With the 2026 WNBA season underway, it’s time to take a look at one of the league’s more competitive awards: Sixth Player of the Year.
Before we dive into candidates, let’s set an important parameter for our search.
2014 was the last year that a Sixth Player of the Year was on a team that finished with a win percentage lower than 62 percent. Since then, the award has trended heavily towards volume production from players coming off the bench of championship contending teams. That’s an important distinction
to make, because it eliminates a significant amount of candidates due to an assumed lack of team potential.
Voters associate team success heavily with the Sixth Player of the Year, and we should make our predictions in accordance with that theme. Here are our top contenders; be sure to share your early favorites in the comments.
Chennedy Carter (Las Vegas Aces)
Chennedy Carter’s return to the WNBA felt in many ways inevitable.
While her ability to play winning basketball and contribute to an established team culture has been brought into question, her ability to put the ball into the basket has never been up for debate. She’s one of the premier bucket-getters in women’s basketball, and her confidence ensures that she’s going to get hers, no matter what system she’s playing in.
Carter has never been on a team that’s broken 13 wins, but now she plays for the defending champion Las Vegas Aces. She averaged 33.1 points per game in 21 appearances in China’s WBCA last year while playing for the Shanghai Swordfish. Back stateside, she just put up 22 points off the bench in her second game with Vegas.
Teams can’t afford to give her the attention that she once garnered with the Chicago Sky, as now she’s playing alongside Chelsea Gray, Jackie Young and A’ja Wilson. As for volume, her aforementioned confidence makes it hard to imagine that she doesn’t consistently reach at least 10 shot attempts off the bench in most games. Jewell Loyd is also coming off the bench for Becky Hammon, but Loyd went through stretches last year where she felt more like a run-of-the-mill reserve rather than a six-time All Star. Both Loyd and Carter have the chops to be double-digit scorers off of Hammon’s bench, but there may not be enough room in town for the two of them.
For now, Carter has the edge as a candidate for Sixth Player of the Year.
Janelle Salaün (Golden State Valkyries)
Testing my own belief in my preamble about team success in the Sixth Player of the Year award, Janelle Salaün and the Valkyries have been playing too good to be left off this list. Golden State is 2-0 with two double-digit wins over Seattle and Phoenix, and Salaün is averaging 21 points off the bench to lead the team in scoring.
Salaün started 33 of 36 games last season, but has debuted as a reserve this year after the Valkyries signed Gabby Williams in the offseason. Natalie Nakase is starting a frontcourt of Williams, Kayla Thornton and Kiah Stokes, leaving Salaün as the first off the bench. The biggest argument against Salaün leading this award may unfortunately be that it will be hard to hold her out of the starting lineup if she keeps playing this well. She’s made seven shots and scored more than 20 points in both games this season, and she’s looked even more confident in her three than last year.
It’s hard to tell yet if Golden State has already crossed the threshold into championship contender in their second year of existence, but they’ve certainly made a statement through two games. Even if Salaün breaks back into the starting five, Williams or Thornton (who are both averaging over 13 points) could easily take over her candidacy for best off the bench. Keep an eye on Golden State.
Whichever Liberty player comes off the bench
While the New York Liberty navigate the temporary absences of Sabrina Ionescu, Satou Sabally and Leonie Fiebich, we don’t yet have a clear picture of their starting lineup. However, it’s fairly safe to assume that someone donning a Liberty jersey will be high on the Sixth Player of the Year rankings come September.
Assuming that first-year head coach Chris DeMarco starts a combination of Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu, Satou Sabally and Jonquel Jones, two of the following will have to come off the bench: Leonie Fiebich, Marine Johannès and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton. It’s also possible that all three come off the bench as rookie Pauline Astier has fit nicely into the starting lineup in the absence of Ionescu. Fiebich and Laney-Hamilton feel like they are trending towards the reserve role, as the Liberty may lean towards a secondary ball handler alongside Ionescu. Laney-Hamilton, who missed last season due to a meniscus tear, hasn’t come off the bench for more than seven games in a season since 2018. If she’s able to return to her pre-injury form, it would be hard to find a candidate with more experience than her off the bench.
Fiebich herself was second in Sixth Player of the Year voting in 2024, before starting every game last season. Her scoring volume has never led the reserve clubhouse, but the Liberty’s team profile has given her the inherent bias towards championship contenders. If they are both shorted from the starting lineup, I would give Laney-Hamilton the edge to produce off the bench for New York, and would pin her as an early candidate for the award.
