WNBA Defensive Player of the Year

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The Women's National Basketball Association's Defensive Player of the Year Award is an annual Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) award given since the league's inaugural season -- 1997, to the top defensive player of the regular season. The winner is selected by a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States, each of whom casts a vote for first, second and third place selections. Each first-place vote is worth five points; each second-place vote is worth three points; and each third-place vote is worth one point. The player with the highest point total, regardless of the number of first-place votes, wins the award.

Contents

Tamika Catchings has won the defensive player of the year award more times than any other player with the record of 5. [1]

Winners

Denotes player who is still active in the WNBA
Inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame
Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
Denotes player whose team won championship that year
Player (X)Denotes the number of times the player has won
Team (X)Denotes the number of times a player from this team has won
SeasonPlayerPositionNationalityTeamFirst-Place VotesRef.
1997 Teresa Weatherspoon Guard Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States New York Liberty 22 out of 37
1998 Teresa Weatherspoon (2) Guard Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States New York Liberty (2)28 out of 45
1999 Yolanda Griffith Center Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Sacramento Monarchs 17 out of 51
2000 Sheryl Swoopes Guard / Forward Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Houston Comets 33 out of 62
2001 Debbie Black Guard Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Miami Sol 22 out of 60
2002 Sheryl Swoopes (2) Guard / Forward Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Houston Comets (2)22 out of 60
2003 Sheryl Swoopes (3) Guard / Forward Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Houston Comets (3)35 out of 54
2004 Lisa Leslie Center Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Los Angeles Sparks 27 out of 46
2005 Tamika Catchings Forward Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Indiana Fever 35 out of 50
2006 Tamika Catchings (2) Forward Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Indiana Fever (2)43 out of 56
2007 Lauren Jackson Forward / Center Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Seattle Storm 20 out of 48
2008 Lisa Leslie (2) Center Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Los Angeles Sparks (2)20 out of 43 [2]
2009 Tamika Catchings (3) Forward Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Indiana Fever (3)34 out of 40
2010 Tamika Catchings (4) Forward Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Indiana Fever (4)30 out of 39
2011 Sylvia Fowles Center Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Chicago Sky 19 out of 40 [3]
2012 Tamika Catchings (5) Forward Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Indiana Fever (5)19 out of 41
2013 Sylvia Fowles (2) Center Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Chicago Sky (2)21 out of 39 [3]
2014 Brittney Griner Center Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Phoenix Mercury 31 out of 38
2015 Brittney Griner (2) Center Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Phoenix Mercury (2)33 out of 39
2016 Sylvia Fowles (3) Center Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Minnesota Lynx 19 out of 39 [3]
2017 Alana Beard Guard / Forward Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Los Angeles Sparks (3)28 out of 40 [4]
2018 Alana Beard (2) Guard / Forward Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Los Angeles Sparks (4)16 out of 39 [5]
2019 Natasha Howard Guard / Forward Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Seattle Storm (2)33 out of 43 [6]
2020 Candace Parker Forward / Center Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Los Angeles Sparks (5)16 out of 47 [7]
2021 Sylvia Fowles (4) Center Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Minnesota Lynx (2)31 out of 49 [8]
2022 A'ja Wilson Forward Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Las Vegas Aces 20 out of 56 [9]
2023 A'ja Wilson (2)Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Las Vegas Aces (2)32 out of 60 [10]
2024 Napheesa Collier Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Minnesota Lynx (3)36 out of 60 [11]
2025 Alanna Smith Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Minnesota Lynx (4)29 out of 72 [12] [13]
A'ja Wilson (3) Center Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Las Vegas Aces (3)

Multi-time winners

AwardsPlayerTeam(s)Years
5 Tamika Catchings Indiana Fever 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2012
4 Sylvia Fowles Chicago Sky / Minnesota Lynx 2011, 2013, 2016, 2021
3 Sheryl Swoopes Houston Comets 2000, 2002, 2003
A'ja Wilson Las Vegas Aces 2022, 2023, 2025
2 Teresa Weatherspoon New York Liberty 1997, 1998
Lisa Leslie Los Angeles Sparks 2004, 2008
Brittney Griner Phoenix Mercury 2014, 2015
Alana Beard Los Angeles Sparks 2017, 2018

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Saying Goodbye to WNBA Great Tamika Catchings". Archived from the original on October 2, 2016. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
  2. ↑ "WNBA.com: Los Angeles' Lisa Leslie Named 2008 WNBA Defensive Player of the Year". www.wnba.com. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 "Sylvia Fowles wins WNBA Defensive Player of the Year". September 30, 2016. Retrieved October 1, 2016.[ permanent dead link ]
  4. ↑ "Los Angeles' Alana Beard Named 2017 WNBA Defensive Player of the Year". wnba.com. WNBA. September 12, 2017. Archived from the original on September 13, 2017. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
  5. ↑ "Sparks' Alana Beard Named 2018 Defensive Player Of The Year" (Press release). WNBA. August 30, 2018. Archived from the original on August 30, 2018. Retrieved August 30, 2018.
  6. ↑ "Seattle's Natasha Howard Named 2019 WNBA Defensive Player Of The Year" (Press release). WNBA. September 11, 2019. Archived from the original on October 1, 2019. Retrieved September 11, 2019.
  7. ↑ "Candace Parker Named 2020 WNBA Defensive Player Of The Year". wnba.com. WNBA. September 24, 2020. Archived from the original on October 2, 2020. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
  8. ↑ "Sylvia Fowles Named 2021 WNBA Defensive Player Of The Year". Archived from the original on September 26, 2021. Retrieved September 26, 2021.
  9. ↑ "Las Vegas Aces' A'ja Wilson Named 2022 Kia WNBA Defensive Player Of The Year". wnba.com. WNBA. August 30, 2022. Archived from the original on August 30, 2022. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
  10. ↑ "Aces star A'ja Wilson wins second straight DPOY award". ESPN . September 22, 2023. Archived from the original on September 22, 2023. Retrieved September 22, 2023.
  11. ↑ "Napheesa Collier Named 2024 WNBA Defensive Player of the Year". Minnesota Lynx . September 29, 2024. Retrieved September 29, 2024.
  12. ↑ "Minnesota Lynx's Alanna Smith and Las Vegas Aces' A'ja Wilson Named 2025 Kia WNBA Co-Defensive Players of the Year". WNBA . September 18, 2025. Retrieved September 18, 2025.
  13. ↑ Struck, Logan (September 18, 2025). "Alanna Smith, A'ja Wilson Make WNBA History With DPOY Announcement". ESPN . Retrieved September 18, 2025.
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