As the 2025 regular season comes to a close, The Athletic is sharing its votes for end-of-season awards. Ben Pickman and Sabreena Merchant are among the WNBA’s voters for Most Valuable Player, Defensive Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Most Improved Player, Sixth Player of the Year and Coach of the Year, as well as the All-WNBA teams, All-Defense teams and All-Rookie teams.
Earlier this week, we revealed the first half of those choices, and on Thursday we share the rest of our votes and explain our decisions.
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MVP
Pickman: A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces
Wilson is finishing the season with a historic stretch, guiding the Aces to 15 consecutive wins — tied for the third-longest win streak in league history. Wilson’s dominance is integral to Las Vegas’ climb. She leads the league in points (23.4) and blocks (2.3) per game as well as 20-point and 30-point double-doubles. She’s first in win shares, on/off rating and defensive rebounds. Napheesa Collier was the front-runner for the award when the Aces and Lynx matched up on Aug. 2, but Wilson has done more than just close the gap. She’s fully taken the award, and should be the league’s first four-time MVP.
Merchant: Napheesa Collier, Minnesota Lynx
Collier has been the best per-minute player in the WNBA this season (most win-shares per 40 minutes, per Basketball Reference), and the fulcrum of the league’s top team. She is an efficient scorer from every area of the court and is two 3-pointers away from a 50-40-90 season; only Elena Delle Donne has had such a shooting season in WNBA history. Collier can also defend every position. Her versatility on both ends is why she has the best net rating in the league among players who have suited up for more than 20 games.
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Although Collier missed a quarter of the season, there is no games-played requirement for this award. Before she got injured, she had already done enough to give the Lynx a huge lead in the standings. There are many ways to define value — Collier’s comes from being the best player on the WNBA’s best team.
All-WNBA teams
(Players listed in alphabetical order)
Selecting two All-WNBA teams was an especially difficult task. After Collier, Gray, Thomas and Wilson, legitimate cases could be made for any number of players to be included on the All-WNBA first-team, let alone the second-team. Mitchell is tied with Wilson for the most 20-plus point games this season, and she achieved such an output while also recording the second-best field-goal percentage of her career. In a year of constant turnover for the Fever, Mitchell’s consistency in the franchise remains competitive.
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Picking five players for second-team honors was an even tougher task. Paige Bueckers, Brionna Jones and Aliyah Boston were among the omissions, all of whom could very well have been recognized here. McBride and Young highly impact both ends of the floor and play significant roles in their respective teams’ successes. Ogwumike was the fulcrum of Seattle’s offense, increasing her scoring and efficiency this season. Burton was integral to Golden State’s success because of her two-way production, and Ionescu had to routinely adapt to different lineups but remained as productive a playmaker as she has in recent seasons.
The WNBA doesn’t have any positional specifications for the All-WNBA teams, but I try to keep three frontcourt players and two backcourt players on each team (though there can be some fudging with wings) because different positions have different responsibilities. There were four locks on the first team: Collier, Wilson, Thomas and Gray. The last spot went to Young because of her playmaking growth and her defensive value in Las Vegas.
The second-team front-court came down to four players for three spots, and Dearica Hamby drew the short straw. The Sparks did Hamby no favors by forcing her to guard centers frequently, but her defensive impact and free-throw shooting left her off. Kayla McBride, Courtney Williams, Kelsey Plum and Paige Bueckers were also considered for the second team, but Mitchell and Burton had the best overall output and contributions to winning.
Defensive Player of the Year
Pickman: Alanna Smith, Minnesota Lynx
Smith continues to improve year-after-year, building on a 2024 season in which she made the WNBA All-Defensive second team. This season, she’s an even better shot blocker (averaging a career-high 1.9 per game), and she is effective in pick-and-roll situations when guarding both forwards and when switched onto guards. The Lynx have the league’s best defense, and with Collier missing almost a quarter of the season, even more was put on Smith defensively. She’s tasked with slowing down top opposing bigs, and her versatility and willingness to defend some of the league’s best is key to freeing up Collier on both ends. Her helpside defense is a particular strength.
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Merchant: A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces
Wilson is basically a one-woman wrecking crew on defense. She is the only capable rim protector in Las Vegas’ rotation and leads the league in stocks (steals + blocks). The Aces give her a heavy burden on defense, often playing her next to four guards, and she protects the paint regardless of how many blow-bys her teammates allow.
Already a two-time Defensive Player of the Year, Wilson’s timing has gotten better and she’s averaging fewer fouls per 36 minutes than in her two DPOY seasons. Although Las Vegas’s defense is below league-average, Wilson’s on-court defensive rating (99.3 points allowed per 100 possessions) is in line with the WNBA’s best. In speaking to other coaches and executives around the league, I was reminded that no one forces a team to adjust its offense more than Wilson, the hallmark of a great defender.
All-Defensive teams
The first team is loaded with versatile defenders who can snuff out actions on the perimeter and also hold their own when switched onto opponents who play a different position. My second team is also full of versatile defenders as Stewart is often the ultimate free safety for New York (and likely would have made an All-Defense first team and potentially All-WNBA team if not for missing nearly a third of the season). Gray routinely defends bigger players but is elite as a post-up defender nevertheless, holding opponents to just 28.6 percent shooting on such attempts. Howard and Burton both take on tough perimeter assignments and disrupt opposing wings, while Boston is an elite shot-blocker and also fares well in pick-and-roll switches. Brittney Sykes, Natasha Cloud and Sonia Citron were among the other guards I considered for an All-Defense team.
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Lots of overlap with the All-WNBA teams, but great players are great on both ends! Williams and Burton earned the first-team nod in the backcourt; Williams is perhaps the best help defender in the league, and Burton is tremendous at the point of attack.
On the second team, Smith was a tough omission from the first team, but the Lynx are loaded with defensive talent, and Minnesota’s defensive rating is 9.4 points per 100 possessions better with her off the court. Still, her rim protection warrants a spot. Akoa Makani, Howard and McBride take on the toughest perimeter assignments for the league’s three best defenses and are excellent screen navigators. Stewart likely would have been first team had she not missed a month; she remains terrifying as ever in every defensive role.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Minnesota Lynx, New York Liberty, Seattle Storm, Atlanta Dream, Indiana Fever, Las Vegas Aces, Phoenix Mercury, Golden State Valkyries, WNBA
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