#128: A breakdown of my WNBA media awards

I posted a clear message about my awards.

Well, two, actually.

The first was that I was going to be transparent in my voting, revealing my award picks even though we aren't required to.

The second was that I didn't hate your team or favorite player.

Well, after revealing my award picks Sunday morning, I've been accused of:

• being a racist by OutKick Sports and their bigoted followers (second time in as many months!) for not having Caitlin Clark where they wanted me to have her
• disrespecting A'ja Wilson for not having her where they wanted me to have her for all-defense (despite being my MVP, first-team all W, and a member of the second team all defense)
• disrespecting both Breanna Stewart and Paige Bueckers in MVP and first-team conversations
• "never voting" for a Portland Fire player moving forward
• hating Azzi Fudd

And those are just the ones that I saw.

A reminder, I'm in Da Nang, Vietnam, at a coffeeshop writing this as I wait to check into my hotel room. It's Monday afternoon here, so I'm trying to keep everything straight while enjoying some time off.

I know folx in the past who have revealed their ballot, and they have been on the receiving end of death threats and threats to their family.

I had Indiana/Iowa fans in my DMs, on my Instagram, on Threads, and an email calling me every name in the book).

A lot of them made me giggle. Someone called me a "weasel" and that made me chuckle.

Someone else said that I should never be able to vote again, and little do they know that Olivia Rodrigo has a voter registration table at her concert, so she's helping people vote.

WHO IS THE WEASEL NOW!

But, alas, it comes with the territory. Voting was an honor. A true pleasure, and it's something that I've always wanted to do.

And I promise you, I took it seriously. I've had a spreadsheet with stats, datapoints, and a flowchart for the 10 different awards that we could vote for.

I'm going to list all of my picks here with a breakdown of why I voted the way I did, but I'll explain some of the picks that rubbed people the wrong way (there were a ton of people who liked my ballot, agreed with it, asked fair questions, and were super cool, so shoutout to you all, too!).

Hey Jon Root - go fuck yourself you bigot.

Here's how I voted:

MVP

Winner: A'ja Wilson

2-5: Kelsey Mitchell, Olivia Miles, Angel Reese, Breanna Stewart

Reasoning: She's about to be in Bill Russell and Michael Jordan territory. While Mitchell and Miles are the only other two players to be in the conversation, Wilson should be a unanimous pick.

Rookie of the Year

Winner: Olivia Miles

Reasoning: I was beating the drum since the 2025 WNBA Draft when Miles pulled out of the draft to return to college that she was in a tier of her own for the 2026 draft. She's exceeded even my wildest expectations. Another no-brainer.

Coach of the Year

Winner: Cheryl Reeve

Reasoning: This one was tough. The other people in play were Sydney Johnson of the Mystics and Natalie Nakase of the Valkyries (I could hear an argument for Karl Smesko, leading the Dream to back-to-back 30-win seasons, but he wasn't in the convo for me). There are no strict guidelines for voters. Remember that, as I'll get into the weeds on it later. While I get the reasoning for both Johnson and Nakase, I don't treat the award as rewarding the coach who exceeded expectations. Some might, and that's totally fine. For me, though, we too often reward the coach of a team who did better than we thought, and we punish a top coach who people know is elite. What Reeve did with Minnesota this year can't be ignored. They lost key players in Alanna Smith, Natisha Hiedeman, and Jessica Shepard, and they were without Napheesa Collier for the first half of the season. Reeve had a rookie leading her team, to go along with Courtney Williams, Kayla McBride, and offseason acquisitions Maya Caldwell and Nia Brodie to secure the No. 1 seed. For me, that's worthy of the award.

Defensive Player of the Year

Winner: Angel Reese

Reasoning: All season, I was touting Gabby Williams as the winner. She's the best perimeter defender in the league, and while the award typically goes to bigs, Williams was making a case for a wing player to win it given the data that we have at our disposal now. Hell, I wrote 3,000-plus words about it after chatting with her, Fudd, Rhyne Howard, and others. She's so elite when it comes to point-of-attack defense, but what Reese has done is special. She's playing center at a high level, which isn't her natural position. She's doing that while being able to guard all positions, interrupt passing lanes, hedge on screens, cut off angles to the hoop off-ball, possess elite lateral quickness, steal the ball 70 times as a big, finish top three in the league in steals per game, and leading in just about every advanced metric you can find. It's not an award going to a big who has the most blocks, but it's going to a big who is truly a menace for the opposition defensively. She's earned it.

Sixth Player of the Year

Winner: Janelle Salaün

Reasoning: There were three no-brainer picks for award season. Salaün, Miles, and Wilson.

Most Improved Player

Winner: Shakira Austin

Runner-up: Jessica Shepard, Carla Leite, Bridget Carleton, Marina Mabrey

Reasoning: Let's point out first that there were no runner-up spots, but these were the five players that I shortlisted. Ultimately, I jumped Austin over Shepard in mid-August. Like coach of the year, people can have a player with a new, expanded role as their MIP, and I won't argue it. For me, though, an increased opportunity doesn't exactly mean most improved. Shepard has that opportunity in Dallas after being a reserve in Minnesota. For Austin, though, she's truly the player who has improved the most this season - with Leite right behind her. Austin has stayed healthy, which has always been the biggest thing for her, but she's also improved in her mid-range game, her back-to-the-basket game, and her feet seem super soft around the basket. Defensively, she's leading a fantastic defensive unit in Washington as the anchor. She's able to step out and guard along the perimeter when needed, but her lateral ability to challenge shots at the rim should be studied by young players looking to break into the league. She told me last year during a chat that the "potential is very high." It is, indeed.

All-WNBA First and Second Teams

First team: A'ja Wilson, Kelsey Mitchell, Olivia Miles, Angel Reese, Paige Bueckers

Second team: Jackie Young, Gabby Williams, Breanna Stewart, Shakira Austin, Rhyne Howard

Who I had to cut: Allisha Gray, Aliyah Boston, Caitlin Clark, Veronica Burton, Sonia Citron, Kayla McBride, Alyssa Thomas, Jonquel Jones

Reasoning: OK, where to start here. I guess I'll go with some of the questions that I've received:

• How do you have Stewie as a top-five MVP candidate but she's not on your first team?

It's a fair question. It's one that I've asked four different voters if I'm crazy for doing. Three of them said, "not at all. I'm the same way." Again, with these votes, we all have our own criteria that we use. For me, there's a reason that we vote for top five MVP candidates and first-team all-WNBA. They would be combined as the same vote if not. Ultimately, the reason that I have Bueckers on the first team is the value that she brought to her team. She took a team that had the No. 1 pick this year and elevated them to a level of making the playoffs. Others had a big role in that, too, but with the injury to Fudd and the disappointing season of max-salaried Alanna Smith, Bueckers impact on her team to elevate them to that level was enough for me to give her the nod over Stewart. Stewart also played a huge role for keeping the Liberty where they were despite dealing with a number of injuries and a disjointed season under a new head coach. But her numbers spoke more to me for MVP and the individual performance that she had while having a good supporting cast of players in and out all season. I hope that makes sense.

• Why is Angel Reese first team?

My easiest answer is to ask a question back: why isn't she a first-team player on all ballots? Remember, I cover the Atlanta Dream. I get paid to do so. I am not a Dream fan. What Reese has done all season has been remarkable. She still has a lot of development needed offensively in the paint, but she took over the Dream to become the face of the franchise in a single year. It's because of her brand, yes, but it's more because of her play. I was advocating for the Dream to make a move for Kelsey Plum at the trade deadline – they were having conversations with the Sparks that would have sent Te-Hina Paopao and Jordin Canada to the Sparks – because they needed a player who wasn't afraid to take over the game late. It turns out that player was Reese all along. She was breaking records nightly with her rebounds and her defense. And save me the shit about mebounds. They account for 18 percent of her total rebounds (Natasha Howard is at 17 percent for a comparison).

• WHERE IS CAITLIN CLARK YOU FUCKING MONSTER?

Girl, grab a Snickers. You aren't yourself when you're hungry. Let me say, I do not hate Caitlin Clark. She won the AP Comeback Player of the Year Award, and that was super deserving. I'm glad that she's healthy and playing at a high level. Why wasn't she on my first- or second-team all-WNBA? Well, there were 18 players who I shortlisted and had to decide who would get cut. The question I always ask is if there is a limit on how many players can be selected and a player isn't selected who you feel should be on there is this: who should she replace? It's the exercise that I worked on over and over again. And, ultimately, with my evaluation and my criteria that I use, I value defense a lot. This isn't the top scoring threats or best passers. Caitlin would be there for that. This is all WNBA. So while she's a superb scorer, has top-three vision, and is always game planned around, the weaknesses were too glaring to have her there over the other, more complete players. She had 183 turnovers – 36 more than any other player in the league. In 30 games, for a comparison, Azzi Fudd had 33 turnovers. There's also the defensive liability that she is. She had a DVPM of -0.8, which is the same as Li Yueru, Jade Melbourne, Erica Wheeler, and Sydney Taylor. Her defensive rating was 111, which was the worst of the 18 players that I considered for the two teams. She had a -5.3 on/off net rating, meaning her team was worse with her on the court due to her defense. Late in games, Stephanie White would substitute her out on defense to put a plus-defender out there. Lastly, the flopping. It's a reason why I didn't consider Brittney Sykes for the All-Star Game (even before her injury). Clark took the flopping to another level this year, and that takes away from her overall profile. So when I took all of that into consideration, I was struggling to find the player I could remove for her. Defense matters a lot to me. I evaluate Clark like she's one of 180 players in the league.

All-WNBA First and Second All Defensive Teams

First team: Angel Reese, Gabby Williams, Kayla McBride, Rhyne Howard, Veronica Burton

Second team: A'ja Wilson, Kiah Stokes, Jordin Canada, Sonia Citron, Shakira Austin

Reasoning: I voted for A'ja as my MVP. I voted for her as a member of the first team all-WNBA. She's the GOAT and one of one. Most will have her on the first team all-defense, too, and that's deserving. There are eight players deserving of it – so I had to make a call. Angel, my DPOY, and Gabby, the best perimeter defender in the league, are obvious picks. Rhyne Howard defends the best player on the opposing team for about 92.9 percent of possessions, and she led the league in steals (and deflections, but we can't track those). That left two spots. Ultimately, I went with McBride, who picked up the defensive slack after Minnesota lost Alanna Smith – the co-DPOY a season ago – and Collier for the first half of this year. McBride is known for her shooting, but she has been an elite defender at the first two levels, anchoring the Minnesota defense. Her late-game defense, especially, gave her a nod for the first team. That left Wilson, Burton, Citron, and Austin for the final spot. I have zero issue with Wilson here. I flip-flopped until the end. Ultimately, Burton got the nod as the Robin to Gabby's Batman for Golden State's suffocating defense. She does a great job along the perimeter and switches seamlessly during actions. A'ja carries Las Vegas' defense. She is their defense in many ways. I have no issues there with her on the first team, but I tend to lean toward perimeter defenders in my evaluations.

All Rookie Team

Winners: Olivia Miles, Sydney Taylor, Pauline Astier, Flau'jae Johnson, Awa Fam

My cuts: Azzi Fudd and Kiki Rice

Reasoning: I took heat for this, and I knew that I would. Azzi fans go HARD for her, and I respect it (but also, like, keep it respectful, people). I had a great, long one-on-one with her this year, and we nerded out about defense. It was a ton of fun. But remember how we all have our own guidelines that we go by? For me, I care about playing time. I didn't vote for Kelsey Plum for the All-Star Game because she played in just 12 games at the time of voting (I believe that's the number. I need to hire a copy-editor). I set a limit of 70 percent for my voting criteria. It's not as stringent as the 65-game limit for NBA voting (79.27 percent) but it still gives a hard stop when considering someone. Again, this isn't the WNBA's rule, it's mine. If Fudd didn't get hurt – Rice, too – they both would be no-brainers for this team. What is fair is the reasoning for games played and not minutes played. It's a fair question. For awards, games is the easier quantifier, while minutes played is better for data trends. And, well, I love data, so I understand that I'm going against that here intentionally. I use games because I value play throughout the season, and not just minutes, which can be easily skewed. "But if someone plays two minutes in a game, that counts as a game played!" You're right, and that could be an issue ... except it's really not. Let's look at the lowest amount of minutes the players played who made my team:

15:48 Flau'jae Johnson

22:47 Olivia Miles

3:13 Sydney Taylor

13:44 Awa Fam

9:43 Pauline Astier

Ah, Sydney Taylor, yes. The unanimous pick for all-rookie. That proves the point, right? Well, context is key, as always. Taylor was undrafted and was the final player to make the team for the Sky. She was used sparingly early on, but then she became a starter on June 17. Since that moment, her lowest minute total was 16:56. People will like to point out that Fudd played more minutes than Taylor, and they are 100 percent correct. But Taylor – again, the player we shouldn't be using as a comp given she's a unanimous choice – was able to take the starting gig and run with it after the first month of the season for the entire year. That matters to me more than minutes per game (Jose Fernandez, learn your lesson, please). I won't knock anyone who has Fudd and/or Rice (if you have one, you should have the other, imo), but I like to work within a framework when I can.

Sportsmanship Award

Winner: Veronica Burton

Reasoning: VB is one of my favorite players to watch play basketball. She plays a fun style, a clean style, and is a joy on and off the court. She's a kind human, and her teammates and opponents love her.