Top 10 WNBA players to watch in 2024
With the 2024 WNBA season opening today, there’s a lot of growing interest in the league and its players.
While many are becoming bigger names, there are others who have been quietly dominating over the past few years and creating parity in MVP races. From consistent MVP contenders to players changing their scenery, this list provides a variety of players to keep an eye on this season.
Breanna Stewart, Forward, New York Liberty
Stewart managed to top her performances when she joined a stacked roster in New York after spending six seasons in Seattle as the big star. With the Liberty, she appeared in every game and averaged 23.0 points, 9.3 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.6 blocks and 1.5 steals in 34.1 minutes per game. Her numbers led to her winning the second MVP award of her career in a tight race.
A’ja Wilson, Center, Las Vegas Aces
Part of the reason why the MVP race was so tight was because of Wilson’s dominance. She recorded career-high averages in points (22.8), rebounds (9.5) and blocks (2.2) last season despite playing just 30.7 minutes per game. Wilson remains the star of the best team in the league and helped lead the Aces to their second consecutive WNBA title. Over the past three seasons, she’s averaged 20.2 points, 9.4 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.8 blocks and 1.2 steals in 30.9 minutes per game.
Alyssa Thomas, Forward, Connecticut Sun
Thomas is coming off her best season, appearing in every game and averaging 15.4 points, 9.9 rebounds, 7.9 assists and 1.8 steals in 36.2 minutes per game. The 31-year-old has consistently posted double-doubles and finished the year with seven triple-doubles. Thomas became a top-tier contributor in 2023 and fell into MVP conversations.
Jewell Loyd, Guard, Seattle Storm
Loyd became the Storm’s star and will have help with key additions in Skylar Diggins-Smith and Nneka Ogwumike. The 30-year-old averaged a career-high 24.7 points and 4.7 rebounds to go with 3.4 assists in 35.4 minutes per game. Her scoring average was the best in franchise history and second in league history, behind Diana Taurasi, who averaged 25.3 points in 2006.
Arike Ogunbowale, Guard, Dallas Wings
Ogunbowale remains one of the best guards in the WNBA and has only become a bigger factor for the Wings. She played a career-high 37.2 minutes per game and averaged 21.2 points to go with a career-high 4.5 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 1.7 steals while appearing in every matchup. The 26-year-old tied for the league lead with 8.5 3point attempts per game and made 2.9 per, the third-best mark in the league.
Brittney Griner, Center, Phoenix Mercury
Griner’s absence was missed by the Mercury for myriad reasons, but when she returned to action last season she slowly came back to form. She earned an All-Star nod after averaging 17.5 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.6 blocks. Given her situation, her 27.8 minutes per game last year were her fewest since her rookie campaign in 2013, but she’ll likely return to a 30-plus-minute role in 2024 and have a big season.
Napheesa Collier, Forward, Minnesota Lynx
After being on maternity leave for the majority of the 2022 season, Collier returned to dominance in 2023, making 37 appearances and averaging a career-best 21.5 points. She also averaged 8.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.2 blocks in 33.5 minutes per game. She posted 12 double-doubles on 12 occasions last year, but she was a continual threat in the scoring and rebounding columns while also regularly pitching in on the defensive
side of the ball.
Chelsea Gray, Guard, Las Vegas Aces
Gray didn’t slow down last season as the Aces added more to their star-studded roster. Instead, she put together the best performance of her career during her age-30 season. She averaged a career-high 15.3 points, 7.3 assists and 4.0 rebounds in 32.2 minutes per game while appearing in every regular-season matchup.
Sabrina Ionescu, Guard, New York Liberty
She’s proved that she’s got the range on the perimeter and she continues to be one of the top guards. Ionescu attempted 7.9 3-pointers per game and shot 44.8% from beyond the arc, both the best marks of her career. She averaged 17.0 points, 5.6 rebounds and 5.4 assists in 31.5 minutes per game last year.
Skylar Diggins-Smith, Guard, Seattle Storm
Diggins-Smith is back after missing last season with the Mercury while on maternity leave. In 2022, she had a big campaign with 19.7 points per game and 5.5 assists per game in 34.0 minutes. She’s averaged 18.3 points, 5.4 assists and 3.5 rebounds in 33.1 minutes per game over her last five seasons and will likely do well in her change of scenery. When she missed the 2019 season, she had relatively consistent production in 2020, so she’ll likely pick off where she left off.