bisme37 wrote:Congrats Breanna Stewart!
WNBA website says the MVP voting result was the closest ever this year...Stewart received 20 first-place votes, 23 second-place votes and 17 third-place votes from a national panel of 60 sportswriters and broadcasters, earning 446 total points. Connecticut Sun forward Alyssa Thomas finished in second place with 439 points (23 first-place votes, 12 second-place votes and 25 third-place votes). Las Vegas Aces center A’ja Wilson, the 2020 and 2022 Kia WNBA Most Valuable Player, was third with 433 points (17 first-place votes, 25 second-place votes, 17 third-place votes and one fourth-place vote).
Players were awarded 10 points for a first-place vote, seven points for a second-place vote, five points for a third-place vote, three points for a fourth-place vote and one point for a fifth-place vote.
With Stewart and Thomas separated by seven points, this marks the second-smallest margin between the first- and second-place finishers in the history of the award; the closest finish was a two-point difference between MVP Swoopes (327 points) and runner-up Jackson (325) in 2005. The 13 points separating Stewart and Wilson represent the smallest margin between first- and third-place vote-getters for MVP in WNBA history, surpassing the 45-point difference between MVP Parker (234) and third-place finisher Delle Donne (189) in 2013.
In addition, this is the second time in WNBA history that the MVP runner-up received more first-place votes than the award recipient. In 2005, Jackson received 20 first-place votes and Swoopes received 16.
Alyssa Thomas actually got more 1st place votes but not as many points overall. Then Aja was right behind AT.
(I'm not complaining btw, well deserved award for Stewie.)
https://www.wnba.com/news/2023-kia-wnba-poty
Not often we see races this close.
Noteworthy that AT got the most 1st and 3rd place votes. We seem to have seen an AT-is-MVP contingent, and a AT-not-Top-2 coalition, and quite understandable.
It's funny with A'ja finishing 3rd. Had Stewie won MVP last year - like she should have imho - my guess is that A'ja finishes 1st this year instead of 3rd, and Stewie finishes 3rd instead of 1st.
If AT can lead the Sun past the Liberty in this playoff series, voters are going feel a strong pull to give her an MVP next year.
