Does the 2026 WNBA Most Improved Player need to improve even more?
If the Dallas Wings are to extend their stay in the 2026 WNBA Playoffs beyond Wednesday, Sept. 30, yes.
However, let’s first celebrate the achievement of Jessica Shepard, who earned 29 of 74 votes to take home the 2026 Most Improved Player hardware.
She edged out the Washington Mystics’ Shakira Austin, who finished second with 25 votes. In third place with 11 votes was the Portland Fire’s Carla Leite. The Toronto Tempo’s Marina Mabrey,
Seattle Storm’s Dominique Malonga and Los Angele Sparks’ Rae Burrell rounded out those receiving votes, with four for Mabrey, three for Malonga and two for Burrell.
Last season, Shepard, then with the Minnesota Lynx, registered one triple-double, coming when she played all 40 minutes in a win against the Indiana Fever in one of her 12 starts. This season, her first with the Wings, Shepard started all of the 42 games in which she played and compiled a league-leading six triple-doubles.
One could argue that Shepard already had this in her. She didn’t improve; she just needed the opportunity.
But as Edwin Garcia wrote when explaining why he voted for Shepard, “I don’t know if other players can produce more if given a larger role, but I know Jessica Shepard can and did.”
What she did, in addition to the six triple-doubles, included averaging career highs in points, rebounds and assists, all while becoming one of only two players to average a double-double. She also grabbed the second-most rebounds in WNBA history. En route to those statistical accolades and others, Shepard also was voted an All-Star starter.
Now, to return to the opening query. This honor, fair or not, places pressure on Shepard.
After going scoreless in Dallas’ Game 1 loss to the Golden State Valkyries in their first-round series, the spotlight will be on Shepard. Can she elevate her game on the postseason stage, proving the resiliency of her raised level of play?
Or, after the Coach of the Year and Rookie of the Yearalready were eliminated from the playoffs, will a pattern of ill-timed, or possibly cursed, WNBA end-of-season awards continue to develop?
