Breanna Stewart wanted to move closer to home after spending her entire WNBA career in Seattle, so she signed with New York as a free agent in a seismic offseason move.
The decision paid off for Stewart and the Liberty.
She finished the regular season second in the league in scoring, averaging a career-high 23 points per game. She helped New York to the league’s second-best record and on Tuesday became the first player to repeat as Associated Press player of the year.
“Being honored as AP Player of the Year is an incredible honor,” said Stewart, who also won the award in 2018. “It’s quite different after changing teams and coming to New York and having had such a positive season going 32-8.. There has been a lot of amazing basketball this year and it makes you feel good heading into the playoffs.
Stewart narrowly edged out A’ja Wilson of Las Vegas by one vote among 12 media members. Alyssa Thomas was third in voting. Stewart and Wilson also finished double in last year’s voting, with the Aces star winning the league MVP award.
The WNBA will announce its awards during the playoffs which begin Wednesday. The league MVP will be announced on September 26.
“We are in a special place in women’s basketball when there are so many great players doing so many great things every night,” said Stewart, who is the first three-time winner of the award since the start of the vote in 2016.
Wilson was selected as the AP’s Defensive Player of the Year for the second straight season, beating out Washington’s Thomas and Brittney Sykes. Wilson anchored the Aces defense, averaging 2.2 blocks and 1.4 steals. Las Vegas won the first playoff spot.
Her Aces teammate, Alysha Clark, was chosen as the sixth AP Woman of the Year. This is the fourth time an Aces player has won the award, with Clark joining Dearica Hamby, who has won it twice, and Kelsey Plum. Clark has consistently provided a spark on both ends of the court coming off the bench for the Aces this season.
For the second year in a row, a former WNBA player won the AP Coach of the Year award, with Connecticut’s Stephanie White receiving the honor. She led the Sun to the third-best record in the league despite losing center Brionna Jones to a torn Achilles a month into the season.
Other AP winners include:
— Rookie of the year: Aliyah Boston. She was the No. 1 pick for the Indiana Fever and helped the team double its win total from last year. Boston averaged 14.5 points and 8.4 rebounds while shooting 57.8% from the field.
— Comeback Player of the Year: Brittney Griner and Napheesa Collier. Griner missed all of last year after spending almost 10 months in a Russian prison. She averaged 17.5 points this year. Collier missed almost all of last season after giving birth to her first child. She averaged 21.5 points and 8.5 rebounds to help Minnesota earn the sixth seed in the playoffs.
— Most Improved Player: Satou Sabally. After playing in just 44 games due to injuries in his first three years combined, Sabally managed to stay healthy and played in 38 of the Dallas Wings’ 40 games this season. She averaged a career-high 18.6 points and 8.1 rebounds.
— All Rookie Team: Boston was joined on the team by teammate Grace Berger, Minnesota’s Dorka Juhasz and Diamond Miller, Seattle’s Jordan Horston and Atlanta’s Haley Jones.
— All-WNBA teams: Stewart, Wilson and Thomas were unanimous first-team selections. Joining them on the first team are Seattle’s Jewell Loyd and Las Vegas’ Chelsea Gray. The second team: Jackie Young of Las Vegas; Sabrina Ionescu of New York; Arike Ogunbowale; Sabally and Collier.
AP WNBA POWER POLL
New York finished atop the rankings, while Las Vegas was second. Connecticut, Dallas and Washington followed the Aces. Atlanta and Minnesota were next. Chicago and Los Angeles round out the top nine. Indiana, Seattle and Phoenix have completed voting.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Wilson earned the final AP Player of the Week award after averaging 32 points, 9.0 rebounds and 2.3 steals to help the Aces go 3-0 and clinch the top playoff spot . Other players receiving votes included Chicago’s Ogunbowale and Kahleah Copper.
