The WNBA Most Improved Player race is always one of the most fun to follow. And while it may not go to the best player in the league, it always goes to a good player who has become an impact player if not a star or superstar.
Here’s a look at four players primed to make a run at the award in 2026.
Dominique Malonga (Seattle Storm)
Dominique Malonga seems to be the most obvious candidate for MIP. She was the No. 2 pick in last year’s draft and a very hyped No. 2 pick at that. Some thought her ceiling might be higher than that of No. 1
pick Paige Bueckers, but knew that she’d have to wait to get there as she was only 19 years old.
She averaged 7.7 points, 4.6 boards, 0.9 assists, 0.7 blocks and 0.4 steals as a rookie. She shot just 56.9 percent from the free throw line and 4-for-18 from 3. All things to improve on. Her field goal percentage was the only thing that was truly top-notch; at 55.1 percent it was fourth in the league.
We have reason to believe Malonga will put up much better stats this year. In Unrivaled, she averaged 16.4 points and 9.4 rebounds, again shooting 55.1 percent from the field and improving her free throw clip to 80 percent. It was a different format, as it was 3×3, but it was against the best competition in the world and may have been the beginning of her star turn.
Plus, we know that her Storm have lost their top five scorers from a year ago, and she was seventh. Seattle is Dom’s team now. The door is wide open for her to become a big star.
She opened this season with 21 points, eight rebounds and two blocks. In her second game, she dealt with some foul trouble and was limited to 20 minutes with just six points, but did post seven boards, three rejections and two swipes.
Aneesah Morrow (Connecticut Sun)
Cat said it in her Sun season preview: “Aneesah Morrow is just going to find a way to make an impact.”
She may even be turning into a star.
She followed up 15 points and six boards in her opener with 17 points and a whopping 16 rebounds in her second game this season. She’s attempted 11 triples, making four, including her 3-for-6 effort on Sunday.
Last year, as a rookie, she averaged 7.7 points and 6.9 boards in 18.9 minutes per game. Through two games this year, she’s averaging 28 minutes and is poised to become one of the go-to players on the Sun. It’s a minuscule sample size, but she appears to be a bigger part of the offense and has had solid efficiency through two games. She’s taking four more 2-point attempts per game with 12.6 percentage points better efficiency (52.6) and 3.7 more 3s at 12.4 better (36.4).
She leads Connecticut in points and rebounds per game and is tied for fourth in the W in rebounds. Could she be looking at an All-Star season?
Bridget Carleton (Portland Fire)
Selecting Marina Mabrey with the first pick in the expansion draft, as the Toronto Tempo eventually did with the sixth pick, would have given Portland a flashier player and more prolific scorer (historically) than Carleton. But they saw star potential in Carleton, who has been a star overseas and was a key contributor for the Minnesota Lynx.
Her 9.6 points per game in 2024 earned her a third-place finish in MIP voting. Now, she’s poised to be the go-to scorer for the Fire and average well into double figures.
She’s already made an early statement, dropping 26 points on 9-for-16 from the field, 5-for-11 from 3 and 3-for-3 from the stripe on the New York Liberty Tuesday night in a massive upset win for the Fire, the first victory of the team’s relaunch. She added four steals for good measure.
She has the tools to be a star. She was a 2,000-point scorer at Iowa State, including averaging 21.7 as a senior. In the W, she’s a 39.2 percent career 3-point shooter with 270 makes.
There’s a number of players on the Fire and Tempo who will improve their numbers this year because they will naturally be playing larger roles on expansion teams. Carleton may have the best chance among them to become a big star.
Nyara Sabally (Toronto Tempo)
Sabally’s right knee is always something to keep an eye on, as she tore the ACL in that knee twice before reaching the W. But if she can stay healthy, she may be able to begin to live up to her No. 5-pick potential this year in Toronto.
The Tempo selected her with the fourth pick in the expansion draft and played her 26 minutes in their opener, the fourth-most on the team behind only stars Mabrey and Brittney Sykes, and No. 2 pick in the expansion draft Julie Allemand. That’s a good sign for Sabally’s Most Improved candidacy.
Another advantage she has in this race is the fact that her career-bests of 5.4 points and 4.5 rebounds are so low. And she only played in 17 games when she achieved those numbers in 2025, so they carry even less weight.
She recorded eight points and six boards in the opener, as well as three steals. If she can continue to see the fourth-most minutes on the Tempo and become their No. 1 scorer in the post, she has the chance to significantly improve on her career bests.
She’s got the talent, and now she has the opportunity. Let’s hope she stays healthy and becomes one of the frontrunners in this race.
My honorable mentions are Sarah Ashlee Barker (Fire), Carla Leite (Fire), Kiana Williams (Phoenix Mercury) and Jade Melbourne (Storm). Who else do you think I should have included? And do you agree that Malonga, Morrow, Carleton and Sabally have the best chances of seeing the most improvement?
