2025 WNBA Season Award Picks: Who Should Take Home MVP?

The WNBA regular season has reached its end, which means it is time to make award picks.

Sep 4, 2025; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Las Vegas Aces center A'ja Wilson (22) drives past Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier (24) in the first quarter of their game at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Candice Ward-Imagn Images | Candice Ward-Imagn Images

With the WNBA regular season reaching its conclusion, the time has come for the unenviable task of deciding who should take home award hardware.

Making selections is never easy given the strength of the candidates, but here are the picks for MVP, Rookie of the Year, All-WNBA teams and the rest of the categories.

MVP: A'ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces

Sep 7, 2025; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Las Vegas Aces center A'ja Wilson (22) competes against the Chicago Sky during the first half of a WNBA basketball game at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Lucas Peltier-Imagn Images | Lucas Peltier-Imagn Images

Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier was leading the race for most of the year, deservedly so. However, Wilson has powered the Aces amid a 15-game winning streak, much of it coinciding with Collier being sidelined by injury. Wilson leads the entire league in points, rebounds, and blocks. In the end, Wilson's dominance in pulling Las Vegas up from the ashes combined with her playing more than a handful of games more than Collier gives A'ja the edge.

Rookie of the Year: Paige Bueckers, Dallas Wings

Sep 4, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers (5) prepares to take a free throw against the Golden State Valkyries during the second half at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: John Hefti-Imagn Images | John Hefti-Imagn Images

Washington Mystics rookie Sonia Citron did enough to make this a race. However, despite Citron's stellar season, Bueckers still produced too much individually to not take home hardware. The Wings rookie is the only player in the WNBA to rank top ten in points, assists and steals and her 44-point rookie record performance was enough to be the cherry on top of her selection.

Coach of the Year: Natalie Nakase, Golden State Valkyries

Aug 31, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; Golden State Valkyries head coach Natalie Nakase gestures during the third quarter against the Indiana Fever at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Coach of the Year is arguably the most crowded field when it comes to those who are deserving of the award. However, Nakase leading the Valkyries to the playoffs as an expansion team (the first to ever qualify for the postseason) is hard to argue against. Karl Smesko of the Atlanta Dream, Stephanie White of the Indiana Fever and Cheryl Reeve of the Lynx all have strong cases—but helming a first-year franchise to relevance at this juncture in the season makes Nakase the pick.

Defensive Player of the Year: Gabby Williams, Seattle Storm

Aug 15, 2025; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Atlanta Dream guard Allisha Gray (15) dribbles defended by Seattle Storm forward Gabby Williams (5) during the second half at Rogers Arena. Mandatory Credit: Anne-Marie Sorvin-Imagn Images | Anne-Marie Sorvin-Imagn Images

A'ja Wilson and Alanna Smith have strong arguments, but ultimately Williams steals this award. Not only does the Storm standout lead the league in thefts and passes deflected, but her defensive versatility and athleticism is a major asset for Seattle. The Storm possess a 97.8 Defensive Rating with Williams on the floor, which is a testament to her being deserving of this honor.

Most Improved Player: Azura Stevens, Los Angeles Sparks

Sep 9, 2025; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Los Angeles Sparks forward Azura Stevens (23) reacts after a shot against the Phoenix Mercury during the second half of a WNBA game at PHX Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Veronica Burton could easily be the pick here given she went from never averaging more than 3.1 points per game to leading the Valkyries in Kayla Thornton's absence by putting up 12 points and 6 assists per contest. But while Burton maximized her increased opportunity, Stevens showed a massive direct improvement without a huge uptick in minutes from last season for Los Angeles. Stevens shot nearly 10 percentage points higher than last year while also raising her three-point % from 35 to 38.6. That coincided with statistical jumps in every major category, making her the definition of improvement.

Sixth Player of the Year: Natisha Hiedeman, Minnesota Lynx

Sep 6, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; Minnesota Lynx guard Natisha Hiedeman (2) signals to teammates in the third quarter against the Golden State Valkyries at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images | David Gonzales-Imagn Images

It's difficult to pick between Naz Hillmon (who has been an integral part of the Dream's successful season) and Hiedeman. But ultimately, providing punch for the best team in the league led to the tiebreaker, along with the fact that Hillmon actually started 17 games. Hiedeman has been super efficient off the bench all season long for Minnesota in helping them to the WNBA's best record.

All-WNBA First Team:

A'ja Wilson (Aces) , Napheesa Collier (Lynx), Alyssa Thomas (Mercury), Allisha Gray (Dream), Kelsey Mitchell (Fever)

All-WNBA Second Team:

Nneka Ogwumike (Storm), Aliyah Boston (Fever), Kayla McBride (Lynx), Jackie Young (Aces), Veronica Burton (Valkyries)

Honorable Mention:

Kelsey Plum (Sparks), Sabrina Ionescu (Liberty), Paige Bueckers (Wings), Rhyne Howard (Dream), Brionna Jones (Dream), Dearica Hamby (Sparks)