WNBA Most Improved Player Award

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The Women's National Basketball Association's Most Improved Player Award is an annual Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) award given since the 2000 WNBA season, to the most improved player of the regular season. The winner is selected by a panel of sportswriters 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

In 2019, Leilani Mitchell became the first player in history to win the award twice, after winning the award in 2010. In 2004, there was a tie -- both Kelly Miller and Wendy Palmer received the award. Nicole Powell, Natasha Howard, and Jackie Young are the only players to win the Most Improved award and a WNBA title in the same year.

Winners

Denotes player who is still active in the WNBA
Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
Inducted into the Women's 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
SeasonPlayer# Szn [lower-alpha 1] PositionNationalityTeamFirst-Place VotesRef.
2000 Tari Phillips 2 Forward / Center Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States New York Liberty
2001 Janeth Arcain 5 Guard Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil Houston Comets
2002 Coco Miller 2Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Washington Mystics
2003 Michelle Snow Forward / Center Houston Comets (2)
2004 Kelly Miller 4 Guard Indiana Fever
Wendy Palmer 8 Forward Connecticut Sun
2005 Nicole Powell 2 Sacramento Monarchs
2006 Erin Buescher 5 Sacramento Monarchs (2)
2007 Janel McCarville 3 Center New York Liberty (2)
2008 Ebony Hoffman 5 Forward Indiana Fever (2)
2009 Crystal Langhorne 2 Washington Mystics (2)
2010 Leilani Mitchell 3 Guard Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia [lower-alpha 2] New York Liberty (3)
2011 Kia Vaughn Center Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States [lower-alpha 3] New York Liberty (4)
2012 Kristi Toliver 4 Guard Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States [lower-alpha 4] Los Angeles Sparks
2013 Shavonte Zellous 5Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States [lower-alpha 5] Indiana Fever (3)
2014 Skylar Diggins-Smith 2Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Tulsa Shock
2015 Kelsey Bone 3 Center Connecticut Sun (2)14 out of 39 [4]
2016 Elizabeth Williams 2 Forward / Center Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States [lower-alpha 6] Atlanta Dream 14 out of 39 [6]
2017 Jonquel Jones Flag of the Bahamas.svg  Bahamas [lower-alpha 7] Connecticut Sun (3)32 out of 40 [8]
2018 Natasha Howard 5 Forward Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Seattle Storm 29 out of 39 [9]
2019 Leilani Mitchell (2)11 Guard Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia [lower-alpha 2] Phoenix Mercury 27 out of 43 [10]
2020 Betnijah Laney 5 Forward / Guard Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Atlanta Dream (2)25 out of 47 [11]
2021 Brionna Jones Forward Connecticut Sun (4)38 out of 49 [12]
2022 Jackie Young 4 Guard Las Vegas Aces 32 out of 56 [13]
2023 Satou Sabally Forward Flag of Germany.svg  Germany [lower-alpha 8] Dallas Wings 37 out of 60 [15]
2024 DiJonai Carrington Guard Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Connecticut Sun (5)28 out of 67 [16]
Notes
  1. ↑ Played in league (including season in which award was given to player)
  2. 1 2 Leilani Mitchell was born as a dual citizen of the United States and Australia. She represents Australia internationally. [1]
  3. ↑ Kia Vaughn was born in the United States and is a naturalized citizen of the Czech Republic. She has represented the Czech Republic internationally since 2017.
  4. ↑ Kristi Toliver was born in the United States and is a naturalized citizen of Slovakia. She has represented Slovakia internationally since 2014. [2]
  5. ↑ Shavonte Zellous was born in the United States and is a naturalized citizen of Croatia. She has represented Croatia internationally since 2015. [3]
  6. ↑ Elizabeth Williams was born in the United Kingdom and is a naturalized citizen of the United States. She has represented the United States internationally since 2009. [5]
  7. ↑ Jonquel Jones was born in the Bahamas and is a naturalized citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina. She has represented Bosnia and Herzegovina internationally since 2019. [7]
  8. ↑ Satou Sabally was born in the United States to Gambian and German parents, and is a citizen by birth of all three countries. She represents Germany internationally. [14]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ FIBA World Championship for Women. Joyce thrilled to get Mitchell on board.Retrieved 2014-04-18
  2. ↑ Washington Post. .Retrieved 2019-11-24
  3. ↑ Indianapolis Star. .Retrieved 2019-11-24
  4. ↑ "Kelsey Bone Named 2015 WNBA Most Improved Player Presented By Samsung". WNBA. October 1, 2015. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  5. ↑ USA Basketball. .Retrieved 2019-11-24
  6. ↑ "Elizabeth Williams named WNBA Most Improved Player". ESPN . September 21, 2016. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  7. ↑ Nassau Guardian. .Retrieved 2019-11-24
  8. ↑ "Connecticut's Jonquel Jones Named 2017 WNBA Most Improved Player". WNBA. September 10, 2017. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
  9. ↑ "Storm's Natasha Howard named 2018 WNBA Most Improved Player". NBA Communications (Press release). August 26, 2018. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
  10. ↑ "Leilani Mitchell Named 2019 WNBA Most Improved Player". wnba.com. WNBA. September 18, 2019. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  11. ↑ Voepel, Michael (September 24, 2020). "Dream's Betnijah Laney named WNBA's Most Improved Player". ESPN . Retrieved September 25, 2024.
  12. ↑ "Connecticut Sun Brionna Jones Named 2021 KIA Most Improved Player". wnba.com. WNBA. September 28, 2021. Retrieved September 28, 2021.
  13. ↑ "Jackie Young Named 2022 KIA WNBA Most Improved Player". wnba.com (Press release). New York, NY: WNBA. August 29, 2022. Retrieved August 29, 2022.
  14. ↑ Ayala, Erica (August 27, 2020). "Satou Sabally Is a Unicorn". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved August 27, 2020.
  15. ↑ "Dallas Wings' Satou Sabally Named 2023 KIA WNBA Most Improved Player" (Press release). WNBA. September 21, 2023. Retrieved September 21, 2023.
  16. ↑ "Sun guard DiJonai Carrington wins WNBA Most Improved Player award". ESPN . Associated Press. September 25, 2024. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
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