WNBA Awards Schedule 2025: Key Dates & Winners for Each Award

The WNBA has begun rolling out the winners for this year's awards.

Wings star Paige Bueckers won Rookie of the Year. / Brett Davis-Imagn Images

The 2025 WNBA regular season is over and the playoffs are just beginning. In the midst of all the excitement, the league has started announcing the top awards given out to players, coaches and executives this season.

Starting on Monday, Sept. 15 with the award for the Most Improved Player, a total of 13 awards will be given out among the league. Within those 13 awards, the All-WNBA first and second teams, along with the All-Defensive first and second teams and the All-Rookie team rosters will be announced.

Will A'ja Wilson be able to notch her fourth MVP award this year? Or will last year's Defensive Player of the Year Napheesa Collier win her first MVP? Which players will repeat being placed on the All-WNBA first and second teams?

Here's a look at the full schedule of when the WNBA awards will be given out. Additionally, here's a running list of which players, coaches and executives have been honored with the awards thus far.

WNBA Awards Schedule

Date	Award
Monday, Sept. 15	Most Improved Player
Tuesday, Sept. 16	Rookie of the Year
Wednesday, Sept. 17	Coach of the Year
Thursday, Sept. 18	Defensive Player of the Year
Friday, Sept. 19	Five Finalists for MVP
Saturday, Sept. 20	Sixth Player of the Year
Sunday, Sept. 21	Most Valuable Player
Monday, Sept. 22	Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award
Tuesday, Sept. 23	Basketball Executive of the Year
Monday, Sept. 29	All-Rookie Team
Wednesday, Oct. 1	All-Defensive First and Second Teams
Thursday, Oct. 2	Business Executive Leadership Award
Tuesday, Oct. 7	All-WNBA First and Second Teams

WNBA Awards Winners 2025

Award	Winner	Team
Most Improved Player	Veronica Burton	Golden State Valkyries
Rookie of the Year	Paige Bueckers	Dallas Wings
Coach of the Year	Natalie Nakase	Golden State Valkyries
Defensive Player of the Year	A'ja Wilson and Alanna Smith	Las Vegas Aces and Minnesota Lynx
Sixth Player of the Year	Naz Hilmon	Atlanta Dream
Most Valuable Player	A'ja Wilson	Las Vegas Aces
Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award	Nneka Ogwumike	Seattle Storm
Basketball Executive of the Year	Dan Padover	Atlanta Dream

The first award given out this year was to Veronica Burton of the Valkyries for Most Improved Player. Burton is the first player in league history to increase her averages by "at least five points, two rebounds and two assists" between two seasons, the WNBA noted in its announcement.

Unsurprisingly, the 2025 No. 1 pick Paige Bueckers won Rookie of the Year. The Wings star received 70 of the 72 first-place votes in order to win the prestigious award.

Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase made history when she was awarded the Coach of the Year award, becoming the first expansion coach to win in the team's inaugural season. Golden State notched a 23-21 record to propel them into their first playoffs.

This year, the WNBA recognized two Defensive Players of the Year—the Aces' A'ja Wilson and Lynx's Alanna Smith—for the first time ever. The two players tied in voting, both receiving 29 of a possible 72 first-place votes. It is Wilson's third time winning this award, and Smith's first.

Capturing her first hardware in the league as its Sixth Player of the Year was Dream forward Naz Hilmon. Hilmon played in every game for Atlanta—starting 17—and averaged 8.6 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. With her help, the Dream enjoyed their best regular season in franchise history. Hilmon received 44 of 72 possible first-place votes.

Aces' A'ja Wilson made WNBA history when she won her fourth MVP title, the most won by any player ever. Wilson made history throughout the WNBA season, too. The Aces center became the first player to average 20 points and 10 rebounds in multiple seasons as she has now done so the past two years. Her 13 30-point games marks the most in a single WNBA season, too. She also led the league in points (23.4), rebounds (10.2) and blocks (2.3) this season.

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