Opinion: Top 5 Candidates for WNBA Most Improved Player award

Postseason awards always present voters with some really tough choices, and that’s especially the case with the WNBA this year. The landscape has shifted a lot when it comes to the way the league is perceived, and the quality of play continues to improve. That’s shaking up a lot of the awards races, especially the one for Most Improved Player (MIP).

There’s a lot to unpack here, including how the award is defined and interpreted, not to mention the candidates themselves. Here’s a rundown how they stack up, along with some information and insights to help you make your choice before the real winner is decided.

Photo byJoshua HoehneonUnsplash

The candidates for WNBA Most Improved Player award: Chennedy Carter, Chicago Sky

Carter’s season got off to a rough start when she was reviled in the media for knocking down star rookie Caitlin Clark with a particularly nasty foul, but Carter shrugged that off to more than make up for the miscue going forward. She’s been a key part of Chicago’s brief resurgence that has them on the edge of the eighth spot and a potential playoff berth, and the Sky have missed her dearly when she’s been out due to landing in the league’s health and safety protocols. The Chicago situation has been too much of a mess to give her this particular award, but she’ll be a valuable player next year as the Sky continue to rebuild on the fly.

DiJonai Carrington, Connecticut Sun

The step up from valuable reserve to more valuable starter is one of the best ways to earn this award, and Carrington has delivered the goods and then some. She was already a great perimeter defender, and while some of her numbers per minute are down, that’s to be expected with this kind of move. She’s cut her fouls, too, which has been a key to Carrington’s ability to move into the starting lineup and still be productive.

Alanna Smith, Minnesota Lynx

Smith, meanwhile has made a different kind of move. She’s gone from starter to All-Star level, and she’s done it while learning a new system after going from Chicago to Minnesota. Moreover, she’s helped all the Lynx new parts blend together, which has helped Napheesa Collier have the kind of season that would make her MVP were it not for A’ja Wilson’s spectacular season in Las Vegas. Smith is the ultimate 3-and-D player, and she’s a big part of the reason Minnesota is the team nobody wants to play and a tough out to boot.

Sabrina Ionescu, New York Liberty

Ionescu already had an impressively complete game, but she’s gone and improved it this year. She’s gone from good defender to fierce defender, and her ability to fearlessly go downhill has made her noticeably more dangerous. Ionescu is more versatile now, too, which has allowed the Liberty to employ more switchable schemes that has made New York’s defense even more formidable. Add in the fact that she’s become more physical, and there are plenty of reasons the Liberty will be the favorites going into this year’s postseason.

Dearica Hamby, Los Angeles Sparks

Hamby has already been an All-Star for the Aces in 2021 and 2022, but this year she’s shooting better from both the field and beyond the arc. She’s doing it for a bad team in LA, though, which is part of the reason her superb performance has gone somewhat unnoticed. It took her a while to get back into game shape after giving birth to her second child in March of last year, and the incident with Becky Hammon has been a lingering dark cloud for both coach and player that has cast a pall over Hamby’s performance this year, but if the Sparks were better, she’d be a much more prominent MVP candidate.

This article was originally written by Bob McCullough