Ahead of Game 3 of the 2023 WNBA Finals between the Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty on Sunday afternoon, the league concluded its annual awards season with the All-WNBA team announcements. As expected, the First Team was highlighted by MVP Breanna Stewart and Defensive Player of the Year A’ja Wilson. They were both unanimous selections, as was MVP runner-up Alyssa Thomas.
As of last season, the All-WNBA teams are now position-less, which proved to be a major factor in this season’s voting. Not a single guard made the First Team, while the Second Team had four guards. In the end, the two teams wound up with four guards and six bigs, but in past years it would have shaken out differently.
Rounding out the First Team behind the three MVP candidates were Napheesa Collier and Satou Sabally. While Stewart (four straight) and Wilson (three straight) are First Team staples, Collier, Sabally and Thomas all made their First Team debuts.
The Second Team featured Chelsea Gray, Sabrina Ionescu, Jewell Loyd, Nneka Ogwumike and Jackie Young. This was the sixth All-WNBA appearance for Ogwumike, while Gray and Loyd made their third appearances, Ionescu her second and Young her debut, respectively.
The Aces led all teams with three All-WNBA honorees, which was no surprise after they finished with a record-setting 34 wins in the regular season and earned the No. 1 overall seed in the playoffs. They are the first team to have three All-WNBA players in the same season since the Los Angeles Sparks in 2017.
The 2023 WNBA playoffs have reached the Finals, and awards season has come to an end as well. As per usual, the league’s major honors were determined by a panel of media members, and handed out during the postseason. This year, there were 60 voters, and ballots were due Sept. 10, the final day of the regular season.
In the biggest announcement, Breanna Stewart was named 2023 WNBA MVP, edging out Connecticut Sun forward Alyssa Thomas and Las Vegas Aces forward A’ja Wilson. Stewart won by a mere seven points in the second-closest race of all-time, and did so despite not having the most first-place votes (20, compared to 23 for Thomas). Those three headlined the All-WNBA First Team as unanimous selections.
Previously, Wilson won Defensive Player of the Year for a second consecutive season, Aliyah Boston was the unanimous Rookie of the Year and Satou Sabally earned Most Improved Player. In addition, Stephanie White was named Coach of the Year and Alysha Clark took home Sixth Player of the Year. Off the court, New York Liberty general manager Jonathan Kolb received Executive of the Year.
Here’s a look at this season’s awards:
MVP: Breanna Stewart, New York Liberty For the second time in her career, Breanna Stewart is the WNBA MVP. The Liberty star is the eighth player to win the award multiple times, and the third player, along with Cynthia Cooper and Lisa Leslie, to have multiple MVPs, Finals MVPs and championships. Stewart won by a historically close margin, sneaking past Alyssa Thomas and A’ja Wilson despite not having the most first-place votes.
While there was always going to be a fierce debate about this honor no matter which way it went, there was no question Stewart was deserving. She averaged 23 points, 9.3 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.6 blocks per game, setting new career-best marks in scoring and assists, and finishing second in the league in scoring, third in rebounding and fourth in blocks. Furthermore, she set the new league record for 40-point games in a season with four.
Defensive Player of the Year: A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces Las Vegas Aces star A’ja Wilson is back on the awards podium with her second consecutive Defensive Player of the Year honor. She is the first player since Alana Beard in 2017 and 2018 to go back-to-back, and she’s the eighth player in league history to win the award multiple times. Wilson has established herself as the premier rim protector and averaged 2.2 blocks per game to lead the league in that category. She also finished third in defensive rebounding (7.5 per game) and tied for ninth in steals (1.4), anchoring the league’s best defense.
Rookie of the Year: Aliyah Boston, Indiana Fever As expected, No. 1 overall pick Aliyah Boston was named Rookie of the Year after a historic season. She won the award unanimously, becoming the fifth player in league history to achieve that feat. Boston appeared in all 40 games, averaging 14.5 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.3 blocks, while shooting 57.8% from the field. She led rookies in all of those categories and became the first rookie ever to lead the league in field goal percentage. Along the way, she was named an All-Star starter, becoming the sixth rookie to accomplish that, and helped the Fever win more games (13) than they had in the last two seasons combined (11).
Most Improved Player: Satou Sabally, Dallas Wings As expected, Satou Sabally was named Most Improved Player after putting together a historic season. Sabally has had a frustrating start to her career, but she finally put it all together this season to lead the Wings to their first 20-win campaign since 2008. Along the way, Sabally averaged 18.6 points, 8.1 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.8 steals per game, while shooting 36.1% from 3-point land. All of those marks were career-highs, and she joined Candace Parker as the only players in league history to average at least 18 points, eight rebounds and four assists over the course of a season.
Sixth Player of the Year: Alysha Clark, Las Vegas Aces The Aces dominance over the Sixth Player of the Year award continued this season as veteran forward Alysha Clark took home the trophy. This was the fourth time in five seasons that an Aces player has won 6POY, with Clark joining Dearica Hamby (twice) and Kelsey Plum. In Clark’s first season with the Aces she proved to be a vital piece off the bench on both sides of the ball as they won a WNBA record 34 regular season games. Clark averaged 6.7 points and 3.4 rebounds, while shooting 38.6% from 3-point land.
Coach of the Year: Stephanie White, Connecticut Sun White’s first season in charge of the Sun was a successful one, as she guided the team to a franchise-record 27 wins and the No. 3 seed in the playoffs. That’s despite the fact that Jonquel Jones was traded away in the winter and Brionna Jones tore her Achilles tendon a month into the season. This was the fifth time that a Sun coach has won the award, which is more than any other franchise.
Executive of the Year: Jonathan Kolb, New York Liberty It’s no surprise that Kolb won this honor after putting together perhaps the best offseason in league history. During the winter, Kolb traded for Jonquel Jones and signed Breanna Stewart and Courtney Vandersloot in free agency — two former MVPs and the active assists leader. Following that incredible haul, the Liberty won a franchise-record 32 games in the regular season and earned the No. 2 overall seed in the playoffs.
All-WNBA First Team As expected, MVP Breanna Stewart, Defensive Player of the Year A’ja Wilson and MVP runner-up Alyssa Thomas headlined the All-WNBA First Team; all three were unanimous selections. Notably, there were no guards on the First Team, which is now position-less as of last year.
In the middle of the first quarter on Sunday afternoon, Jonquel Jones’ gamble for a steal did not pay off, which left A’ja Wilson with the ball at the top of the key and a chance to play 5-on-4. In the first two games of the 2023 WNBA Finals, that would have been a certain bucket. Not in Game 3.
Betnijah Laney rotated over to shut off Wilson’s drive, then shut off Jackie Young’s drive as well after Wilson kicked it out. A few moments later, the ball was in Kelsey Plum’s hands, and as she drove to the basket, Jones, who had gotten back into the play, arrived to force a miss. Down on the other end, Jones was rewarded with a wide open layup in transition that put the New York Liberty ahead.
Save for a brief 13 second period later on where the game was tied, the Liberty would lead the rest of the way en route to a season-saving 87-73 win over the Las Vegas Aces.
“We had a fight,” Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello said. “We got back to our identity. We’re a way better team than what we’ve showed the last two games. I’m just proud of the effort and the commitment and the connection that we had, but now we’ve got to do it again.”
During the regular season, the Liberty posted a 109.6 offensive rating, which was the third-best in league history, and set new WNBA records for 3-pointers made per game (11.1) and total makes (444). They are, at their core, an offense-first team, but they haven’t shown it for much of the postseason.
That changed on Sunday, as they shot 52.4% from the field, tied a franchise playoff record with 13 3-pointers and assisted on 28 of their 33 field goals. Their turnaround was sparked not by making shots that they had been missing, but by their work on the other side of the ball.
After a 28-point defeat in Game 2 — their largest of the entire season — Brondello called her team out.
“We were f—ing s—,” Brondello said. “What I hadn’t seen is where we didn’t stick together. We usually stick together. Just be f—ing aggressive. It’s not that hard. Have some pride.”
They certainly did in Game 3. Their work rate and level of physicality were the highest they’ve been all series. They held the Aces to 33.3% shooting from the field — their third-worst shooting performance of the whole season — and forced 11 turnovers.
That in turn allowed the Liberty to push the pace and attack an unsettled Aces defense. They won the fastbreak points battle 11-2, but even when they didn’t get pure breakaways, their ability to get up the floor quickly created easier shots. Per Synergy, the Liberty had 25 possessions where they pushed the ball after a shot attempt, and scored 1.478 points per possession on those opportunities.
“They played harder, for one,” Aces head coach Becky Hammon said. “I felt like we were on our heels from the jump.”
Here’s an example where Plum appears to have a step on Vandersloot, but Jones arrives from the weakside, which forces Plum to veer back into Vandersloot’s path. The veteran point guard is there waiting and rips the ball out of her hands, then walks into an open 3-pointer on the other end.
Early in the third quarter it’s Vandersloot involved again because the Aces like to pick on her. This time she nearly gets crossed up, but makes a terrific second effort to get a good contest on Chelsea Gray to help influence the miss. Jones secures the rebound and pushes it herself to create a one-on-one against Kiah Stokes in semi-transition. That’s a win every time for the Liberty as Jones delivers a sweet dish to Betnijah Laney.
Speaking of Laney, here she is in the fourth quarter sprinting the entire length of the floor to make Jackie Young alter a layup, which she then misses. Down on the other end, the Liberty take advantage of the Aces being cross-matched to get the ball to Jones in the post, and she draws a foul.
“We knew that our fans were going to be behind us and New York was going to be watching and supporting,” Jones said. “And that’s what we wanted to do, go out there and play with a lot of pride and a lot of heart.”
If the Liberty want to send the series back to Las Vegas and force a winner-take-all Game 5, they’ll need all of that and more on Wednesday night.
The Phoenix Mercury are hiring Nate Tibbetts as their new head coach, and they will make him the highest paid coach in WNBA history, according to Adrian Wojnarowski. Tibbetts arrives from the NBA’s Orlando Magic, where he had been serving as an assistant coach since 2021.
Details of Tibbett’s contract remain unclear, though he will be making upward of $1 million per year. That is what it will take to surpass Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon, who was lured away from the San Antonio Spurs in February 2022 by a then-record breaking deal that pays her $1 million annually.
Tibbetts began his professional coaching career over a decade ago with the Cleveland Cavaliers, working as an assistant with the team from 2011-13. He then left to join the Portland Trail Blazers and was an assistant there until 2021, when he was hired by the Magic. Though well respected around the WNBA, Tibbetts has no previous WNBA or head coaching experience.
He will step into a Mercury organization that is looking to hit the reset button after one of the worst seasons in franchise history. With Skylar Diggins-Smith out on maternity leave and veteran stars Brittney Griner and Diana Taurasi missing significant time due to injury, the Mercury limped to a last-place finish at 9-31. The .225 winning percentage was the second-worst ever recorded by the proud franchise, which also missed the playoffs for the first time since 2012.
Along the way, second-year head coach Vanessa Nygaard was fired after a 2-10 start. She was replaced by interim head coach Nikki Blue, who was not retained at the end of the season. Tibbetts is the first major hire by new Mercury general manager Nick U’Ren, who arrived from the Golden State Warriors in July.
While it’s notable the Mercury hired two non-WNBA personnel for such key roles, it certainly wasn’t because of a lack of funds. In addition to giving Tibbetts and U’Ren signiciant salaries, new Mercury owner Mat Ishbia has pledged $100 million for a new training facility that will house both the Mercury and Phoenix Suns.
With key decision makers now in place, the Mercury can start planning for a potentially franchise-altering offseason. First up is the 2024 WNBA Draft Lottery, which will determine their position for one of the best draft classes to ever enter the league. In addition to prepping for a rare lottery appearance, the Mercury will have some big decisions to make in free agency, with both Diggins-Smith and Griner set to be unrestricted free agents this winter.
