The Next’s 2022 WNBA midseason awards

Now let’s get to it:

Midseason MVP

Just a single total point separates Breanna Stewart and A’ja Wilson, inarguably the WNBA’s two best players all season long. That would essentially tie the 2005 MVP race as the closest on record, in which Sheryl Swoopes beat out Lauren Jackson by only two points, per Across The Timeline. (The vote share difference there was 0.4%, just 0.2 percentage points closer than this.)

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Wilson seemed a runaway favorite to start the year, leading the Aces to a 13-2 start with an excellent stat line of 18.5/9.5/1.8/0.9/2.5 (points/rebounds/assists/steals/blocks) on 58.6% true-shooting against only 1.5 turnovers. But after a slow start to her season, Stewart has averaged 21.2/7.2/3.1/1.8/1.3 on 58.5% true-shooting with only 1.0 turnover. As a result, not a single other player earned a first-place vote.

Candace Parker joins the top three, leading the best team in the league as its best defender and offensive connector. Rounding out the top five are Kelsey Plum, having one of the greatest WNBA offensive seasons by a backcourt player, and Nneka Ogwumike, herself most of the reason Los Angeles might make the playoffs. (And for SEO reasons, Jonquel Jones and Sabrina Ionescu.)

Defensive Player of the Year

Stewart and Wilson once again lead the pack. Stewart’s been the do-everything sun of the heliocentric Storm defense vying for an all-time status, while Wilson is a rim protector that rim-protects even out to the perimeter — though the Aces’ recent backslide has hurt her case. A human highlight reel of blocks named Ezi Magbegor rounds out the top three, the crucial backline help for that Seattle defense.

Voters also gave love to Connecticut, though they couldn’t decide between Alyssa Thomas and Jonquel Jones, and Candace Parker.

A couple voters also favored Seattle wing Gabby Williams and backup Washington center Elizabeth Williams.

Sixth Player of the Year

What happens when you take an All-Star, and move her to the bench? You get a runaway Sixth Player of the Year, that’s what. As the only backup in the W to be named a 2022 All-Star, Brionna Jones is the obvious Sixth Player. And Azurá Stevens, she of the 2021 Finals breakout, is a starting-caliber big often playing full-time minutes, making her a clear runner-up.

It gets interesting after Stevens. Han Xu has experienced a superb breakout for New York, as one of the Liberty’s five best players and a key to their diversified offense; Rebekah Gardner has been another Sky playing 20+ minutes, and as an excellent two-way contributor in them; and Aari McDonald has been a sparkplug in Atlanta’s closing lineup, thanks to a sophomore leap that’s established her as a building block for the Dream.

And speaking of breakouts…

Most Improved Player

McDonald’s campaign has earned her a notable amount of votes for Most Improved Player, but it’s Jackie Young making the leap from solid role player to ninth overall in our MVP voting that wins MIP. As both the primary defensive stopper and most efficient qualified scorer on the No. 2 team in the WNBA, her case is clear. Ezi Magbegor blossoming from exciting bench big into the aforementioned defensive standout with a versatile offensive game gives her a leg up on the field to be the runner-up.

Kelsey Plum‘s graduation from elite bench scorer to fourth in MVP voting, as shown before, has staked her alongside her teammate. And the way Sabrina Ionescu has led New York to playoff contention has rightfully turned heads. But where they’re following the traditional path from quality contributor to true star before a big contract, Jessica Shepard‘s unique journey bears mentioning; missing most of her first two years, not even playing enough last year to qualify, and then earning good money the preseason before emerging as a valuable piece.

Now, where a MIP is someone making a leap from one professional year to the next, someone making that leap in their first year might be the…

Rookie of the Year

To say Rhyne Howard exploded out of the gate would be an understatement. The No. 1 overall pick jump-started by leading a team thought in contention for the top lottery odds to an upset over a reigning playoff squad. A couple weeks later, she scored 33 points to set a host of rookie records. After one month, that Atlanta team once bound for Boston was 6-3, with Howard averaging 17.4/3.8/2.7/1.7/0.8 on 55.7% true-shooting against only 1.1 turnovers. The only open question was whether she was Rookie of the Year and an All-Star, or Rookie of the Year and All-WNBA.

Since then, Howard’s remained an elite defender and excellent shooter and decision-maker, but her scoring efficiency has dropped to the 23rd percentile, per Her Hoop Stats. Meanwhile, there’s Shakira Austin, the player effectively traded for Howard. While Howard’s returned to Earth, Austin has emerged as one of the best defenders in the W. She’s forced an excellent defensive centers in Elizabeth Williams to the bench, ranks in the 75th percentile in scoring efficiency, and has even ramped up her offensive load when necessary. A perennial DPOY candidate for years to come.

And that’s not even to mention NaLyssa Smith. The Baylor alum is rounding out this potentially historic top-three with a nasty offensive game; over the past month (that’s 11 games), she’s averaged 14.1 points and 8.5 rebounds (2.3 offensive) while shooting 39.3% from deep on 2.5 threes a game.

All-WNBA

No surprises here, right? The two runaway MVP candidates are the lone unanimous picks, and are joined by the lone backcourt player in the top-six of our MVP voting, and the next-highest-voted big. Solidly there too is Skylar Diggins-Smith, who was third on my personal MVP ballot, despite Ionescu sitting ahead of her in MVP shares. Don’t ask me how we managed that.

All-Defense

As usual, All-Defense varies a lot more than All-WNBA. Only two players received double-digit votes (once again our MVP favorites), no one was unanimous, and more than thrice as many players received multiple votes.

And yes, I did play around with the qualifications here in order to get the actual top-five vote-getters on the team. But Alyssa Thomas has genuinely played 22.1% of her minutes at guard when Connecticut’s been at full strength, per PBP Stats. I rest my case.

All-Rookie

Unsurprisingly, our two historically excellent rookies are unanimous selections, and Smith’s late surge gets her within one vote of that distinction. Gardner will someday make for an excellent piece of trivia as the league’s oldest-ever All-Rookie player, provided voters honor her distinction as an as-of-yesterday 32-year-old rookie. (Happy belated birthday, Bek!) Queen Egbo joins that quartet as an unlikely hit; her draft selection shocked most of the league, but she’s been a solid, W-caliber center for a center-desperate team.

The standout defense and excellent floor game of Emily Engstler earned her good consideration, as did Kristy Wallace‘s contributions to an Atlanta squad playing great defense and hitting threes.

Coach of the Year

Color me shocked! (Don’t, I’m not.) Becky Hammon became the first-ever coach to begin her career 9-1, her X’s-&-O’s vaulting the Aces to the 12th-best offense in league history, per Positive Residual. Every player has been having some kind of a career year, and despite ostensibly losing talent from last year’s squad, Las Vegas remains the No. 2-seed.

Also earning kudos have been James Wade of the top-overall Sky and Tanisha Wright of the shockingly-playoff-contending Dream. Wade has integrated a host of new faces throughout Chicago’s rotation while maintaining the dominance that gave it a gentleman’s sweep of the 2021 Finals; and Wright has had the island of misfit toys in Atlanta playing cohesively while maximizing their strengths on both ends of the court. A similar story — “team expected to be in the lottery is in line for the playoffs” — earned Sandy Brondello some votes.

Executive of the Year

Those new faces that James Wade has brought in include All-Star and former Finals MVP Emma Meesseman; the aforementioned Gardner, who had gone 10 years out of college without making a WNBA roster; Julie Allemand, a former Wubble star who’s testing the human limits of shooting efficiency in her backup role; and Li Yueru, once thought of as a throw-in to let Lexie Brown play in Los Angeles this season. To fit them so seamlessly into a title favorite is certainly a typical way to win Executive of the Year.

Atlanta’s Dan Padover is earning significant consideration for a third-straight EOY, but this time for assembling a cast of character actors that have taken Atlanta from a historically bad defense into the league’s third-best. That’s enough to jump from the second-worst team overall to a likely playoff squad.

The cohort of decision-makers in Las Vegas earned votes as well, thanks to a retooled roster on which Iliana Rupert and Theresa Plaisance and Kiah Stokes have been unexpectedly good bench contributors, despite the inevitable loss of Liz Cambage. Nikki Fargas leads this group, since she’s the lone name who was present for all their transactions; Bill Laimbeer was heavily involved, but has since fully retired, while current general manager Natalie Williams wasn’t hired until the day before the draft.

It may seem odd for a last-place team to warrant any attention, but the Indiana Fever are headed in a much clearer direction than last year. Their collection of young, improving talent is a major step up.

Who has been the most impactful addition from free agency?

Backing up Wade’s Executive of the Year case has been the Meesseman signing. Moriah Jefferson has been a major boost to Minnesota on both ends, giving the Lynx something they haven’t had at the point of attack on either side in years. And Tina Charles was… certainly impactful in her own way.

Speaking of Phoenix:

Did Diana Taurasi deserve to be an All-Star?

All stats per Basketball Reference unless otherwise noted