WNBA Finals Most Valuable Player
{{Short description|Basketball award}}
File:Jonquel Jones, holding the MVP Trophy at the 2024 NY Liberty Ticker Tape Parade (cropped).jpg hoisting her 2024 WNBA Finals MVP trophy at her team's championship parade]]
{{WNBA Awards}}
The Women's National Basketball Association Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) is an annual Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) award given since the league's inaugural season.
During the first four years of the league, the Houston Comets' Cynthia Cooper won the award four consecutive times. The Los Angeles Sparks' Lisa Leslie won back-to-back in the subsequent two seasons. No other players have won the award in consecutive seasons, but Diana Taurasi, Sylvia Fowles, and Breanna Stewart have won the award twice. While some teams have won multiple championship since the dynasty years of the Comets and the Sparks, the match-up usually resulted in different MVPs. For example, in the Detroit Shock's three wins over six years, three different players won the award. As of 2024, there have been three non-American Finals MVPs – Lauren Jackson of Australia (2010), Emma Meesseman of Belgium (2019), and Jonquel Jones, a Bahamian who has represented Bosnia and Herzegovina internationally (2024).
Winners
| class="wikitable" |
| style="background-color:#CFECEC; border:1px solid #aaaaaa; width:6em"|
|Denotes player who is still active in the WNBA |
| style="background-color:#FFE6BD; border:1px solid #aaaaaa; width:6em"|
|Inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame |
| style="background-color:#FFFF99; border:1px solid #aaaaaa; width:6em"|
|Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame |
| 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 |
{{col-begin}}
{{col-break}}
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" summary="Season (sortable), Player (sortable), Position (sortable), Nationality (sortable) and Team (sortable)" |
| scope="col"| Season
!scope="col"| Player !scope="col"| Position !scope="col"| Nationality !scope="col"| Team |
|---|
| style="text-align: center"| 1997
!scope="row" style="background-color:#FFFF99"| Cynthia Cooper | Guard | {{USA}} |
| style="text-align: center"| 1998
!scope="row" style="background-color:#FFFF99"| Cynthia Cooper (2) | Guard | {{USA}} | Houston Comets (2) |
| style="text-align: center"| 1999
!scope="row" style="background-color:#FFFF99"| Cynthia Cooper (3) | Guard | {{USA}} | Houston Comets (3) |
| style="text-align: center"| 2000
!scope="row" style="background-color:#FFFF99"| Cynthia Cooper (4) | Guard | {{USA}} | Houston Comets (4) |
| style="text-align: center"| 2001
!scope="row" style="background-color:#FFFF99"| Lisa Leslie | Center | {{USA}} |
| style="text-align: center"| 2002
!scope="row" style="background-color:#FFFF99"| Lisa Leslie (2) | Center | {{USA}} | Los Angeles Sparks (2) |
| style="text-align: center"| 2003
| {{USA}} |
| style="text-align: center"| 2004
| Guard | {{USA}} |
| style="text-align: center"| 2005
!scope="row" style="background-color:#FFFF99"| Yolanda Griffith | Center | {{USA}} |
| style="text-align: center"| 2006
| Guard | {{USA}} |
| style="text-align: center"| 2007
| Guard | {{USA}} |
| style="text-align: center"| 2008
!scope="row" style="background-color:#FFFF99"| Katie Smith | Guard | {{USA}} |
| style="text-align: center"| 2009
| Guard | {{USA}} | Phoenix Mercury (2) |
| style="text-align: center"| 2010
!scope="row" style="background-color:#FFFF99"| Lauren Jackson | {{AUS}} | Seattle Storm (2) |
| style="text-align: center"| 2011
!scope="row" style="background-color:#FFFF99"| Seimone Augustus | {{USA}} |
| style="text-align: center"| 2012
!scope="row" style="background-color:#FFFF99"| Tamika Catchings | Forward | {{USA}} |
| style="text-align: center"| 2013
!scope="row" style="background-color:#FFFF99"| Maya Moore | Forward | {{USA}} | Minnesota Lynx (2) |
| style="text-align: center"| 2014
| Diana Taurasi (2) | Guard | {{USA}} | Phoenix Mercury (3) |
| style="text-align: center"| 2015
!scope="row" style="background-color:#FFFF99"| Sylvia Fowles | Center | {{USA}} | Minnesota Lynx (3) |
| style="text-align: center"| 2016
| Forward | {{USA}} | Los Angeles Sparks (3) |
| style="text-align: center"| 2017
!scope="row" style="background-color:#FFFF99"| Sylvia Fowles (2) | Center | {{USA}} | Minnesota Lynx (4) |
| style="text-align: center"| 2018
!scope="row" style="background-color:#CFECEC"| Breanna Stewart | {{USA}} | Seattle Storm (3) |
| style="text-align: center"| 2019
| Center | {{BEL}} |
| style="text-align: center"| 2020
!scope="row" style="background-color:#CFECEC"| Breanna Stewart (2) | {{USA}} | Seattle Storm (4) |
| style="text-align: center"| 2021
!scope="row" style="background-color:#CFECEC"| Kahleah Copper | {{USA}} |
| style="text-align: center"| 2022
!scope="row" style="background-color:#CFECEC"| Chelsea Gray | Guard | {{USA}} |
| style="text-align: center"| 2023
!scope="row" style="background-color:#CFECEC"| A'ja Wilson | {{USA}} | Las Vegas Aces (2) |
| style="text-align: center"| 2024
!scope="row" style="background-color:#CFECEC"| Jonquel Jones | {{BHS}} |
{{col-end}}
Multi-time winners
| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ !Player !Team(s) !No. !Years |
| Cynthia Cooper
|4 |1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 |
| Lisa Leslie
| rowspan="4" |2 |2001, 2002 |
| Diana Taurasi
|2009, 2014 |
| Sylvia Fowles
|2015, 2017 |
| Breanna Stewart
|2018, 2020 |
See also
Footnotes
{{Reflist}}
References
- {{cite web|url=http://www.wnba.com/history/|title=WNBA history|publisher=WNBA|work=WNBA.com|access-date=2009-01-18}}
{{WNBA Finals MVP}}
{{WNBA Finals}}
{{WNBA}}