WNBA’s Rookie of the Year: Paige Bueckers or Sonia Citron? Our experts share their votes

As the 2025 regular season comes to a close, The Athletic is sharing its votes for end-of-season awards. Both Ben Pickman and Sabreena Merchant are among the WNBA’s voters for Most Valuable Player, Defensive Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Most Improved Player, Sixth Player of the Year and Coach of the Year, as well as the all-WNBA teams, all-defense teams, and all-rookie teams.

We’ll be revealing half of those choices, as well as the thought process that went into those decisions.

Rookie of the Year

Paige Bueckers, Dallas Wings

Also considered: Sonia Citron, Washington Mystics

No rookie has had more thrust on her shoulders than Bueckers, whose 15 shots per game are not only the most among any first-year player but the seventh-most in the league. The Wings star is efficient in her chances, shooting 47.4 percent from the field — the highest mark of any guard who attempts more than 10 shots per game — and she’s shown she can be a high-level facilitator too.

Bueckers’ season peaked on Aug. 20 when she became the league’s first player to score at least 40 points this season, and she broke the WNBA single-game rookie scoring record with 44 points against the Sparks. But her body of work has been impressive throughout the season. We agree that Bueckers deserves this award.

Before the Mystics traded Brittney Sykes and ended their season in a free fall, Citron was on a team competing for a playoff berth and rising to that challenge. The Washington guard is third in the league in 3-point shooting percentage and bested Bueckers in true shooting percentage thanks to her long-range prowess. Citron also had a heavy defensive responsibility for the Mystics; more than half of the scoring chances (50.1 percent) that Citron directly defended came against All-Stars. With one game to play in the regular season, Citron is ahead of Bueckers in win shares (4.1 to 4.0). However, the totality of what Bueckers achieved on a team with less supporting talent gives her the nod.

The Athletic’s All-Rookie teams

This is the first season where a second all-rookie team would have been warranted. Dominique Malonga, Janelle Salaün, Kathryn Westbeld and Leïla Lacan were all tough omissions. (As an aside, the French national team is going to be a beast in the years to come.) Bueckers, Citron and Iriafen — all All-Stars — were easy picks. Beyond them, I went with the rookies who were the most positive-impact contributors throughout the season, as a couple players missed long stretches or took a while to get going. Even if I don’t necessarily expect these to be the best five rookies five years from now, they had the best overall performances in 2025.

As Sabreena said, several deserving players could have filled the final two spots of my All-Rookie team — add Sun guard Saniya Rivers and Sun forward Aneesah Morrow, and Dallas Wings center Luisa Geiselsoder as other potential candidates not listed above. Malonga’s role was limited in the first half of the season, but she has emerged so strongly after the All-Star break that her offensive efficiency and activity on the glass are hard to overlook. Salaün also makes the All-Rookie team as a consistent Valkyries’ contributor. The 6-foot-2 forward has started 31 of 34 games, averaging more than 11 points and nearly five rebounds per game. Golden State often plays through her on offense, and though she can be a more efficient scorer, she’s remained aggressive throughout. Lacan was the toughest name out for me, as her talent is apparent in every game, however, she’s hurt by playing in only half of the season.

Coach of the Year

Natalie Nakase, Golden State Valkyries

No coach had a higher degree of difficulty this season than Natalie Nakase, who had to establish a culture for an expansion team with a group of career role players. Only Tiffany Hayes had ever been an All-Star, and that came back in 2017. Nakase blew past expectations, coaching the Valkyries to become the fourth-best defense and earning the league’s first postseason berth for an expansion team. Golden State’s identity of toughness and hard work comes from Nakase, whom we both consider a deserving winner of this award in her first season as a WNBA head coach.

Sixth Player of the Year

Naz Hillmon, Atlanta Dream

Also considered: Natisha Hiedeman, Minnesota Lynx; and DeWanna Bonner, Phoenix Mercury

Hillmon, another pick we agree upon, spent the first two-thirds of the season coming off Atlanta’s bench before her consistent production made it difficult for coach Karl Smesko to keep her off the court for extended stretches. Hillmon is averaging career-highs in points (8.5), rebounds (6.2), assists (2.4) and 3-pointers (1.2) per game. She leads the Dream in on-off net rating, with Atlanta’s offense scoring more than 10 points per possession with her on the floor. Hillmon has helped Atlanta’s spacing, and her efficiency as a player capable of producing without needing many touches has been invaluable.

Hiedeman and Bonner are more classic sixth-player contenders because they’re scorers who can quickly pour in points off the bench. But Hillmon was so good that she earned a promotion into the starting lineup. She makes the Dream better whenever she is on the court, no matter who she is playing with.

Most Improved Player

Pickman: Veronica Burton, Golden State Valkyries

Burton’s opportunity has significantly increased this season as she’s seen her minutes jump from 12.7 last year in Connecticut to 29.2 this year in Golden State, yet she deserves this award for reasons that go beyond a minutes uptick. Burton has been one of the WNBA’s best players in the second half of the season. She is the league’s only player with three games of at least 10 assists and zero turnovers and became the first player in league history to have 24 points, 14 assists and zero turnovers in a game in late August. Her offensive repertoire has also developed, as she’s an improved spot-up shooter (40.6 percent this year up from 32.6 percent in 2024, according to Synergy Sports), and she went from not making an isolation basket last season to shooting 30.3 percent in such situations this year.

Merchant: Allisha Gray, Atlanta Dream

There’s no denying Burton’s remarkable growth this season, considering she was waived by a lottery team in 2024 and is now an All-WNBA candidate as a starting point guard. I chose Allisha Gray instead because Burton was thrust into an entirely new role; Gray was in essentially the same context and still got better at everything. She is shooting the ball better on 2-pointers, 3-pointers and free throws and is averaging more points, rebounds and assists per 36 minutes. She elevated herself from an All-Star to an MVP candidate, which is the toughest improvement to make as a player.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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