WNBA MVP is A’ja vs Caitlin. Everybody Else…Good Favor

EVERYONE ELSE HAS A PROBLEM

Now we get to the rest of the list, which feels a little like showing up to a heavyweight fight with a folding chair.

The talent is real. The names are real. The impact is real. The positioning? Not great.

Teams like Atlanta and New York loaded up so much talent that they accidentally created their own problem. So for Allisha Gray, Sabrina Ionescu, Rhyne Howard, Breanna Stewart it will be more than difficult to win individual awards on stacked teams. Everybody eats, which sounds great until you realize MVP voters like one person eating the entire buffet.

At the end of the day, their sacrifice to win is going to limit individual opportunities as they’re going to take away shots, points and opportunities from each other.

Winning helps your case. Sharing hurts it. That’s the tradeoff. You can build a monster roster or you can build an MVP resume, but doing both at the same time requires something close to statistical witchcraft.

Which is why, Kelsey Plum sits there as one of the more interesting wild cards because her situation actually gives her room to explode.

 

“She has a huge opportunity… she should absolutely be moving up.”

If Los Angeles wins and she drives that success, she forces her way into the conversation whether people like it or not. But she still needs everything to line up perfectly, and MVP races rarely hand out perfect conditions.

Then you get Paige Bueckers, who shows up on the list like someone who got invited to the party a year early and still walked in with confidence.

 

“If she’s able to win an MVP this year… Dallas is going to have to finish top three… that’s a lot.”

That’s not pressure, that’s a full-blown obstacle course. That’s asking Paige to take Dallas to a level they haven’t played at in a decade and have a performance with it for the entire year no one’s ever seen in Dallas.

Alyssa Thomas might have the cleanest lane outside of the top two because her entire game revolves around impact.

 

“This might be her best year to actually get this done.”

If Phoenix climbs the standings and she drives everything the way she usually does, she can absolutely wedge herself into the conversation. But even then, everything keeps circling back to the same two names like a GPS that refuses to reroute.