WNBA Most Improved Player

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The Women's National Basketball Association's Most Improved Player Award is an annual Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) award given since the 2000 WNBA season, to the most improved player of the regular season. The winner is selected by a panel of sportswriters throughout the United States, each of whom casts a vote for first, second and third place selections. Each first-place vote is worth five points; each second-place vote is worth three points; and each third-place vote is worth one point. The player with the highest point total, regardless of the number of first-place votes, wins the award.

In 2019, Leilani Mitchell became the first player in history to win the award twice, after winning the award in 2010. In 2004, there was a tie -- both Kelly Miller and Wendy Palmer received the award. Nicole Powell, Natasha Howard, and Jackie Young are the only players to win the Most Improved award and a WNBA title in the same year.

Winners

Denotes player who is still active in the WNBA
Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
Inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame
Denotes player whose team won championship that year
Player (X) Denotes the number of times the player has won
Team (X) Denotes the number of times a player from this team has won
More information Season, Player ...
Season Player Yrs[a] Position Nationality Team First-Place Votes Ref.
2000 Tari Phillips 2 Forward / Center  United States New York Liberty 19 out of 62 [1]
2001 Janeth Arcain 5 Guard  Brazil Houston Comets 25 out of 60 [2]
2002 Coco Miller 2  United States Washington Mystics 14 out of 60 [3]
2003 Michelle Snow Forward / Center Houston Comets (2) 22 out of 53 [4]
2004 Kelly Miller 4 Guard Indiana Fever 9 out of 48 (tie) [5]
Wendy Palmer 8 Forward Connecticut Sun
2005 Nicole Powell 2 Sacramento Monarchs 20 out of 49 [6]
2006 Erin Buescher 5 Sacramento Monarchs (2) 28 out of 56 [7]
2007 Janel McCarville 3 Center New York Liberty (2) 33 out of 51 [8]
2008 Ebony Hoffman 5 Forward Indiana Fever (2) 31 out of 44 [9]
2009 Crystal Langhorne 2 Washington Mystics (2) 19 out of 40 [10]
2010 Leilani Mitchell 3 Guard  Australia[b] New York Liberty (3) 29 out of 39 [12]
2011 Kia Vaughn Center  United States[c] New York Liberty (4) 15 out of 40 [13]
2012 Kristi Toliver 4 Guard  United States[d] Los Angeles Sparks 24 out of 41 [15]
2013 Shavonte Zellous 5  United States[e] Indiana Fever (3) 30 out of 39 [17]
2014 Skylar Diggins-Smith 2  United States Tulsa Shock 29 out of 38 [18]
2015 Kelsey Bone 3 Center Connecticut Sun (2) 14 out of 39 [19]
2016 Elizabeth Williams 2 Forward / Center  United States[f] Atlanta Dream 14 out of 39 [21]
2017 Jonquel Jones  Bahamas[g] Connecticut Sun (3) 32 out of 40 [23]
2018 Natasha Howard 5 Forward  United States Seattle Storm 29 out of 39 [24]
2019 Leilani Mitchell (2) 11 Guard  Australia[b] Phoenix Mercury 27 out of 43 [25]
2020 Betnijah Laney 5 Forward / Guard  United States Atlanta Dream (2) 25 out of 47 [26]
2021 Brionna Jones Forward Connecticut Sun (4) 38 out of 49 [27]
2022 Jackie Young 4 Guard Las Vegas Aces 32 out of 56 [28]
2023 Satou Sabally Forward  Germany[h] Dallas Wings (2) 37 out of 60 [30]
2024 DiJonai Carrington Guard  United States Connecticut Sun (5) 28 out of 67 [31]
2025 Veronica Burton Guard Golden State Valkyries 68 out of 72 [32]
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Notes
  1. [a]
    Played in league (including season in which award was given to player)
  2. [b]
    Leilani Mitchell was born as a dual citizen of the United States and Australia. She represents Australia internationally.[11]
  3. [c]
    Kia Vaughn was born in the United States and is a naturalized citizen of the Czech Republic. She has represented the Czech Republic internationally since 2017.
  4. [d]
    Kristi Toliver was born in the United States and is a naturalized citizen of Slovakia. She has represented Slovakia internationally since 2014.[14]
  5. [e]
    Shavonte Zellous was born in the United States and is a naturalized citizen of Croatia. She has represented Croatia internationally since 2015.[16]
  6. [f]
    Elizabeth Williams was born in the United Kingdom and is a naturalized citizen of the United States. She has represented the United States internationally since 2009.[20]
  7. [g]
    Jonquel Jones was born in the Bahamas and is a naturalized citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina. She has represented Bosnia and Herzegovina internationally since 2019.[22]
  8. [h]
    Satou Sabally was born in the United States to Gambian and German parents, and is a citizen by birth of all three countries. She represents Germany internationally.[29]

Multi-time winners

More information Awards, Player ...
Awards Player Team(s) Years
2 Leilani Mitchell New York Liberty (1) / Phoenix Mercury (1) 2010, 2019
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See also

References

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