WNBA Rookie of the Year Award

The Women's National Basketball Association's Rookie of the Year Award is an annual Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) award given since the 1998 WNBA season, to the top rookie of the regular season. The winner is selected by a panel of sportswriters throughout the United States, each of whom casts a vote for first, second and third place selections. Each first-place vote is worth five points; each second-place vote is worth three points; and each third-place vote is worth one point. The player(s) with the highest point total, regardless of the number of first-place votes, wins the award.

The 2003 award winner Cheryl Ford and 2011 award winner Maya Moore are the only players to win both the WNBA Rookie of the Year award and a WNBA championship in the same season.

The 2008 award winner was Candace Parker who became the first player to win the award after garnering all possible votes and also the first player to win the WNBA Most Valuable Player Award in the same season. In the NBA, only Wilt Chamberlain and Wes Unseld have won the Most Valuable Player Award and Rookie of the Year Award in the same season.

The 2020 award winner, Crystal Dangerfield, is the first who was not chosen in the first round of the draft; she was chosen in the second round in 2020 as the 16th overall pick.

As of 2019, eight Rookie of the Year recipients have gone on to become a member of a WNBA championship team.

Winners

edit
Key
^ Denotes player who is still active in the WNBA
* Elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as player
Inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame
Not yet eligible for Hall of Fame consideration[a]
Player
(in bold text)
Denotes unanimous winners
Rookie of the Year
Season Player Position Nationality Team School Pick Year Ref.
1998 Tracy Reid Forward   United States Charlotte Sting UNC (Sr.) 7 1998 [1]
1999 Chamique Holdsclaw Washington Mystics Tennessee (Sr.) 1 1999 [2]
2000 Betty Lennox Guard Minnesota Lynx Louisiana Tech (Sr.) 6 2000 [3]
2001 Jackie Stiles Portland Fire Missouri State (Sr.) 4 2001 [4]
2002 Tamika Catchings* Forward Indiana Fever Tennessee (Sr.) 3 2001 [5]
2003 Cheryl Ford Detroit Shock Louisiana Tech (Sr.) 3 2003 [6]
2004 Diana Taurasi^ Guard Phoenix Mercury UConn (Sr.) 1 2004 [7]
2005 Temeka Johnson Washington Mystics (2) LSU (Sr.) 6 2005 [8]
2006 Seimone Augustus* Guard/Forward Minnesota Lynx (2) LSU (Sr.) 1 2006 [9]
2007 Armintie Price Guard Chicago Sky Ole Miss (Sr.) 3 2007 [10]
2008 Candace Parker Forward/Center Los Angeles Sparks Tennessee (Jr.) 1 2008 [11]
2009 Angel McCoughtry Forward Atlanta Dream Louisville (Sr.) 1 2009 [12]
2010 Tina Charles^ Center Connecticut Sun UConn (Sr.) 1 2010 [13]
2011 Maya Moore Forward Minnesota Lynx (3) UConn (Sr.) 1 2011 [14]
2012 Nneka Ogwumike^ Los Angeles Sparks (2) Stanford (Sr.) 1 2012 [15][16]
2013 Elena Delle Donne Guard/Forward Chicago Sky (2) Delaware (Sr.) 2 2013 [17]
2014 Chiney Ogwumike Forward Connecticut Sun (2) Stanford (Sr.) 1 2014 [18]
2015 Jewell Loyd^ Guard Seattle Storm Notre Dame (Jr.) 1 2015 [19]
2016 Breanna Stewart^ Forward/Center Seattle Storm (2) UConn (Sr.) 1 2016 [20]
2017 Allisha Gray^ Guard Dallas Wings (2) South Carolina (Jr.) 4 2017 [21]
2018 A'ja Wilson^ Forward Las Vegas Aces South Carolina (Sr.) 1 2018 [22]
2019 Napheesa Collier^ Minnesota Lynx (4) UConn (Sr.) 6 2019 [23]
2020 Crystal Dangerfield^ Guard Minnesota Lynx (5) UConn (Sr.) 16 2020 [24]
2021 Michaela Onyenwere^ Forward New York Liberty UCLA (Sr.) 6 2021 [25]
2022 Rhyne Howard^ Guard Atlanta Dream (2) Kentucky (Sr.) 1 2022 [26]
2023 Aliyah Boston^ Forward/Center Indiana Fever (2) South Carolina (Sr.) 1 2023 [27]
2024 Caitlin Clark^ Guard Indiana Fever (3) Iowa (Sr.) 1 2024 [28]

Teams

edit
WNBA ROTY Winners
Awards Teams Years
5 Minnesota Lynx 2000, 2006, 2011, 2019, 2020
3 Indiana Fever 2002, 2023, 2024
2 Washington Mystics 1999, 2005
Dallas Wings / Tulsa Shock / Detroit Shock 2003 (as Detroit)
2017 (as Dallas)
Chicago Sky 2007, 2013
Los Angeles Sparks 2008, 2012
Atlanta Dream 2009, 2022
Connecticut Sun / Orlando Miracle 2010, 2014 (as Connecticut)
Seattle Storm 2015, 2016
1 Charlotte Sting 1998
Portland Fire 2001
Phoenix Mercury 2004
Las Vegas Aces / San Antonio Stars /
San Antonio Silver Stars / Utah Starzz
2018 (as Las Vegas)
New York Liberty 2021
0 Cleveland Rockers N/A
Houston Comets
Miami Sol
Sacramento Monarchs

See also

edit

Notes

edit
  1. ^ A player is not eligible for induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame until she has been fully retired for three calendar years.

References

edit
  1. ^ "Forward was Rookie of the Year in 1998". ESPN. March 1, 2005. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
  2. ^ "Holdsclaw Wins Rookie Award". CBS News. August 28, 1999. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
  3. ^ "Lennox dominates Rookie voting". ESPN. Associated Press. August 17, 2000. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
  4. ^ "Stiles Named 2001 WNBA Rookie of the Year". WNBA. August 16, 2001. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
  5. ^ "Indiana's Catchings Wins 2002 Rookie of the Year". WNBA. August 16, 2002. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
  6. ^ "Detroit's Ford Named Rookie of the Year". WNBA. August 31, 2003. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
  7. ^ "Phoenix's Diana Taurasi Named 2004 WNBA Rookie of the Year". WNBA. September 27, 2004. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
  8. ^ "Washington's Temeka Johnson Named 2005 WNBA Rookie of the Year". WNBA. September 14, 2005. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
  9. ^ "Seimone Augustus Named 2006 WNBA Rookie of the Year". WNBA. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
  10. ^ "Chicago's Armintie Price Named 2007 WNBA Rookie of the Year". WNBA. September 8, 2007. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
  11. ^ "Los Angeles Sparks' Candace Parker Named Hanns-G 'Go Beyond' Rookie of the Year". WNBA. October 3, 2008. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
  12. ^ "McCoughtry is WNBA's top rookie". ESPN. Associated Press. October 2, 2009. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
  13. ^ "The Connecticut Sun's Tina Charles Named 2010 WNBA Rookie of the Year". WNBA. August 30, 2010. Retrieved September 27, 2024.
  14. ^ "Minnesota Lynx Forward Maya Moore Named 2011 WNBA Rookie of the Year". WNBA. September 16, 2011. Retrieved September 27, 2024.
  15. ^ "Los Angeles Sparks Forward Nneka Ogwumike Named 2012 WNBA Rookie of the Year". WNBA. October 8, 2012. Retrieved September 27, 2024.
  16. ^ "Nneka Ogwumike, Glory Johnson Headline 2012 All-Rookie Team". WNBA. Retrieved 7 Oct 2012.
  17. ^ "Sky's Delle Donne named WNBA's Rookie of Year". The San Diego Union-Tribune. September 20, 2013. Retrieved September 27, 2024.
  18. ^ "Chiney Ogwumike is rookie of year". ESPN. Associated Press. August 28, 2014. Retrieved September 27, 2024.
  19. ^ "Seattle Storm's Jewell Loyd named WNBA Rookie of the Year". Sports Illustrated. September 24, 2015. Retrieved September 27, 2024.
  20. ^ "Breanna Stewart Named 2016 WNBA Rookie of the Year Presented By Samsung". WNBA. September 29, 2016. Retrieved September 27, 2024.
  21. ^ "Dallas' Allisha Gray Named 2017 WNBA Rookie Of The Year". WNBA. September 19, 2017. Retrieved September 27, 2024.
  22. ^ Voepel, Michael (September 9, 2018). "A'ja Wilson unanimous choice for WNBA Rookie of the Year". ESPN. Retrieved September 27, 2024.
  23. ^ Voepel, Michael (September 16, 2019). "Lynx's Collier named WNBA Rookie of the Year". ESPN. Retrieved September 27, 2024.
  24. ^ "Crystal Dangerfield Named WNBA Rookie Of The Year". WNBA. September 17, 2020. Retrieved September 27, 2024.
  25. ^ "New York Liberty's Michaela Onyenwere Named 2021 Kia WNBA Rookie Of The Year". wnba.com. WNBA. October 5, 2021. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
  26. ^ "Atlanta Dream's Rhyne Howard Named 2022 Kia Rookie of the Year". wnba.com (Press release). WNBA. August 25, 2022. Retrieved August 25, 2022.
  27. ^ "Indiana Fever's Aliyah Boston Named 2023 Kia WNBA Rookie of the Year". WNBA. October 2, 2023.
  28. ^ Voepel, Michael (October 3, 2024). "Caitlin Clark wins WNBA Rookie of the Year honors". ESPN.
edit