What are the criteria for the Most Valuable Player award?
Is it the amalgamation of raw stats? Add up points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks, and whoever has the highest total is the MVP? Or is it more nebulous? Do more advanced stats like gravity, plus-minus or net rating signal the intrinsic value of a player? Should team quality factor into someone’s value? And if so, how much?
These are all good questions and ways to approach the MVP conversation.
And usually, the only consensus is that there
isn’t one. Every season, who should be MVP of the WNBA becomes a grand debate, and with so many talented players, it’s never an easy decision.
During the 2020s, the debates have raged on, but the answer has often been the same: A’ja Wilson.
She is the back-to-back winner of the award, and won it in 2020 and 2022 as well. Wilson’s reign only has been interrupted theBreanna Stewart in 2023 and Jonquel Jones in 2021.
Will 2026 be a third-straight for Wilson, or will some new blood win MVP?
Here is what the race looks like at the halfway point of the season. In the comments, let us know if you expect A’ja to, once again, come out on top, or if you believe it is someone else’s time to be crowned queen of the W.
A’ja Wilson (Las Vegas Aces)
Every day the sun rises and falls. It’s a thing of beauty, and our planet literally revolves around it. The sun gives us life, warmth and light. And still we take it for granted. We assume it’ll do what it always does and often ignore or not acknowledge the miracle of its existence.
Don’t do the same with Wilson.
Sure, she’s the four-time MVP winner. She has been named the Defensive Player of the Year three times and has three rings. But, when looking objectively at 2026, she is still the frontrunner for MVP.
Wilson is averaging 25.5 points per game, which is the WNBA-best. Wilson is also averaging 9.8 rebounds, making her the third-best rebounder in the league. As a defender, she’s averaging a league-best 2.0 blocks per game ,along with 1.5 steals in each contest.
Wilson has a plus-minus of +167; only two other players have a more positive scoring margin during their minutes. Adding up her scoring ability, rim protection and impact on the floor, plus the fact that Las Vegas is just a 1.5 games from the No.1 spot in the standings, and it’s clear she is still the MVP of the league.
Olivia Miles (Minnesota Lynx)
The WNBA has had some incredible rookies this decade. Players like Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and Paige Bueckers have come in and dominated from the moment they’ve stepped on the floor as professionals.
None of them, however, hold a candle to what Olivia Miles has done during her rookie campaign. She stands alone not only as the best rookie, but also has a strong case for the best player in the WNBA.
Miles is averaging 19.3 points per game and doing so on high efficiency, converting 50.5 percent of her shots. While teams have thrown every defensive scheme possible, Miles has remained unstoppable. She scored 31 points in a win over the Los Angeles Sparks back in June and notched her career-high in July with 33 points over the Phoenix Mercury, also in a victory.
As the point of the Lynx attack, Miles is just as dangerous as a passer as she is as a scorer. She is averaging 5.7 assists per game, which is the ninth-best in the WNBA.
While Wilson has great plus-minus numbers, this is a category where Miles reigns supreme. Her +207 is No.1 in the WNBA. That means that when she’s on the floor, no one has outscored their opponents more than the Lynx with Miles. That seems pretty valuable to me.
With Napheesa Collier out, many thought the Lynx were going to have to punt this season. Miles is a big reason why Minnesota has not only avoided tanking, but has the best record in the league.
It might feel ridiculous to consider a rookie for MVP, but it’s been done before. Candace Parker won both awards back in 2008, and Miles is certainly worthy of consideration nearly two decades later.
Paige Bueckers (Dallas Wings)
If you were to create an ideal guard, you’d likely make someone very similar to Paige Bueckers. She has good size, is a three-level scorer with high assist numbers and low turnovers.
This season she is on a tear. Bueckers is averaging 20.7 points, 4.2 rebounds and 6.3 assists.
She is one of three guards to score at least 20 points and six assists per game. Clark and Kelsey Plum are the other two backcourt players who reach this criteria. But she has the fewest turnovers, with 2.0 per game. Plum is averaging 3.1 turnovers per game, and Clark is averaging 4.5. Bueckers has an assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.20, which is the fourth best in the WNBA.
There are so many standout games from Bueckers this year.
Her best performances are the ones where she not only has been effective in impacting winning, but also played borderline-perfect basketball. In a win over the Sparks in June, Bueckers had 18 points, 14 assists and just one turnover. In a win over the Sky in July, she had 22 points, 11 assists and, again, one turnover.
If she can keep up this level of play and take the Wings even higher in the standings, maybe even to No.1 or No.2 in the league, her chances of overthrowing Wilson become that much more likely.
