AP Awards for WNBA

[MilfordHusky]

POY Wilson. Wilson, Collier, and Thomas unanimous 1st team. Others on the 1st team were A. Gray and K. Mitchell.

2nd team consisted of Paige, Sabrina, Nneka, Plum, and Young.

Paige was the ROY. Others on 1st team were Citron, Iriafen, Salaun, Lacan, and Malonga. Half of them are French.

Other awards:

DPOY Wilson

COY Nakase

Comeback Austin

Improved Burton

6th Player Hillmon

A'ja Wilson's incredible season earns her a second straight AP Player of the Year award

A’ja Wilson followed up a historic season with another incredible one to earn AP Player of the Year for the second straight time.

apnews.com

 

[CTtoSanDiego]

This is about what I expected. Would have loved 1st team, but no way with her lousy Wings.

 

[azfan]

2025 WNBA End-of-Season Award Picks

One writer's choices for every award that the WNBA hands out at the and of the regular season, including this year's tricky MVP decision

open.substack.com

 

[The deacon]

URL unfurl="true"]https://open.substack.com/pub/herhoopstats/p/2025-wnba-award-picks?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=107r4l[/URL]

This was, for the most part, a well thought out and interesting read... after reading it the decision by the writer to lean to Collier over Wilson leads me to believe there are, indeed, those who'll vote for Naphesa even though the weight of writer's argument leaned to A'ja.

That'd be too bad because the fact that Napheesa's a fine person and she's a former UConn player, I fail to see how her value to the Lynx measured up this season to Wilson's value to the Aces.

Oh, well. We'll see.

 

[darrell]

I fail to see how her value to the Lynx measured up this season to Wilson's value to the Aces.

It’s really quite simple: While the Lynx were great without Napheesa on the floor, they were significantly better when she was. Their net rating was close to doubling and their offensive & defensive rating were much better with her.

 

[Blue Huskie]

It’s really quite simple: While the Lynx were great without Napheesa on the floor, they were significantly better when she was. Their net rating was close to doubling and their offensive & defensive rating were much better with her.

View attachment 111622

And ONLY the second player to EVER get to the 50/40/90 plateau besides EDD. Pheesa got hosed by their selection of a player who routinely gets double digit points at the line while refs ignore her constant setting of moving screens. I can't stand the enormous favoritism she gets from the refs. Sour grapes on my part? Well yeah.

 

[Jonathan14]

POY Wilson. Wilson, Collier, and Thomas unanimous 1st team. Others on the 1st team were A. Gray and K. Mitchell.

2nd team consisted of Paige, Sabrina, Nneka, Plum, and Young.

Paige was the ROY. Others on 1st team were Citron, Iriafen, Salaun, Lacan, and Malonga. Half of them are French.

Other awards:

DPOY Wilson

COY Nakase

Comeback Austin

Improved Burton

6th Player Hillmon

A'ja Wilson's incredible season earns her a second straight AP Player of the Year award

A’ja Wilson followed up a historic season with another incredible one to earn AP Player of the Year for the second straight time.

apnews.com

Kelsey Mitchell is a great scorer, but she's a guard with an A:TO ratio under 2:1, and she's not a great defender. I think Paige, Jackie, or Sab should have replaced her on the first team, and Veronica Burton should replace Plum on the second team. I'm glad, at least, that VB was recognized with the MIP award. Just my hot take.

 

[bballnut90]

Kelsey Mitchell is a great scorer, but she's a guard with an A:TO ratio under 2:1, and she's not a great defender. I think Paige, Jackie, or Sab should have replaced her on the first team, and Veronica Burton should replace Plum on the second team. I'm glad, at least, that VB was recognized with the MIP award. Just my hot take.

Her A/TO ratio is 1.92.

Paige had a great year but was on the worst team in the league, and she is not a great defender either.
Sabrina's only shooting 40.1% from the season and 29.9% from 3. Also not a great defender.
Young's had a very good season but isn't a go to player like Mitchell.

Mitchell carried Indy to the playoffs despite very inconsistent PG play and enduring an unbelievable number of season ending injuries. She deserves the last spot on 1st Team.

 

[GamecockFam]

I don't understand the Ionescu love but otherwise it is solid.

 

[Sifaka]

Half of them are French.

Top or bottom?

 

[MilfordHusky]

Top or bottom?

At least the upper half of Malonga.

 

[Sifaka]

At least the upper half of Malonga.

Hmmm…I see your point.

 

[JstVisiting]

This was, for the most part, a well thought out and interesting read... after reading it the decision by the writer to lean to Collier over Wilson leads me to believe there are, indeed, those who'll vote for Naphesa even though the weight of writer's argument leaned to A'ja.

That'd be too bad because the fact that Napheesa's a fine person and she's a former UConn player, I fail to see how her value to the Lynx measured up this season to Wilson's value to the Aces.

Oh, well. We'll see.

‘A’ja deserves it, but I really like the story of voting for Collier.’

That’s essentially what I’ve said the decision will be for a month.

 

[JstVisiting]

It’s really quite simple: While the Lynx were great without Napheesa on the floor, they were significantly better when she was. Their net rating was close to doubling and their offensive & defensive rating were much better with her.

View attachment 111622

It really is quite simple - he didn’t say the Lynx are better without Collier. That would be silly.

He said her relatively slight on/off +7.42 is dwarfed by A’ja’s +26.9.

I get it. We are hosted by a UConn board, so many of you want a UConn player to be MVP. That’s fine. Just say that. Sometimes fans aren’t rational. It’s part of sports.

I’m a Gamecock fan. When there eventually comes a time A’ja doesn’t deserve MVP, but is still in the conversation, I’ll likely still want her to win. Especially since they already gave one of hers to another Husky.

 

[TheFarmFan]

It’s really quite simple: While the Lynx were great without Napheesa on the floor, they were significantly better when she was. Their net rating was close to doubling and their offensive & defensive rating were much better with her.

View attachment 111622

Now do A'ja...


...I'm genuinely curious. I love, love, love Phee, but my instinct tells me A'ja is more critical to the Aces than Phee is to the Lynx.

 

[Plebe]

I get it. We are hosted by a UConn board, so many of you want a UConn player to be MVP. That’s fine. Just say that. Sometimes fans aren’t rational. It’s part of sports.

I’m a Gamecock fan. When there eventually comes a time A’ja doesn’t deserve MVP, but is still in the conversation, I’ll likely still want her to win. Especially since they already gave one of hers to another Husky.

What are you referring to in the last statement? "One of hers"?

 

[darrell]

Now do A'ja...


...I'm genuinely curious. I love, love, love Phee, but my instinct tells me A'ja is more critical to the Aces than Phee is to the Lynx.

Of course she is, but because Phee’s team is led by a sensible GM and a Coach who doesn’t give her the highest USG% in the league, that should go against her case for MVP?

 

[darrell]

It really is quite simple - he didn’t say the Lynx are better without Collier. That would be silly.

He said her relatively slight on/off +7.42 is dwarfed by A’ja’s +26.9.

I get it. We are hosted by a UConn board, so many of you want a UConn player to be MVP. That’s fine. Just say that. Sometimes fans aren’t rational. It’s part of sports.

I’m a Gamecock fan. When there eventually comes a time A’ja doesn’t deserve MVP, but is still in the conversation, I’ll likely still want her to win. Especially since they already gave one of hers to another Husky.

Lest we forget that the Aces, statistically, were better with A’ja off the floor last year, but she was still a unanimous pick for MVP.

 

[darrell]

Meanwhile this was Napheesa Collier a season ago, who received not one first-place vote.

 

[cancontent]

WNBA Most Valuable Player: SB Nation picks between A’ja Wilson, Napheesa Collier, Alyssa Thomas

How we ranked the WNBA’s three leading MVP candidates in our official ballot.

www.sbnation.com

An interesting article from a writer with a vote outlining their reasoning behind their vote. The one thing they note which I don't know gets enough attention is that this was a heck of a special season. The fact that the MVP debate continues to go on in threads like this, further confirms this.

 

[WFFL]

Does Collier make 50/40/90 if she plays 44 games versus 33 games ? It literally took the last game to get there , so it may seem to some voters she stat padded to ensure she could meet the feat while still missing 1/4 of the season.

 

[bballnut90]

Does Collier make 50/40/90 if she plays 44 games versus 33 games ? It literally took the last game to get there , so it may seem to some voters she stat padded to ensure she could meet the feat while still missing 1/4 of the season.

I don't think stat padding really works well for percentages. 50/40/90 is a heck of a feat regardless of if it's 33 or 44 games, but I also feel like 50/40/90 is a rather arbitrary statistic people are clinging to in order to make a sales pitch for Collier when in reality A'ja's shooting splits are right there.