The WNBA Has Only One Obvious Choice For MVP In 2026, And It’s A’ja Wilson [Op-Ed]

It’s that time of year again. As WNBA teams secure their spots in the playoffs, conversations around which players should be chosen to receive end-of-season awards are heating up. 

Defensive player of the year, rookie of the year, sixth player of the year, most improved player, and most valuable player. All those titles and more will be handed out before the postseason wraps. Out of all of them, there is perhaps no category that creates more annual debate than who should be crowned MVP of the WNBA. 

Ultimately, as all the couch potato sports fans continue to weigh in on who they think is this season’s most valuable player in the WNBA, it will be up to a panel of around seventy sportswriters who are tasked with determining which player has earned the honor this year. 

When it comes to MVP picks, fans weigh different parts of a player’s game depending on what they value most. Some fans stay loyal to their favorite player on their favorite team no matter what the numbers say. Some gravitate towards the players whose highlight reels are the most electric, convinced that that player must be the best. Others go by stats alone, believing the numbers should have the final say. 

Sportswriters and WNBA analysts, including yours truly, have joined the fray in throwing out our picks for MVP in our reporting, and a number of players’ names have entered the conversation as contenders for the league’s highest honor. 

For me, there’s only one pick on my imaginary ballot: Las Vegas Aces star A’ja Wilson. Last season, Wilson made history, becoming the first player in the league’s history to be crowned the MVP four times. This year, she has emerged as the clear frontrunner to extend her record to a fifth.  

Traditionally, judges have followed guidelines and awarded MVP to the player who has proven strongest at both ends of the court and has had a profound impact on her team. This year, as was the case last year, Wilson is the only player in the W earning the number one spot in two major categories panelists weigh heavily: points scored and blocks. She’s scored in double figures consistently and locked her team into a playoff spot early. She is also a strong contender for Defensive Player of the Year, an award she won last year. 

While most of my fellow sportswriters agree that Wilson is the frontrunner, they’ve thrown additional names into the mix for consideration. 

My peers almost unanimously see Minnesota Lynx rookie guard Olivia Miles as Wilson’s most serious challenger, and on the surface, it’s easy to understand why. She’s a gifted playmaker and passer who fills up a highlight reel with her crafty no-look passes. She’s helped propel the Lynx to the number one spot in the league and helped them become the first team to clinch a playoff berth this season. 

If Miles won MVP and Rookie of the Year, she’d become the first rookie to take home both awards since Candace Parker did so in 2008. Candace Parker was top five in rebounds, points, and blocks that year. If Miles were named MVP, it would be the first time the award went to a player who didn’t rank in the top five in any offensive or defensive leaderboard category.

Rookie of the year exists for a player like Miles who has had an outstanding, impactful debut season while adjusting to the pace and physicality of the pros. She’s made the case for ROTY honors this year, and by a long shot, but still has a way to go before reaching Wilson’s stratosphere. 

Predictably, Caitlin Clark, owner of the loudest and most delusional fanbase that extends to the Republican halls of Congress, has been offered up as the third MVP contender.  Her allies in Congress have successfully swayed the ref’s whistle after threatening to launch a DOJ investigation into the league.

Handing the Indiana Fever guard, now in her third season, a number three spot in the MVP conversation feels like another attempt to give Clark accolades in the league she hasn’t earned. 

Even after a cursory glance at the statistics, the math is not mathing for Clark to win over Wilson, Miles, or even her teammate Kelsey Mitchell, who hasn’t been listed unanimously as a top three contender. 

While Clark has made it into the top five leaderboard in assists and scoring, Mitchell sits ahead of her in the latter, holding the number two spot while Clark sits at number three. And as celebrated as Clark has become for her logo threes, Mitchell and players like the Dream’s Rhyne Howard rate higher than Clark in that category, too. 

Defense is one of the key metrics voters weigh, and on that front, Caitlin Clark has been more of a liability than an asset, with her coach, Stephanie White, pulling her from defensive possessions during numerous close games this season. 

Impact on a team’s success is another factor voters consider, and here too Clark comes up short next to her own teammate. Mitchell carried the Fever deep into the playoffs last year while Clark rode the bench with an injury. The Fever have already proven they don’t need Clark to win. Whether they can say the same about Mitchell is a different question.

Clark herself seemed to concede the point ahead of last month’s WNBA All-Star Game, when she admitted in an interview that Mitchell was so talented she’d probably avoid guarding her and just let her shoot uncontested. Even in jest, a true MVP would never wave the white flag on her own teammate. 

The WNBA has done everything in its power to prop Clark up as its perennial MVP, and plenty of media outlets have covered it accordingly. Yahoo Sports has been so maniacal as to list Clark as the number three pick, but in ascending order, meaning most of the article made the case for her to win. The outlet knows Wilson is the clear pick, yet still dutifully found a way to hand Clark most of the spotlight.  

At this point, if any official voters want to add Caitlin Clark to their ballot as MVP, they might as well give the girl a participation MVP trophy and call it a day. 

Paige Bueckers’ name has surfaced, and I’ll only spend a moment here since fans have their own list, too, though their picks tend to lean hard on loyalty instead of stats. If I were like a lot of them and picked my favorite player as MVP, it would be a toss-up between Bueckers, Wilson, and Angel Reese. Bueckers and Reese have shown their brilliance all season, carrying teams that have struggled to find consistency and are still looking for ways to make winning basketball out of it. 

Reese wowed crowds in Los Angeles last week, becoming only the third player in WNBA history to earn a 20-point double-double while making 100% of her shots. Reese has also emerged as a top contender for Defensive Player of the Year and is one of the only players who can effectively guard positions 1-5. Monday night against the Sparks, Reese made history again, setting a WNBA single-game record of 26 rebounds, and she set the record for the most rebounds in a single season.  

If Caitlin Clark were to be handed the MVP award when she clearly hasn’t earned it, it would stand as the most egregious, indefensible, and illegitimate WNBA MVP pick of all time. 

Stranger things have happened in this league, especially this season, so if voters are willing to depart from what has defined an MVP just this once, they should go ahead and throw out the rulebook for every other category, too. 

They should give the Defensive Player of the Year award to WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert, for her unmatched ability to protect the W’s investment in Clark and avoid taking a stand against transphobia and racism, and for being unwilling to protect Black women. 

Sixth Player of the Year belongs to the referees, whose soft whistles have swayed outcomes in Caitlin Clark and the Fever’s favor since Republican congressional pressure entered the chat, pivoting the Fever into a winning cycle. 

Most Improved Player should go to the select few media and reporters who finally started to report on Contusion Cait’s antics and shortcomings. 

And last but certainly not least, sorry to rip the statue out of your hand, Olivia Miles, but Rookie of the Year, hands down, now belongs to Clark’s rabid fanbase, who somehow continue to find new ways to show the world how hateful they can be and how little they understand about the sport they claim to love. 

Something tells me Contusion Cait’s fans would have that category on lock until their golden goose retires. 

SEE ALSO:

How History Should Remember This Era Of The WNBA [Op-Ed]

Republicans Are Using The WNBA, Caitlin Clark To Dismantle Title IX