WNBA Most Improved Player

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.

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

Season	Player	Yrs[a]	Position	Nationality	Team	First-Place Votes	Ref.
2000	Tari Phillips	2	Forward / Center	United States	New York Liberty	19 out of 62	[1]
2001	Janeth Arcain	5	Guard	Brazil	Houston Comets	25 out of 60	[2]
2002	Coco Miller	2		United States	Washington Mystics	14 out of 60	[3]
2003	Michelle Snow		Forward / Center		Houston Comets (2)	22 out of 53	[4]
2004	Kelly Miller	4	Guard		Indiana Fever	9 out of 48 (tie)	[5]
	Wendy Palmer	8	Forward		Connecticut Sun
2005	Nicole Powell	2			Sacramento Monarchs	20 out of 49	[6]
2006	Erin Buescher	5			Sacramento Monarchs (2)	28 out of 56	[7]
2007	Janel McCarville	3	Center		New York Liberty (2)	33 out of 51	[8]
2008	Ebony Hoffman	5	Forward		Indiana Fever (2)	31 out of 44	[9]
2009	Crystal Langhorne	2			Washington Mystics (2)	19 out of 40	[10]
2010	Leilani Mitchell	3	Guard	Australia[b]	New York Liberty (3)	29 out of 39	[12]
2011	Kia Vaughn		Center	United States[c]	New York Liberty (4)	15 out of 40	[13]
2012	Kristi Toliver	4	Guard	United States[d]	Los Angeles Sparks	24 out of 41	[15]
2013	Shavonte Zellous	5		United States[e]	Indiana Fever (3)	30 out of 39	[17]
2014	Skylar Diggins-Smith	2		United States	Tulsa Shock	29 out of 38	[18]
2015	Kelsey Bone	3	Center		Connecticut Sun (2)	14 out of 39	[19]
2016	Elizabeth Williams	2	Forward / Center	United States[f]	Atlanta Dream	14 out of 39	[21]
2017	Jonquel Jones			Bahamas[g]	Connecticut Sun (3)	32 out of 40	[23]
2018	Natasha Howard	5	Forward	United States	Seattle Storm	29 out of 39	[24]
2019	Leilani Mitchell (2)	11	Guard	Australia[b]	Phoenix Mercury	27 out of 43	[25]
2020	Betnijah Laney	5	Forward / Guard	United States	Atlanta Dream (2)	25 out of 47	[26]
2021	Brionna Jones		Forward		Connecticut Sun (4)	38 out of 49	[27]
2022	Jackie Young	4	Guard		Las Vegas Aces	32 out of 56	[28]
2023	Satou Sabally		Forward	Germany[h]	Dallas Wings	37 out of 60	[30]
2024	DiJonai Carrington		Guard	United States	Connecticut Sun (5)	28 out of 67	[31]

Notes

1. Played in league (including season in which award was given to player)
2. Leilani Mitchell was born as a dual citizen of the United States and Australia. She represents Australia internationally.^[11]
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.^[14]
5. Shavonte Zellous was born in the United States and is a naturalized citizen of Croatia. She has represented Croatia internationally since 2015.^[16]
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.^[20]
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.^[22]
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.^[29]

See also

• List of sports awards honoring women