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A’ja Wilson? Breanna Stewart? Alyssa Thomas? Our experts make their WNBA MVP picks – The Athletic
WNBA
The 2023 WNBA regular season is set to end Sunday. And yet with its conclusion just four days away, plenty remains left to decide. The Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty could lock up home-court advantage throughout the playoffs. Entering Tuesday night’s action, three playoff spots remained up for grabs, with plenty of seeding battles set to ensue. Over the coming days, final cases for awards also will be made. But through the bulk of the regular season, here is where things stand.
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Our experts at The Athletic break down their picks about some of the WNBA’s top honors, weigh in on the best performances of the season, biggest surprises of the year and more. Come back Thursday for more of our awards.
Lyndsey D’Arcangelo: Alyssa Thomas
I think everyone struggled with this one. Breanna Stewart and A’ja Wilson are having impressive seasons, putting up similar stats in points, rebounds and player efficiency ratings. They also have a similar win share. If this were a two-player race, I’d say flip a coin. But Alyssa Thomas has assured us that it is not. The wide net that Thomas casts across the court on offense and defense is evident, not only in her record double-doubles (25) and triple-doubles (five), but also in the fact the Connecticut Sun’s net rating is as much as 30 points higher when she’s on the floor. It doesn’t get more valuable than that.
Dorothy J. Gentry: Alyssa Thomas
Stewart, Wilson and Thomas are all deserving candidates. They have lit up the W this season with history-making performances offensively and defensively. Stewart and Wilson are the faces of the league and their teams’ MVPs. But the league MVP this season has to be Alyssa Thomas. Her presence on the court is invaluable to the Sun. She controls the boards and leads their offense. She’s a walking double-double and triple-double machine, including becoming the first WNBA player to record back-to-back triple-doubles. There’s a lot to be said about what AT has done this year. Nothing short of amazing. And nothing short of MVP will do.
Sabreena Merchant: A’ja Wilson
She has been the best player on the best team in the league all season. That doesn’t necessarily make her the most valuable player, but if the Aces keep the top seed, she will win the award, because that’s what happens in the WNBA. It’s been seven years since a player earned the honor without playing for the league’s No. 1 seed. (That was when Nneka Ogwumike won as a member of the second-seeded Los Angeles Sparks.) It helps that Wilson also has a sterling case as an offensive dynamo who also serves as the backbone of the league’s best defense. Oh, and she also tied the WNBA single-game scoring record this season.
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Ben Pickman: Alyssa Thomas
There really isn’t a wrong choice among Wilson, Stewart and Thomas. Wilson is No. 1 in win shares per 40 minutes, is arguably the league’s best defensive player and plays on the best team (based on overall record entering Tuesday night). Stewart leads a Liberty team that is the league’s best since the All-Star break, is No. 1 in win shares overall, first in offensive and defensive win shares, and has set franchise records almost nightly. But in a debate that is all about splitting hairs, I’m leaning toward Thomas. The Sun are more than 30 points better per 100 possessions with Thomas on the floor than off of it. She has to quarterback the Sun’s offense and defense, and she has starred in both roles. Thomas leads the league in rebounds, is a close second in assists, is in the top five in steals and has played the second-most minutes in the WNBA.
I try to be cautious about how much to consider teammates when making an MVP argument, but the Aces still would have the third-best net rating in the league if one only counted minutes in which Wilson sat — that’s a credit to those around her. New York, meanwhile, would have the league’s fifth-best net rating if one only looked at minutes without Stewart. The Sun, on the other hand, have a minus-22.9 net rating with Thomas off the court. Take her off Connecticut’s roster and things would look very different in Uncasville. She has been the league’s most valuable player.
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Gentry: A’ja Wilson
Wilson anchors the Aces’ defense, holding opponents to a WNBA-low 96.7 points per 100 possessions. That’s an improvement from last year’s sixth-most-efficient defense. Wilson — the reigning DPOY is a monster — has comparable (and, in some cases, higher) numbers. She’s leading the league in defensive efficiency.
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D’Arcangelo: A’ja Wilson
I’m with Dorothy on this one. Wilson hasn’t dropped off from last season and has somehow only gotten better on defense, leading the league in blocks even though she’s shorter than players like Brittney Griner and Ezi Magbegor. She grabbed 33.8 percent of the Aces’ defensive rebounds and had 55 percent of their blocks. Wilson’s defensive IQ combined with her agility and athleticism in the paint set her apart. A back-to-back DPOY award is well deserved.
A’Ja Wilson’s defense has been *fun* pic.twitter.com/pxcobA2Ebh
— Steve Jones Jr. (@stevejones20) September 1, 2023
Merchant: Alyssa Thomas
At the midpoint of the season, I would have given this award to Candace Parker (with the assumption that her minutes would have gone up after the All-Star break). Her versatility as a defender helped the Aces unleash a new level of dominance as she and Wilson were able to toggle matchups back and forth, and Parker’s communication held the whole operation together.
In her absence, I’m unconvinced of any single Aces player’s candidacy. Wilson has the gaudy block totals and has had to play more center, arguably the most important defensive position, but Las Vegas has slid just enough on that end that I’m giving the nod to Thomas. Thomas legitimately guards everyone, from the point of attack to the biggest centers, and she does it well. Her ability to grab-and-go plus frequently create turnovers — seriously, there are some moments when Thomas just decides she wants to take away the ball — allows her to quickly turn defense into offense, making her defensive plays tangibly more impactful.
Pickman: A’ja Wilson
Wilson anchors the league’s best defense, controlling the paint and stifling guards on the perimeter when the situation dictates. She is first in Basketball Reference’s defensive rating metric, leads the league in blocks and is among the league’s best defensive rebounders. For the second consecutive season, she is deserving of the honor.
Gentry: Satou Sabally
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With a 14-point, 11-rebound and 10-assist performance, Satou Sabally recorded her first career triple-double this season. She became the first Wings player since the team relocated to Dallas in 2016 and the 26th player in WNBA history to record a triple-double. It’s an especially amazing feat after the past two injury-plagued seasons. She’s been on fire all year.
D’Arcangelo: A’ja Wilson
Wilson’s dropping 53 points against the Atlanta Dream to tie the WNBA record for most points in a game (Liz Cambage, Dallas Wings in 2018) was a definite season highlight, not only for her but also for the league. Individual scoring has been on the rise, with a record 11 40-point or higher individual scoring performances this year alone. Wilson not only got buckets on 69 percent shooting, but she also added seven boards and four blocks to go along with it.
Merchant: Layshia Clarendon
The Sparks are fighting for their lives to make the playoffs, but if Layshia Clarendon had been healthy all season — or even just this past week — the postseason would be a done deal. When Clarendon plays, the Sparks are 13-8. When they don’t, Los Angeles is 3-13, including a franchise-record eight-game losing streak spanning June and July and two gut-punching losses to the Chicago Sky and Seattle Storm to close out the Crypto.com Arena portion of the season.
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Layshia Clarendon won’t be defined by being cut from the WNBA as they work their way back
A former All-Star, Clarendon was out of the league a year ago. But she fought her way back on a training camp contract, originally making the Sparks only as the maternity exemption for Katie Lou Samuelson and setting an example for dozens of other players who can’t necessarily imagine a path back to the WNBA. Watching Clarendon rediscover the physicality of her game after some injury issues and transition to playing off the ball despite being a nominal point guard for most of her career has been a joy. If the league had a comeback player of the year award, Clarendon would have my vote.
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Pickman: Lyndsey said it above, but how can it not be Wilson’s 53-point performance, which tied the league’s record for most points in a game? Close honorable mentions go to Thomas’ 21-point, 20-rebound, 12-assist triple-double against the Minnesota Lynx on Aug. 1, which was the first 20-point, 20-rebound, 10-assist triple-double in WNBA history, and Stewart’s franchise-record 45-point showcase against the Indiana Fever in her first home game.
Gentry: Phoenix Mercury
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Not sure what I expected with Skylar Diggins-Smith still out, but with Brittney Griner back, it seemed as if the Mercury would at the very least make the postseason. I was surprised they didn’t and feel like it was a disappointing season in BG’s celebrated return and Diana Taurasi’s history-making season. The Mercury’s missing the postseason is also my biggest surprise of the year.
D’Arcangelo: Indiana Fever
This seems harsh, because the Fever are rebuilding. But if you go back and look at the eight games, they lost by no more than five points; Indiana would be 19-16 and right in the thick of the playoff conversation if it could have won. Lack of experience, execution down the stretch and the inability to use Aliyah Boston in game-winning situations have haunted the Fever all season. It’s a disappointment because a few more points here or there would have allowed them to end the playoff drought.
Merchant: Candace Parker’s foot injury
The clash of the super-teams won’t be the same without Candace Parker, as the Aces have learned all too rudely in the past few meetings. And if this injury doesn’t allow Parker, one of the all-time greats in basketball history, to retire on her own terms, that would be an even bigger shame.
Pickman: Phoenix Mercury
The Mercury thought it was a disappointing enough season (or start to it) to make a coaching change just over a month in. Though Phoenix showed improvement under interim coach Nikki Blue, it will still miss the postseason for the first time in a decade. This team certainly lacked the high ceiling that its 2021 roster had, but its being among the four teams out of the playoffs is still surprising.
(Top photo of Alyssa Thomas, center, and A’ja Wilson, right: Ethan Miller / Getty Images)
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