| Women's National Basketball Association awards and honors |
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| Championship |
| Individual awards |
| Honors |
The Women's National Basketball Association Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) is an annual Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) award given since the league's inaugural season.
During the first four years of the league, the Houston Comets' Cynthia Cooper won the award four consecutive times. The Los Angeles Sparks' Lisa Leslie won back-to-back in the subsequent two seasons. No other players have won the award in consecutive seasons, but Diana Taurasi, Sylvia Fowles, and Breanna Stewart have won the award twice. While some teams have won multiple championship since the dynasty years of the Comets and the Sparks, the match-up usually resulted in different MVPs. For example, in the Detroit Shock's three wins over six years, three different players won the award. As of 2021, there have been two non-American Finals MVPs – Lauren Jackson of Australia (2010) and Emma Meesseman of Belgium (2019).
| 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 | |
| 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 |
| Player | Team(s) | No. | Years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cynthia Cooper | Houston Comets | 4 | 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 |
| Lisa Leslie | Los Angeles Sparks | 2 | 2001, 2002 |
| Diana Taurasi | Phoenix Mercury | 2009, 2014 | |
| Sylvia Fowles | Minnesota Lynx | 2015, 2017 | |
| Breanna Stewart | Seattle Storm | 2018, 2020 |
The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is a professional basketball league in the United States. It is composed of twelve teams. The league was founded on April 22, 1996, as the women's counterpart to the National Basketball Association (NBA), and league play started in 1997. The regular season is played from May to September, with the All Star game being played midway through the season in July and the WNBA Finals at the end of September until the beginning of October.
The Houston Comets were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Houston, Texas, United States. Formed in 1997, the team was one of the original eight WNBA teams and won the first four championships of the league's existence. They are one of two teams in the WNBA that are undefeated in the WNBA Finals; the Seattle Storm are the other. The Comets were the first dynasty of the WNBA and are tied with the Minnesota Lynx and Seattle Storm for the most championships of any WNBA franchise. The team was folded and disbanded by the league in 2008 during the height of the Great Recession because new ownership could not be found.
The Los Angeles Sparks is an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Sparks compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team was founded before the league's inaugural 1997 season began. Like some other WNBA teams, the Sparks have the distinction of not being affiliated with an NBA counterpart, even though the market is shared with the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers. As of 2020, the Sparks are the most recent franchise to win back-to-back titles.
Lindsay Marie Whalen is the head coach of the University of Minnesota's women's basketball team.
Alana Monique Beard is an American former professional basketball player. After playing college basketball for the Duke Blue Devils, she was drafted second overall by the Washington Mystics in the 2004 WNBA Draft. She signed on with the Los Angeles Sparks as a free agent in 2012. Beard was the 2017 and 2018 WNBA Defensive Player of the Year. However, she was injured next season, only contributing a few points for the Sparks. Beard announced her retirement from the WNBA on January 23, 2020.
Candace Nicole Parker is an American professional basketball player for the Chicago Sky of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She was selected as the first overall pick in the 2008 WNBA draft by the Los Angeles Sparks.
The WNBA Finals are the championship series of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and the conclusion of the league's postseason each fall. The series was named the WNBA Championship until 2002. Starting 2016 Verizon is the official sponsor.
Cynthia Lynne Cooper-Dyke is an American basketball coach and former player who has won championships in college, in the Olympics, and in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She is considered by many as one of the greatest basketball players ever. In 2011, Cooper-Dyke was voted by fans as one of the Top 15 players in WNBA history. Upon the league's formation, she played for the Houston Comets from 1997 to 2000, being named the Most Valuable Player of the WNBA Finals in all four seasons, and returned to play again in 2003. Cooper-Dyke still holds the record for most Finals MVPs with four. On April 30, 2019, she was introduced as the head coach for the Texas Southern Lady Tigers basketball team, a position she held in the 2012–13 season. She has also coached at USC, UNC Wilmington, Prairie View A&M, and, professionally, for the Phoenix Mercury. Cooper-Dyke was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009 and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010.
Tina Marie Thompson is an American former WNBA professional basketball player who served as the head coach of the Virginia Cavaliers women's basketball team from 2018-2022. Thompson was inducted into both the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018.
Seimone Delicia Augustus is an American former professional basketball player who is currently an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), Dynamo Kursk, and the U.S. national team. She was drafted by the Minnesota Lynx first overall in the 2006 WNBA Draft, and left to sign with the Sparks 14 years later. An eight-time All-Star, Augustus has become one of the most recognizable faces in the WNBA, earning MVP honors while leading the Lynx to the 2011 WNBA championship, the first of four WNBA championships that she won with the Lynx.
Sylvia Shaqueria Fowles is an American former professional basketball player. Fowles played for the Chicago Sky and Minnesota Lynx during her career in the WNBA. She won the WNBA MVP Award in 2017 and the WNBA Defensive Player of the Year award four times. She led the Lynx to win the WNBA Championship in 2015 and 2017, and she was named the MVP of the WNBA Finals both times. In 2020, Fowles overtook Rebekkah Brunson to become the reigning WNBA career rebound leader.
Maya April Moore is an American professional basketball player for the Minnesota Lynx, who is currently on sabbatical. Naming her their inaugural Performer of the Year in 2017, Sports Illustrated called Moore the greatest winner in the history of women's basketball.
The 2008 WNBA season was the 12th season of the Women's National Basketball Association. It was the first WNBA season with a franchise in Atlanta as the Dream were announced in late 2007.
Nnemkadi Chinwe Victoria "Nneka" Ogwumike is a Nigerian-American basketball player for the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), after being drafted No. 1 overall in the 2012 WNBA Draft. Soon after being drafted, Ogwumike signed an endorsement deal with Nike. She is the older sister of Chiney Ogwumike, who also plays for the Sparks. Ogwumike was named WNBA MVP for the 2016 WNBA season and won the WNBA Finals the same year She was named to The W25 the league's list of the top 25 players of its first 25 years, in 2021.
Amaya Valdemoro Madariaga is a Spanish former basketball player. She won three Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) championship rings with the Houston Comets, one EuroLeague with Dorna Godella, as well as eight Spanish leagues and one Russian Premier League. She was the Russian League Player of the Year in 2006.
Jantel Lavender is an American professional basketball player for the Seattle Storm of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She was drafted with the fifth overall pick in the 2011 WNBA draft by the Los Angeles Sparks.
Odyssey Celeste Sims is an American professional basketball player for the Connecticut Sun of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). An AP and WBCA All-American, Sims was born in Irving, Texas and graduated from MacArthur High School.
The USC Trojans women's basketball team, or the Women of Troy, is the collegiate women's basketball team that represents the University of Southern California, in the Pac-12 Conference. The team rose to prominence in 1976, at which time scholarships became available to female basketball players. They were the first Division I team to give these scholarships.
The 2016 WNBA Finals was the best-of-five championship series for the 2016 season of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The top-seeded Minnesota Lynx held home court advantage in the Finals, but lost three games to two to the second-seeded Los Angeles Sparks. The series followed a 2–2–1 format, and eschewed from the previous tradition of having the Western Conference champion face the Eastern Conference champion. Instead, in the 2016 season, the top eight teams qualified for the playoffs, regardless of conference. Both WNBA Finals teams were from the Western Conference. The Sparks won a semifinal series against the Chicago Sky to determine one of the Finals berths; the first-seeded Lynx defeated the Phoenix Mercury to earn the other. Candace Parker was named the 2016 WNBA Finals MVP. Renee Brown, outgoing Chief of Basketball Operations and Player Relations of the WNBA, issued statements following games 4 and 5 saying the referees had made an error in each game. Nevertheless, the Sparks won the series 3 games to 2.
Jonquel Orthea Jones is a Bahamian-Bosnian professional basketball player for the Connecticut Sun of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She was drafted with the 6th overall pick in the 2016 WNBA Draft. Since May 2019, she also holds the citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina, allowing her to play for the national team.
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