Now that the WNBA regular season has ended and the playoffs are now in full swing, the season ending awards will be announced by the WNBA sporadically throughout the post season.
Back in June I bemoaned how truly difficult it is to put together an All-Star ballot. Were my arguments sound? What do I actually value in making these determinations?
That same internal struggle is amplified when it comes to officially submitting a ballot for the end of season awards. My ballot was due on Friday September 25 at noon ET, just less than 24 hours following the conclusion of the regular season.
While awards such as MVP, Sixth Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year were the most straight forward this season, Defensive Player of the Year, Most Improved Player and coach of the year were far from easy to decide.
Without further ado, this was my ballot for the 2026 WNBA season ending awards.
Most Valuable Player: A’ja Wilson — C, Las Vegas Aces
While Olivia Miles had a fair case earlier in the season to become the first player since Candace Parker to potentially be the MVP and rookie of the year in the same season, A’ja Wilson statistics were too good on both ends for her not to win her fifth MVP and third in a row. Wilson not only led the league in scoring (26.2 points per game), but she was incredibly efficient. She was just under 4 percentage points shy of putting up a 50-40-90, one of the most prestigious marks of offensive efficiency in basketball. To assess Wilson defensively, look no further than PBP Stats. The defensive rating of the Aces plummeted from 105.28 to 111.94 when she wasn’t on the floor.
When it comes to my honorable mentions for this award, see my All-WNBA first team which mirrors my MVP ballot. The voting for MVP requires voters to list their top-five and then a point system based on where a player was ranked in that top five determines who wins the award. While it might be conventional wisdom to assume that whichever player acquires the most first place votes wins the award, that’s not how it works. The player who wins MVP must accrue the most total points from each MVP ballot the player is placed on. For instance a player could win MVP with more second place votes rather than first, something that happened back in 2023.
Defensive Player of the Year: Angel Reese — PF, Atlanta Dream
For the longest time I toggled between Reese, who ended up being my selection, and Shakira Austin. The fact that Austin is a much more proficient rim protector definitely made this a much more difficult decision. But ultimately the number that I used to decide that Reese was my pick for this award was how much her team’s defensive rating absolutely plummets when she’s not on the floor.
When Reese was on the floor, the Dream’s defensive rating was a very good 101.89 and plummeted all the way down to 114.93 when she was on the bench. That’s almost a 13 percent decrease in defensive rating without Reese on the floor. While Reese isn’t the rim protector that most front court DPOYs are, what makes her undeniable as a defensive force is her switchability, anticipation in different defensive coverages and her nose for the ball. She often uses her hands to either swipe the ball or just disrupt opponents with the ball in their hands. With one of the best motors in the league, Reese combined her exceptional will defensively with an increased awareness of league tendencies.
Sixth Player of the Year: Janelle Salaün — SF, Golden State Valkyries
This award and rookie of the year probably took the least amount of contemplation. There hasn’t really been another player this season to play as many games coming from the bench while averaging double figures in scoring (12.7 points per game). Salaün’s impact off the bench can further be quantified by how much the Valkyries’ offense leaps when she is inserted onto the floor. Golden State’s offensive rating was at 115.85 during Salaün’s minutes and plummeted down to 104.27 when she was off the floor.
Most improved Player: Carla Leite — PG, Portland Fire
Percent change is such a useful statistical measure when it comes to looking at an award like this. While some might have voted for Jessica Shepard because of the mere fact that she went from a bench role to a bonafide All-Star, the improvements in her game weren’t as convincing. It was more that she got more time on the floor and as a result her numbers drastically increased.
Meanwhile players like Leite and Austin proved that there were specific skills they became much more proficient in. For Austin it was her playmaking and three-point shooting that took a giant leap in 2026. But ultimately I looked at multiple stats from Leite and the jump she took from her rookie to sophomore seasons are quite dramatic. Her average scoring went from 7.2 points per game to 16.1—that’s a 123.6 percent increase. Leite’s clip from three increased from 17.3 to over 40 percent. That’s a 132.37 percent increase, which is just bonkers. And the final increase I’ll mention is her assists per game which went from 2 to 6.2, a 210 percent increase.
Rookie of the Year: Olivia Miles — PG, Minnesota Lynx
This has been a no brainer ever since the month of June? The fact that Miles looked like a top-five player in the WNBA upon arrival into the league made her an absolute shoo-in for this award. Do I think that maybe if she was guarded like a top-five player to begin the season like other rookies this would have looked less striking? Absolutely. Also, it’s very clear to me that the scheme and players around Miles allow her to play to her strengths. For rookies, team context really helps with their transition into the WNBA.
Coach of the Year: Natalie Nakase, Golden State Valkyries
This is my second straight year voting for Nakase, although there are excellent arguments for Cheryl Reeve and Sydney Johnson. When it comes to Reeve, she found a way to coach a team that not many expected to be the No.1 seed when the regular season came and went.
Reeve lost a host of players from her 2024 and 2025 Lynx teams but managed to coach the players she signed in their place in addition to Miles and returners Kayla McBride and Courtney Williams to be the top team in the league. Also remember that the Lynx thrived while Napheesa Collier was still recovering from multiple knee surgeries. Johnson’s case might be the WNBA feel good story of the year. He took the youngest team in the league in the Washington Mystics not only to the playoffs but he helped them earn the No.5 seed in the playoffs. It was incredibly clear that his viral postgame locker room celebrations did more to boost the morale of a team that on paper had no business in the postseason.
But ultimately my vote went to Nakase because of the fact that she took a team of excellent role players and got them to the No.2 seed heading into the playoffs. She doesn’t have MVP candidates like the Lynx with Olivia Miles or lottery pick level talent like the Mystics do in Sonia Citron, KiKi Iriafen and Austin. She coached a historic defense and got a team that looks a certain way on paper to not only be a playoff team but finish just a game out of first place in the standings.
All-WNBA First Team:
A’ja Wilson — C, Las Vegas Aces
Breanna Stewart — PF, New York Liberty
Olivia Miles — PG, Minnesota Lynx
Kelsey Mitchell — SG, Indiana Fever
Paige Bueckers — G, Dallas Wings
As I stated above, this matches my MVP ballot to a tee. Wilson, Stewart, Miles and Bueckers all not only carried a load for their individual teams, but also influenced how their respective teams played and were blatantly responsible for success. For instance, both the Wings and the Liberty were 0-2 during the regular season when both Bueckers and Stewart didn’t play. The Aces were 1-2 when Wilson was sidelined. And while the Lynx were 2-2 without Miles during the regular season, the team’s points per game went down by close to 8 percent from 91.5 to 84.5 without the star rookie available to play.
My reason for selecting Mitchell over Clark here was simply because of how incredibly efficient Mitchell has been and how the numbers prove that when she was off the floor this season, the Fever were a lot less efficient.
All-WNBA Second Team:
Jackie Young — SF, Las Vegas Aces
Caitlin Clark — PG, Indiana Fever
Rhyne Howard — SF, Atlanta Dream
Shakira Austin — C, Washington Mystics
Sonia Citron — G/F, Washington Mystics
With the exception of Clark, I went with players that impacted their teams on both ends of the floor. But Clark gets the nod of course because of how much she impacts the offense by not just with her scoring but with her facilitation. She averaged 41.2 points created per game this season.
Young might be the best three-level scoring wing in the league, Howard emerged as the Dream’s best perimeter player this season and Citron too is a two-way force who fuels the youngest team in the league. And then there’s Shakira Austin who was almost my most improved player nominee, but the Fire’s Leite made a much more dramatic jump than Austin. Austin was already a very formidable front court player, but now she’s making her ascent to become one of the best.
All-Defensive First Team:
Angel Reese — PF, Atlanta Dream
Shakira Austin — C, Washington Mystics
A’ja Wilson — C, Las Vegas Aces
Breanna Stewart — PF, New York Liberty
Gabby Williams — SF, Golden State Valkyries
My DPOY Reese obviously makes the All-Defensive first team just like how Wilson automatically made my All-WNBA First team as my pick for MVP. Austin is only a hair below Reese in total defensive win shares across the entire 2026 regular season. Williams is arguably taking on the toughest perimeter defensive assignments on the league’s best regular season defense. According to WNBA Stats, Williams gets an opponent to turn the ball over 19.2 times per 100 possessions.
Now for Wilson and Stewart whose teams were inconsistent defensively all year long, this was more about their individual body of work rather than within a team context. Both Wilson and Stewart cover copious amounts of ground on the floor and switch often to guard perimeter players in addition to whatever their front court load is.
All-Defensive Second Team:
Rhyne Howard — SF, Atlanta Dream
Veronica Burton— PG, Golden State Valkyries
Kiah Stokes— C, Golden State Valkyries
Sonia Citron — G/F, Washington Mystics
Kayla McBride — SG, Minnesota Lynx
All the players I selected are contributors to top four defenses in the league. Howard had the second most defensive win shares and was the league’s average steals leader this season. Burton and Stokes in addition to Williams who I placed on my first team were the most impactful defensive trio in the league. With both Burton and Stokes on the floor, the Val
Citron and McBride have both anchored their respective team’s perimeter defense throughout the season. Lynx President of basketball operations and head coach Cheryl Reeve said just that about her two-way guard earlier this season. As for Citron, The Athletic’s Sabreena Merchant made a case for the sophomore winning DPOY. “Of the players who have defended at least 100 shots against fellow All-Stars this season, [Citron] holds them to a lower effective field goal percentage than anybody else,” she said on Chiney Today. “She also holds them to a lower expected shot quality than anybody else.
All-Rookie Team:
Olivia Miles — PG, Minnesota Lynx
Kiki Rice — PG, Toronto Tempo
Azzi Fudd — SG, Dallas Wings
Awa Fam — PF, Seattle Storm
Sydney Taylor— SG, Chicago Sky
There are probably three to four other rookies that also could have made an All-Rookie team in Pauline Astier, Flau’jae Johnson, Laura Juškaitė and one of either Georgia Amoore and Lauren Betts.
But the four I chose stood out in the ways they impacted their individual teams. While Fam didn’t score as much as Johnson, she was much more efficient offensively and proved to be the facilitator that talent evaluators said she was. With classes getting deeper and more rookies coming in from overseas it does beg the question, could there be a second All-Rookie team?
