It’s time for the dreaded All-WNBA Team.
It’s not dreaded for the players selected (it’s an incredible honor), but it’s dreaded for me, a first-time media voter who struggled endlessly to select just 10 WNBA players for an honor meant to capture all-around impact (offensive, defensive, team success, etc).
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Before I share my explanations and thought process, I’ll start with who I submitted on my final All-WNBA ballot (in no particular order).
First Team:
Kelsey Mitchell, Indiana Fever
Allisha Gray, Atlanta Dream
Naphesa Collier, Minnesota Lynx
A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces
Alyssa Thomas, Phoenix Mercury
Second Team:
Paige Bueckers, Dallas Wings
Nneka Ogwumike, Seattle Storm
Jackie Young, Las Vegas Aces
Aliyah Boston, Indiana Fever
Breanna Stewart, New York Liberty
The journey to get here was long and circuitous. If you’re wondering: how did you leave X player off?
I am, too, frankly.
Establishing some All-WNBA ground rules
First, it’s important to note that these teams are positionless, so whether teams were made up of guards or bigs was not taken into account. That being said, I tried to keep a relatively even balance of guards/bigs on each team nonetheless.
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For All-WNBA (and MVP, for that matter), I value winning much more than for other awards, due to their all-encompassing nature. So, I’ve long held the belief that, except for in rare circumstances, All-WNBA players should represent playoff teams.
In addition, I used several advanced analytics to help inform my decisions, which I reference below:
Net Rating Difference (DIFF): How much better was a team with a certain player on the floor? This metric assesses the difference between a team’s net rating when a player was on the floor compared to when they were off.
True Shooting % (TS%) is used to compare players’ efficiencies. TS% is an advanced basketball statistic that measures scoring efficiency by accounting for all types of field goals (2-pointers and 3-pointers) and free throws. It’s probably the most reliable advanced analytics out there.
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Player Impact Estimate (PIE) is a statistic that quantifies a player’s overall contribution to a game by measuring the percentage of game events they are responsible for — combining scoring, playmaking, and defensive actions into a single score. It’s a valuable metric because a team with a higher aggregate PIE than its opponent wins the vast majority of games, and high PIE performers are often considered MVP candidates. But it nonetheless has its limitations.
I also factored in factors such as team record, individual net rating, availability, rebounding, playmaking, and defense — the list goes on. It’s not a perfect science.
To begin, I’ll share that Alyssa Thomas, A’ja Wilson, and Napheesa Collier were all no-brainer selections. All three are legitimate MVP candidates: the clear-cut best players on top four teams, All-Defense talents, and the three league leaders in PIE.
So, effectively, there were 7 spots up for debate on my All-WNBA team.
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I most strongly considered the following WNBA players from the following top nine teams:
Minnesota Lynx: Napheesa Collier, Kayla McBride
Atlanta Dream: Allisha Gray, Brionna Jones
Las Vegas Aces: A’ja Wilson, Jackie Young
Phoenix Mercury: Alyssa Thomas, Satou Sabally
New York Liberty: Sabrina Ionescu, Breanna Stewart
Indiana Fever: Kelsey Mitchell, Aliyah Boston
Golden State Valkyries: Veronica Burton
Seattle Storm: Nneka Ogwumike
Los Angeles Sparks: Kelsey Plum, Dearica Hamby
Dallas Wings: Paige Bueckers
The only player from a Bottom-4 team I seriously considered was Bueckers, who just had a tremendous season despite being on a bad team. Angel Reese would have probably been in the mix, too, but her only appearing in 30 games, combined with the Sky’s on-court struggles, was too much to overcome.
If you’re still following, that means I had 18 finalists for All-WNBA. An All-WNBA third team would have made things a lot more manageable, but honestly, this would have been a struggle regardless.
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From the eye-test alone, all season long, trailing Collier, Wilson, and Thomas, was Allisha Gray, who put together the best season of her WNBA career for the Atlanta Dream. The Dream won 30 games this season, and Gray has been their clear-cut offensive engine.
But, let’s take a look at all the guards I considered as my All-WNBA finalists. I formatted just some of the information I examined in a chart below for those who are curious:
Notes: Team records only reflect games the player played in — not their team’s overall record.
For those who are less interested in exact numbers and want to simply take a look at player rank (relative to the other finalists I considered), here’s another way of looking at the data:
From these players, I worked to narrow the guard field to five guards – and ultimately selected Gray, Mitchell, Young, and Bueckers to make the ballot. I’ll share some insight on how I came to these decisions.
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Allisha Gray is the fourth-leading scorer among guards considered (18.4 points per game) and has the highest true shooting percentage (59.8%). I also felt that every top four team deserved a First Team All-WNBA player.
Kelsey Mitchell is the leading scorer among guards considered, and is the only one who didn’t miss a game all season long. Her scoring consistency was just essential to the Fever, who finished with the league’s sixth-best record despite a tumultuous season in the injury department. This season, Mitchell led the WNBA in games with 10+ points (39) and 20+ points (23). She was the league’s third-leading scorer.
Jackie Young has the highest PIE rating among guards and has the best net rating difference (meaning her team experiences the most substantial jump when she’s on the floor vs when she’s off of it). The Aces have been on a tear — winners of 16 straight! — and she’s a massive reason why.
Paige Bueckers is the only non-playoff player on my All-WNBA roster. But, she was a top five scorer in the WNBA, second among guards in PIE. You might wonder why I seleced Bueckers over Plum, which is fair given that players averaged similar points on similar efficiency. But, Bueckers was all-around more impactful — her higher PIE and net rating difference helps reflect that, and though Plum averaged slightly more assists, Bueckers had a better assist-to-turnover ratio (hers was 2.69, while Plum’s was 1.89). Plum had a far more talented roster around her, so I wasn’t too impact by the fact that the Sparks were closer to the postseason than the Wings.
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For me, the most difficult backcourt omissions were Veronica Burton and Sabrina Ionescu. Burton was actually on an earlier iteration of my ballot, but was removed after the Valkyries closed the season out on a three-game losing streak.
Ionescu and the Liberty have both had a down year, and Ionescu will undoubtedly be back on the ballot in the future. I just didn’t think New York’s performance this season warranted two selections, and I gave Stewart the edge for her all-around impact. Ionescu was in a season-long three-point shooting slump; she finished the year shooting just 29.9% from three, by far the worst mark in her career.
Considering she was a top five scorer in the WNBA, it was also painful to omit Plum, who I thought was likely to end up on my All-WNBA ballot when I began this process. But she ultimately couldn’t lead her team to the playoffs, and wasn’t as impactful or efficient across the board as some of the other guards I considered. Would have been a perfect All-WNBA Third Team candidate!
All-WNBA Forward/Centers
Let’s compare Aliyah Boston, Breanna Stewart, Nneka Ogwumike, Satou Sabally, Dearica Hamby, and Brionna Jones — the six forwards/centers I considered for All-WNBA (in addition to Napheesa Collier, Alyssa Thomas, and A’ja Wilson, who were absolute locks and didn’t warrant this exercise). Shoutout to Jonquel Jones, too, who is always impactful but missed time this season and wasn’t going ot be my pick over Stewart. And, shoutout to Angel Reese, who was a fringe All-WNBA player in her second season, too.
And, once again, if you’d rather look at where players ranked in these categories (compared to other All-WNBA finalists) here’s another way of looking at it.
From this pool, I ultimately selected Boston, Ogwumike, and Stewart, who also coincidentally had the three highest PIE ratings (this is actually a pretty reflective metric, in terms of matching the eye-test of watching these players all season long). All three of these players were on my Second Team ballot, as A’ja Wilson, Alyssa Thomas, and Napheesa Collier were my First Team bigs.
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If I had one more Second Team forward spot, it probably would have gone to Hamby. Hamby was very efficient, the Sparks were a lot better with her on the floor, and she was the leading scorer among the bigs I considered. But, she left a lot to be desired on the defensive end, and it was going to be difficult to select her over bigs that were significant contributors on playoff teams.
I selected Aliyah Boston because she’s been absolutely critical to the Fever being able to withstand a whirlwind season that included: 1) Caitlin Clark only playing 13 games, 2) DeWanna Bonner leaving just a few weeks in, and 3) three guards — Sydney Colson, Aari McDonald, and Sophie Cunningham — all suffering season-ending injuries. Despite all that, Indiana secured the 6th seed. Boston didn’t miss a game. The Fever were 11.3 points better when she was on the floor than off it (best on the team!), and she had an elite playmaking season, averaging 3.7 assists (the most among bigs!).
I selected Breanna Stewart for several reasons. She’s consistently been one of the best big defenders in the league, and the Liberty allowed 3.3 fewer points per 100 possessions with Stewart off the floor than on it — that’s a larger on/off impact than even A’ja Wilson and Gabby Williams, two of the league’s premier defenders. Her versatility on bothe ends has been key for the Liberty to stay afloat.
My aim is always for every top five team in the standings to have an All-WNBA player. This season, each of the Liberty’s Big Three (Ionescu, Jones, and Stewart) has missed a decent amount of time with injury, and the Liberty have been best when Stewart’s been on the floor. New York has an 19-12 record with Jones (60%), a 22-9 record with Stewart (70%), and a 25-13 record with Ionescu (64.8%). When Stewart’s been on the floor, the Liberty have outscored opponents by 10.4 points, while when Ionescu has been on the floor, the Liberty have outscored opponents by 6.3 points.
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I selected Nneka Ogwumike because she’s been by far the Storm’s best player, and she’s also one of the most efficient players in the league; 18.3 points per game on 60% TS is nothing to scoff at, and the Storm are 11.1 points per game better with her on the floor than her off of it.
In total, my final ballot includes at least one player from every top seven team, and every playoff team except for the Valkyries (if I had one more spot, it probably would have gone to Burton, who I’ve rewarded in several other places on my ballot for a standout season).
Two teams — the Aces and Fever — got two All-WNBA players, while the rest of the teams headed toward the postseason got one. The Dallas Wings were the only non-playoff team with an All-WNBA selection, and that’s because Bueckers put together a really special season.
Do I feel amazing about these ballots? Not really. But, with so much talent, so many available statistics, and so many ways to asssess impact, here’s where I landed after much deliberation.
