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WNBA Most Improved Player Award

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The Women's National Basketball Association's Most Improved Player Award is an annual Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) award given since the 2000 WNBA season, to the most improved player 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 with the highest point total, regardless of the number of first-place votes, wins the award.

In 2019, Leilani Mitchell became the first player in history to win the award twice, after winning the award in 2010. In 2004, there was a tie -- both Kelly Miller and Wendy Palmer received the award. Nicole Powell, Natasha Howard, and Jackie Young are the only players to win the Most Improved award and a WNBA title in the same year.

Winners

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Denotes player who is still active in the WNBA
Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
Inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame
Denotes player whose team won championship that year
Player (X) Denotes the number of times the player has won
Team (X) Denotes the number of times a player from this team has won
Season Player Yrs[a] Position Nationality Team First-Place Votes Ref.
2000 Tari Phillips 2 Forward / Center   United States New York Liberty 19 out of 62 [1]
2001 Janeth Arcain 5 Guard   Brazil Houston Comets 25 out of 60 [2]
2002 Coco Miller 2   United States Washington Mystics 14 out of 60 [3]
2003 Michelle Snow Forward / Center Houston Comets (2) 22 out of 53 [4]
2004 Kelly Miller 4 Guard Indiana Fever 9 out of 48 (tie) [5]
Wendy Palmer 8 Forward Connecticut Sun
2005 Nicole Powell 2 Sacramento Monarchs 20 out of 49 [6]
2006 Erin Buescher 5 Sacramento Monarchs (2) 28 out of 56 [7]
2007 Janel McCarville 3 Center New York Liberty (2) 33 out of 51 [8]
2008 Ebony Hoffman 5 Forward Indiana Fever (2) 31 out of 44 [9]
2009 Crystal Langhorne 2 Washington Mystics (2) 19 out of 40 [10]
2010 Leilani Mitchell 3 Guard   Australia[b] New York Liberty (3) 29 out of 39 [12]
2011 Kia Vaughn Center   United States[c] New York Liberty (4) 15 out of 40 [13]
2012 Kristi Toliver 4 Guard   United States[d] Los Angeles Sparks 24 out of 41 [15]
2013 Shavonte Zellous 5   United States[e] Indiana Fever (3) 30 out of 39 [17]
2014 Skylar Diggins-Smith 2   United States Tulsa Shock 29 out of 38 [18]
2015 Kelsey Bone 3 Center Connecticut Sun (2) 14 out of 39 [19]
2016 Elizabeth Williams 2 Forward / Center   United States[f] Atlanta Dream 14 out of 39 [21]
2017 Jonquel Jones   Bahamas[g] Connecticut Sun (3) 32 out of 40 [23]
2018 Natasha Howard 5 Forward   United States Seattle Storm 29 out of 39 [24]
2019 Leilani Mitchell (2) 11 Guard   Australia[b] Phoenix Mercury 27 out of 43 [25]
2020 Betnijah Laney 5 Forward / Guard   United States Atlanta Dream (2) 25 out of 47 [26]
2021 Brionna Jones Forward Connecticut Sun (4) 38 out of 49 [27]
2022 Jackie Young 4 Guard Las Vegas Aces 32 out of 56 [28]
2023 Satou Sabally Forward   Germany[h] Dallas Wings 37 out of 60 [30]
2024 DiJonai Carrington Guard   United States Connecticut Sun (5) 28 out of 67 [31]
Notes
  1. ^ Played in league (including season in which award was given to player)
  2. ^ a b Leilani Mitchell was born as a dual citizen of the United States and Australia. She represents Australia internationally.[11]
  3. ^ Kia Vaughn was born in the United States and is a naturalized citizen of the Czech Republic. She has represented the Czech Republic internationally since 2017.
  4. ^ Kristi Toliver was born in the United States and is a naturalized citizen of Slovakia. She has represented Slovakia internationally since 2014.[14]
  5. ^ Shavonte Zellous was born in the United States and is a naturalized citizen of Croatia. She has represented Croatia internationally since 2015.[16]
  6. ^ Elizabeth Williams was born in the United Kingdom and is a naturalized citizen of the United States. She has represented the United States internationally since 2009.[20]
  7. ^ Jonquel Jones was born in the Bahamas and is a naturalized citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina. She has represented Bosnia and Herzegovina internationally since 2019.[22]
  8. ^ Satou Sabally was born in the United States to Gambian and German parents, and is a citizen by birth of all three countries. She represents Germany internationally.[29]

See also

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References

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  • "WNBA Most Improved Player Award". Retrieved January 19, 2009.
  1. ^ "2000 WNBA Season Awards". WNBA. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  2. ^ "Houston's Arcain is 2001 Most Improved Player". WNBA. August 18, 2001. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  3. ^ "2002 WNBA Season Awards". WNBA. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  4. ^ "2003 WNBA Season Awards". WNBA. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  5. ^ "Connecticut's Wendy Palmer and Indiana's Kelly Miller Named Co-Recipients of 2004 WNBA Most Improved Player Award". WNBA. September 27, 2004. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  6. ^ "Sacramento's Nicole Powell Named 2005 WNBA Most Improved Player". WNBA. September 2, 2005. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  7. ^ "Buescher wins most improved player award". ESPN. August 19, 2006. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  8. ^ "New York's Janel McCarville Named 2007 WNBA Most Improved Player". WNBA. August 24, 2007. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  9. ^ "Hoffman easily wins WNBA's most improved award". ESPN. Associated Press. September 19, 2008. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  10. ^ "Langhorne receives most improved". ESPN. September 17, 2009. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  11. ^ FIBA World Championship for Women. Joyce thrilled to get Mitchell on board.Retrieved 2014-04-18
  12. ^ "Leilani Mitchell Named 2010 WNBA Most Improved Player of the Year Presented By Kia Motors". WNBA. August 26, 2010. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  13. ^ "Kia Vaughn wins most improved award". ESPN. Associated Press. September 17, 2011. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  14. ^ Washington Post. [1].Retrieved 2019-11-24
  15. ^ "Sparks' Toliver named WNBA Most Improved Player". ABC 10. September 27, 2012. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  16. ^ Indianapolis Star. [2].Retrieved 2019-11-24
  17. ^ "Shavonte Zellous Named 2013 WNBA Most Improved Player of the Year". WNBA. September 22, 2013. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  18. ^ "Skylar Diggins Named 2014 WNBA Most Improved Player". Slan. August 27, 2014. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  19. ^ "Kelsey Bone Named 2015 WNBA Most Improved Player Presented By Samsung". WNBA. October 1, 2015. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  20. ^ USA Basketball. [3].Retrieved 2019-11-24
  21. ^ "Elizabeth Williams named WNBA Most Improved Player". ESPN. September 21, 2016. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  22. ^ Nassau Guardian. [4].Retrieved 2019-11-24
  23. ^ "Connecticut's Jonquel Jones Named 2017 WNBA Most Improved Player". WNBA. September 10, 2017. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
  24. ^ "Storm's Natasha Howard named 2018 WNBA Most Improved Player". NBA Communications (Press release). August 26, 2018. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
  25. ^ "Leilani Mitchell Named 2019 WNBA Most Improved Player". wnba.com. WNBA. September 18, 2019. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  26. ^ Voepel, Michael (September 24, 2020). "Dream's Betnijah Laney named WNBA's Most Improved Player". ESPN. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
  27. ^ "Connecticut Sun Brionna Jones Named 2021 KIA Most Improved Player". wnba.com. WNBA. September 28, 2021. Retrieved September 28, 2021.
  28. ^ "Jackie Young Named 2022 KIA WNBA Most Improved Player". wnba.com (Press release). New York, NY: WNBA. August 29, 2022. Retrieved August 29, 2022.
  29. ^ Ayala, Erica (August 27, 2020). "Satou Sabally Is a Unicorn". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved August 27, 2020.
  30. ^ "Dallas Wings' Satou Sabally Named 2023 KIA WNBA Most Improved Player" (Press release). WNBA. September 21, 2023. Retrieved September 21, 2023.
  31. ^ "Sun guard DiJonai Carrington wins WNBA Most Improved Player award". ESPN. Associated Press. September 25, 2024. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
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