For the second straight season, and second time in her career, the Sky's Courtney Vandersloot earned first team All-WNBA honors for the 2020 campaign.
Vandersloot received the 224 points from a panel of 47 voters, fourth among the five players selected to the first team to match her fourth-place MVP finish for the season.
2020 MVP A'ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces (235 points), Defensive Player of the Year Candace Parker of the Los Angeles Sparks (235) and 2019 MVP Breanna Stewart of the Seattle Storm (233) led Vandersloot in points, while Arike Ogunbowale of the Dallas Wings (190) just trailed.
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“I feel incredibly honored to be named to the All-WNBA First Team,” Vandersloot said in a statement. “There are so many deserving players, and to be named to a team with these other four players in incredibly humbling.”
Even in adverse circumstances, playing in a bubble at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Vandersloot had a banner year. In the truncated, 22-game schedule, she became the first player in the history of the W to average 10 assists per game. She also shattered the league record for assists in a game with 18 on Aug. 31 against the Indiana Fever, meaning she now owns the WNBA records for assists in a game, season (300 in 2019) and season-long assist average. Her 13.6-point-per-game scoring average in 2020 was also the highest of her career.
"It is with great pleasure that we are able to announce Courtney has been honored on the All-WNBA First Team for the second year in a row,” Sky head coach and GM James Wade said in a statement. “She broke multiple records. It was truly a historical season and it will go down as one of the all-time great seasons by point guard in WNBA history."
WNBA
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The second team consisted of: Diana Taurasi, DeWanna Bonner, Napheesa Collier, Skylar Diggins-Smith and Myisha Hines-Allen.