WNBA Most Valuable Player

The Women's National Basketball Association Most Valuable Player (MVP) is an annual Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) award given since the league's inaugural season in 1997. MVP voting takes place immediately following the regular season. The award recipient is decided by a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States. Panel members were asked to select their top five choices for the award, with 10 points being awarded for a first place vote, seven for second, five for third, three for fourth and one for fifth.

In 2008, fans could also have a say in who won the award. Fans were able to vote online for their top five MVP picks. These selections accounted for 25% of the total vote, while the media panel's selections accounted for the other 75%.

Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie, Lauren Jackson and A'ja Wilson have won the award the most times, with three selections each. Two players have won the award with different franchises—Elena Delle Donne in 2015 with the Chicago Sky and 2019 with the Washington Mystics, and Breanna Stewart in 2018 with the Seattle Storm and 2023 with the New York Liberty. Cynthia Cooper and Candace Parker and have also won the award twice.

Candace Parker is the only player to win Rookie of the Year and MVP in the same season—2008.

Jackson, both born and trained in Australia, is the only award winner trained outside the United States.

The sculptor of the WNBA MVP Award is Marc Mellon, who is also the sculptor of the NBA MVP Trophy.

Winners

WNBA Most Valuable Player Award, presented annually.

Legend

	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 been named MVP
Team (X)	Denotes the number of times a player from this team has won

Season	Player	Position	Nationality	Team	First-Place Votes	Ref.
1997	Cynthia Cooper * †	Guard	United States	Houston Comets	37 out of 37	[1]
1998	Cynthia Cooper * † (2)			Houston Comets (2)	37 out of 45	[2]
1999	Yolanda Griffith * †	Center		Sacramento Monarchs	23 out of 51	[3]
2000	Sheryl Swoopes * †	Guard / Forward		Houston Comets (3)	38 out of 62	[4]
2001	Lisa Leslie * †	Center		Los Angeles Sparks	51 out of 60	[5]
2002	Sheryl Swoopes * † (2)	Guard / Forward		Houston Comets (4)	29 out of 60	[6]
2003	Lauren Jackson * †	Forward / Center	Australia	Seattle Storm	23 out of 54	[7]
2004	Lisa Leslie * † (2)	Center	United States	Los Angeles Sparks (2)	33 out of 48	[8]
2005	Sheryl Swoopes * † (3)	Guard / Forward		Houston Comets (5)	16 out of 50[a]	[9]
2006	Lisa Leslie * † (3)	Center		Los Angeles Sparks (3)	40 out of 55	[10]
2007	Lauren Jackson * † (2)	Forward / Center	Australia	Seattle Storm (2)	42 out of 48	[11]
2008	Candace Parker	Forward	United States	Los Angeles Sparks (4)	276.79 out of 300 pts[b]	[12]
2009	Diana Taurasi	Guard		Phoenix Mercury	27 out of 39	[13]
2010	Lauren Jackson * † (3)	Forward / Center	Australia	Seattle Storm (3)	22 out of 39	[14]
2011	Tamika Catchings * †	Forward	United States	Indiana Fever	21 out of 40	[15]
2012	Tina Charles	Center		Connecticut Sun	25 out of 41	[16]
2013	Candace Parker (2)	Forward		Los Angeles Sparks (5)	10 out of 39[c]	[17]
2014	Maya Moore* †			Minnesota Lynx	35 out of 38	[18]
2015	Elena Delle Donne	Guard / Forward		Chicago Sky	38 out of 39	[19]
2016	Nneka Ogwumike	Forward		Los Angeles Sparks (6)	31 out of 39	[20]
2017	Sylvia Fowles*	Center		Minnesota Lynx (2)	35 out of 40	[21]
2018	Breanna Stewart	Forward		Seattle Storm (4)	33 out of 39	[22]
2019	Elena Delle Donne (2)	Guard / Forward		Washington Mystics	41 out of 43	[23]
2020	A'ja Wilson	Forward		Las Vegas Aces	43 out of 47	[24]
2021	Jonquel Jones	Forward / Center	Bahamas /  Bosnia and Herzegovina	Connecticut Sun (2)	48 out of 49	[25]
2022	A'ja Wilson (2)	Forward	United States	Las Vegas Aces (2)	31 out of 56	[26]
2023	Breanna Stewart (2)			New York Liberty	20 out of 60[d]	[27]
2024	A'ja Wilson (3)			Las Vegas Aces (3)	67 out of 67	[28]

1. Second-place finisher, Lauren Jackson, received more first-place votes (20 to Swoopes' 16), but Swoopes earned 327 total points to Jackson's 325.
2. First-place vote counts were not released by the WNBA. For the first time, an online fan vote was included in post-season award voting, accounting for 25% of the vote. The other 75% came from a panel of 45 national sportswriters and broadcasters.
3. Parker and Maya Moore tied in first-place voting with 10 votes each. However in the overall vote tally, Parker earned 234 total points to Moore's 218.
4. Second-place finisher, Alyssa Thomas, received more first-place votes (23 to Stewart's 20), but Stewart earned 446 total points to Thomas' 439.

Multi-time winners

Awards	Player	Team(s)	Years
3	Sheryl Swoopes	Houston Comets	2000, 2002, 2005
	Lisa Leslie	Los Angeles Sparks	2001, 2004, 2006
	Lauren Jackson	Seattle Storm	2003, 2007, 2010
	A'ja Wilson	Las Vegas Aces	2020, 2022, 2024
2	Cynthia Cooper	Houston Comets	1997, 1998
	Candace Parker	Los Angeles Sparks	2008, 2013
	Elena Delle Donne	Chicago Sky / Washington Mystics	2015, 2019
	Breanna Stewart	Seattle Storm / New York Liberty	2018, 2023

Teams

Awards	Teams	Years
6	Los Angeles Sparks	2001, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2013, 2016
5	Houston Comets	1997, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2005
4	Seattle Storm	2003, 2007, 2010, 2018
3	Las Vegas Aces	2020, 2022, 2024
2	Minnesota Lynx	2014, 2017
	Connecticut Sun	2012, 2021
1	Sacramento Monarchs	1999
	Phoenix Mercury	2009
	Indiana Fever	2011
	Chicago Sky	2015
	Washington Mystics	2019
	New York Liberty	2023
0	Dallas Wings	None
	Atlanta Dream

See also

• List of sports awards honoring women