Las Vegas Aces star A’ja Wilson won WNBA MVP. No reasonable person could have a problem with that. In fact, no voters disagreed, as Wilson won the award unanimously.
But there was one particularly head-scratching vote cast: a 4th place tally for Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese. This is a selection that will make the anonymous voter a story and not the players who excelled on the court, because it’s hard to see how anyone doing their job professionally could have come to said decision.
A’ja Wilson unanimously wins MVP for the first time since Cynthia Cooper did so in 1997. Wilson garnered all 67 first-place votes.
Caitlin Clark finishes fourth in MVP voting, with votes ranging between third and fifth place. Kelsey Mitchell also got some votes. pic.twitter.com/I0HZwPFLJv
— Chloe Peterson (@chloepeterson67) September 22, 2024
This will only lead to more unecessary nitpicking of Reese, who had a tremendous rookie season.
However, it’s almost impossible not to do when pointing out the flawed thinking in the choice, given Angel would not have made my 1st or 2nd All-WNBA Teams, and certainly wouldn’t have received an MVP vote from me if I had one.
Reese’s rebounding was historic, but beyond that there really isn’t a case anyway you slice it.
Admittedly the Sky were a much better squad with her on the floor by the numbers. However, she played most of the year for a team that finished worse than last season and wound up 14 games under .500. Not to mention she didn’t provide any value in the contests she missed due to injury.
Angel also notably struggled from the field in her first WNBA campaign, hitting under 40% of her attempts from the floor and well under 50% from within five feet of the basket, where the bulk of her opportunities came.
Then there are the players who simply had superior seasons by any objective basketball measure. Obviously Wilson, and the other top finishers in Napheesa Collier of the Minnesota Lynx, Breanna Stewart of the New York Liberty, and Reese’s fellow rookie Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever.
That list could continue out to Sabrina Ionescu of the Liberty, Nneka Ogwumike of the Seattle Storm, Alyssa Thomas of the Connecticut Sun, and several more.
Far too often, non-hoops-related conversations have hijacked the WNBA conversation, and it’s hard to explain Reese receiving such a vote for basketball reasons.
Which makes the inexplicable selection a story, and will only lead to more scrutiny for Reese, and less credit for Wilson and the other players who were simply better.
