. September 2, 2010. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
  15. ^ "Fever's Tamika Catchings named 2011 WNBA MVP". WTHR. September 22, 2011. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
  16. ^ "Tina Charles Named 2012 WNBA Most Valuable Player of the Year". WNBA. September 27, 2012. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
  17. ^ "Sparks' Candace Parker Named 2013 WNBA Most Valuable Player". WNBA. September 20, 2013. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
  18. ^ "Lynx's Moore Named M.V.P." The New York Times. August 22, 2014. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
  19. ^ "Sky's Elena Delle Donne Named 2015 WNBA Most Valuable Player Presented By Samsung". WNBA. September 15, 2015. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
  20. ^ "Sparks forward Nneka Ogwumike named WNBA MVP for 2016 season". ESPN. September 27, 2016. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
  21. ^ Borzi, Pat (September 14, 2017). "Sylvia Fowles wins 1st MVP award after lifting Lynx with big year". ESPN. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
  22. ^ "Seattle's Breanna Stewart Named 2018 Most Valuable Player". wnba.com. WNBA. August 26, 2018.
  23. ^ "Washington's Elena Delle Donne Named 2019 WNBA Basketball Most Valuable Player". wnba.com. WNBA. September 19, 2019.
  24. ^ "A'ja Wilson Named WNBA Most Valuable Player". wnba.com. WNBA. September 17, 2020.
  25. ^ "Connecticut Sun's Jonquel Jones Named 2021 Kia Most Valuable Player". wnba.com. WNBA. September 28, 2021.
  26. ^ "Las Vegas Aces' A'ja Wilson Wins 2022 KIA WNBA Most Valuable Player Award". wnba.com (Press release). New York, NY: WNBA. September 7, 2022.
  27. ^ "New York Liberty's Breanna Stewart Wins 2023 Kia WNBA Most Valuable Player Award" (Press release). WNBA. September 26, 2023.
  28. ^ Voepel, Michael (September 22, 2024). "Aces' A'ja Wilson becomes second unanimous MVP in WNBA history". ESPN. Retrieved September 22, 2024.