STEWART WINS WNBA MVP
Edges Thomas, Wilson in closest three-way race in league history
It was the narrowest margin in WNBA MVP voting history announced Tuesday, leaving the thirdplace finisher saying the results “hurt like hell.”
New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart won the MVP award for the second time, the league revealed.
Stewart received 20 first-place votes and 446 total points from a national panel of 60 sportswriters and broadcasters to finish only seven points ahead of Connecticut Sun forward Alyssa Thomas, who received 23 first-place votes and 439 total votes. Las Vegas Aces center A’ja Wilson, who won the award in 2020 and last season, came in third in the voting with 17 first-place votes and 433 total votes.
The margin between the winner of the award and runner-up (seven points) was the second-smallest in the league’s history, and the margin between first and third (13) was the smallest.
“A tight MVP race is amazing for this league because that means multiple players are being talked about that can do a lot of different things,” Stewart said.
No player for the Sky received a single vote.
It’s the second MVP award for Stewart, who won her first in 2018 while playing for the Seattle Storm in just her third season in the pros. Fast-forward to 2023, and she can’t help but reflect on how dramatically her life has changed as she etches her place in WNBA lore once more.
“That’s something that is really special to me when I think about it,” Stewart told ESPN on Tuesday. “My first one was in 2018. I was still under my rookie contract, and now look to 2023, I’m married to a beautiful wife, have a baby [Ruby, born in 2021] and we’re having another one.”
Stewart’s wife, Marta Xargay Casademont, is pregnant with the couple’s second child and due in October, so Stewart said Casademont was “a little bit more emotional” when she heard the news. Ruby, their 2-year-old daughter, may not have completely understood what was going on, but she did start moving Stewart’s 2018 MVP trophy around in their home, so maybe she had the sense something was up.
“Ruby is someone that’s going to be able to see her mommy get MVP, and that’s something that I definitely take a lot of pride in,” Stewart said.
The announcement came hours before the Liberty were to host the Sun in Game 2 of their best-of-five WNBA semifinal series.
Seven months after signing with the Liberty in what arguably was the biggest free-agency move in league history, Stewart sometimes still can’t believe she plays for New York. Now, she is the franchise’s first MVP and with six more wins could lead them to their first WNBA title.
The 2016 No. 1 overall pick is the eighth player in league history to win multiple MVP awards, the fourth player to win it in their first season with a franchise and the second player to win MVP with multiple franchises.
“It’s definitely an honor to be able to say this is my second and to be able to do it in a Liberty jersey for the first time ever,” said Stewart, who was a two-time champion and two-time Finals MVP with the Storm. “I’m excited for what’s going to come tonight, and hopefully the fans are going to go nuts.”
Stewart earned 20 first-place votes, 23 second-place votes and 17 third-place votes for a total of 446 total points from a national panel of 60 sportswriters and broadcasters.
Thomas garnered 23 first-place votes, which is the second time in WNBA history that an MVP runner-up has received more firstplace votes than the winner. Lauren Jackson came in second to Sheryl Swoopes in 2005 despite receiving 20 first-place vote to Swoopes’ 16.
Wilson received 17 first-place votes. The 13-point margin between the top three vote-getters surpassed the 45-point difference in 2013 that separated Candace Parker, Maya Moore and Elena Delle Donne.
“It hurt like hell, it really did,” Wilson said of not being named MVP. “But it’s all part of the game.”