2021 WNBA Major Awards Watch – Week 4

June 7, 2021 ~ Aneela Khan ~ Leave a comment

We have now played 4 weeks of WNBA games which means we have more data on which teams and which players are playing their best basketball one month into the season. We have seen the Connecticut Sun rise and the Chicago Sky stumble. We have seen consistency from the defending WNBA champion Seattle Storm and an improved Dallas Wings team despite their current record.

Connecticut Sun star Jonquel Jones continues to be the lead candidate for the WNBA MVP award BUT there is some heavy competition from Seattle Storm stars Jewell Loyd and Breanna Stewart. Jewell Loyd has been consistent throughout the entire season and has helped the Storm stay afloat when Breanna Stewart has struggled early in the game. That’s why her name belongs in the MVP talks, in this early part of the WNBA season. Breanna Stewart continues to be solid and always delivers for the Storm so she also is a part of the WNBA MVP race.

With Jonquel Jones out for a possible 2-3 weeks starting this week, both Loyd and Stewart have a shot of becoming the lead candidate. It will be an interesting week, that’s for sure.

Listed below are the weekly update for the WNBA Major Awards watch. You can view the previous week here.

Executive of the Year: Jonathon Kolb, New York Liberty

Coach of the Year: Derek Fisher, Los Angeles Sparks

Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award: Sue Bird, Seattle Storm

Most Improved Player Award: Marina Mabrey, Dallas Wings

MVP: Jonquel Jones, Connecticut Sun

DPOY: Brittney Sykes, Los Angeles Sparks

Sixth Woman of the Year: Dearica Hamby, Las Vegas Aces

ROY: Michaela Onyenwere, New York Liberty

WNBA All First Team (*not position based)

C – Jonquel Jones – Connecticut Sun
F – Breanna Stewart – Seattle Storm
G – Jewell Loyd – Seattle Storm
F – A’ja Wilson – Las Vegas Aces
C – Brittney Griner – Phoenix Mercury

WNBA All Second Team (*not position based)

C – Liz Cambage – Las Vegas Aces
G – Chelsea Gray – Las Vegas Aces
G – Skylar Diggins-Smith – Phoenix Mercury
G – Erica Wheeler – Los Angeles Sparks
G/F – Betnijah Laney – New York Liberty

All Defense Team

Brittney Griner – Phoenix Mercury
Brittney Sykes – Los Angeles Sparks
Brianna Turner – Phoenix Mercury
Betnijah Laney – New York Liberty
A’ja Wilson – Las Vegas Aces

All Rookie Team — *This week, only 4 rookies got enough playing time to make an impact/not enough data to add one final player

Michaela Onyenwere
Aari McDonald – Atlanta Dream
Charli Collier – Dallas Wings
DiJonai Carrington – Connecticut Sun

2021 WNBA Major Awards Watch – Week 3

May 31, 2021June 7, 2021 ~ Aneela Khan ~ 1 Comment

Three weeks into the season, WNBA teams have played between 4 to 8 WNBA games. We saw Connecticut lose twice and Atlanta win three straight. We also saw Los Angeles win the series against the Chicago Sky to improve to .500. Minnesota also managed to get their first win yesterday evening.

Listed below are the weekly update to the WNBA Awards watch. You can view the previous week here.

Executive of the Year: Jonathan Kolb, New York Liberty

Coach of the Year: Mike Petersen, Atlanta Dream

Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award: Sue Bird, Seattle Storm

Most Improved Player: Marina Mabrey, Dallas Wings

MVP: Jonquel Jones, Connecticut Sun

DPOY: Elizabeth Williams, Atlanta Dream

Sixth Woman of the Year: Dearica Hamby, Las Vegas Aces

ROY: Michaela Onyenwere, New York Liberty

WNBA All First Team *(not position based)

G- Jewell Loyd – Seattle Storm
G/F – Betnijah Laney – New York Liberty
F – Breanna Stewart – Seattle Storm
F – Dewanna Bonner – Connecticut Sun
C – Jonquel Jones – Connecticut Sun

WNBA All Second Team

G – Courtney Williams- Atlanta Dream
G – Tiffany Hayes- Atlanta Dream
G – Chelsea Gray – Las Vegas Aces
F – A’ja Wilson – Las Vegas Aces
C – Brittney Griner – Phoenix Mercury

All Defense Team

Courtney Williams – Atlanta Dream
Brittney Sykes – Los Angeles Sparks
Elizabeth Williams – Atlanta Dream
Brianna Turner – Phoenix Mercury
Betnijah Laney – New York Liberty

All Rookie Team

Michaela Onyenwere
Charli Collier – Dallas Wings
DiJonai Carrington – Connecticut Sun
Aari McDonald – Atlanta Dream
Didi Richards – New York Liberty

2021 WNBA Major Awards Watch – Week 2

May 24, 2021June 7, 2021 ~ Aneela Khan ~ 1 Comment

The WNBA has now completed two weeks of game action and we are starting to see some teams separate themselves from the rest. It is very early in the season, but the Connecticut Sun are the only WNBA team left that is undefeated. Some teams have played 5 games while other teams have only played two games so far. We are starting to see some players and coaches start to make a case for their respective awards.

You can view last week’s WNBA Awards watch here. This WNBA Awards Watch is updated weekly and are posted every Monday. It’s designed to see which players were consistent throughout the whole season and to highlight players who had great weeks.

WNBA Awards Watch – Week 2

Executive of the Year: Jonathan Kolb, New York Liberty

Coach of the Year: Curt Miller, Connecticut Sun

Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award: Danielle Robinson, Indiana Fever

Most Improved Player: Kahleah Copper, Chicago Sky/Natisha Hiedeman, Connecticut Sun

MVP: Jonquel Jones, Connecticut Sun

ROY: Michaela Onyenwere, New York Liberty

WNBA All First Team (*Not position based)

F/C – Jonquel Jones, Connecticut Sun
F – Dewanna Bonner – Connecticut Sun
F – Betnijah Laney – New York Liberty
F – Breanna Stewart – Seattle Storm
G – Jewell Loyd – Seattle Storm

WNBA All Second Team

G – Sabrina Ionescu – New York Liberty
G – Courtney Vandersloot – Chicago Sky
F – A’ja Wilson – Las Vegas Aces
G – Chelsea Gray – Las Vegas Aces
F/C – Tina Charles – Washington Mystics

WNBA All Defense Team

F – Betnijah Laney – New York Liberty
G – Jasmine Thomas – Connecticut Sun
G – Natisha Hiedeman – Connecticut Sun
C – Elizabeth Willams – Atlanta Dream
F – Brianna Turner – Phoenix Mercury

2021 WNBA Major Awards Watch – Week 1

May 17, 2021June 7, 2021 ~ Aneela Khan ~ 1 Comment

The 2021 WNBA season tipped off this weekend and we already have some great performances from the opening weekend from WNBA players. Players like Jonquel Jones and Sabrina Ionescu shined. Rookie Michaela Onyenwere had two excellent games as a starter in her WNBA debut this weekend. The defending WNBA Champion Seattle Storm looked excellent in their home opener against the Las Vegas Aces. As stated in the pre-season edition of the WNBA awards watch, I’m now tracking all of the major WNBA individual awards handed out at the end of the season, week by week. This WNBA Awards watch is designed to see which players were consistent throughout the whole season and to highlight players who had great weeks.

*Note – Some awards such as All WNBA/Defense Teams/Rookie Teams I left out this week because it was too early and a majority of teams only played one game. I will add them back in next week.*

WNBA Awards Watch – Week 1

Executive of the Year

Jonathan Kolb, New York Liberty

Coach of the Year

James Wade, Chicago Sky

Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award

Nneka Ogwumike, Los Angeles Sparks

Most Improved Player

Kahleah Copper, Chicago Sky

Sixth Woman of the Year

Kelsey Plum, Las Vegas Aces

MVP

Breanna Stewart, Seattle Storm

ROY

Michaela Onyenwere, New York Liberty

Upcoming WNBA coverage/International coverage for the 2021 season/Tokyo Olympics

May 7, 2021 ~ Aneela Khan ~ Leave a comment

The WNBA season is ONE week away now and that means that my WNBA coverage will begin. My WNBA coverage for the 2021 WNBA season will be in a few places. It can be hard to track it all down so I wrote this post to keep tabs of it all.

First of all, the WNBA weekly power rankings will be back at Hashtag Basketball. This will be the third year that I am contributing to Hashtag Basketball. Me and Eric Nemchock are dividing the WNBA teams and writing up weekly WNBA weekly rankings that will be published every Monday, so make sure you follow the Twitter account so you can get notified when they go live every Monday.

Second, I’m helping contribute to the New York Liberty coverage for NetsRepublic. This is my first year contributing to this site and I have written a few New York Liberty articles already for them. Expect that to continue as I will write articles, game previews, post game recaps, etc. It should be an interesting 2021 season for the Liberty and I look forward to helping the NetsRepublic team this season. Follow them on Twitter to stay updated on the New York Liberty this summer.

Third, I’m helping contribute WNBA articles/features for Her Hoop Stats. I’ve already started contributing articles for them and I look forward to continuing that this WNBA season. The articles will be posted biweekly (2x a month). I will also write features/articles on the Canadian Senior Women’s National Team that will be written in July and August when the Olympics take place.

Fourth, I will be posting WNBA weekly awards watch on my blog every week. I’ll keep track of all of the awards and who stood out every week during the WNBA season. This is new as I’ve never done this before. I think it’s unique and a neat idea to see who was the top performers during the WNBA season. Make sure to check back every Monday for the blog post.

Fifth, I will post about the Canadian Senior Women’s National Team on my blog by writing the game previews, game recaps and one or two features about the team. I plan on covering the team on what could be a historic Olympic year for the Canadian women. I plan on being here for every minute of it.

Sixth, I have a special project coming up that involves the WNBA and once the details are finalized, I will reveal more about it.

This is where you can find my WNBA and Tokyo 2020 Olympic coverage for this summer. Make sure you continue to tune in and help support the WNBA to new heights!

Aneela