With a host of the WNBA’s highest-profile stars set to miss significant time in the 2019 season, who will emerge as the MVP favorites?
Breanna Stewart, last season’s MVP, will miss the entire 2019 WNBA season after rupturing her Achilles’. Maya Moore, the 2014 MVP, has announced that she will sit out this season. Diana Taurasi, the 2009 MVP, will likely miss at least half the season recovering from back surgery.
With so many of the league’s brightest stars set to miss so much time on the court, the MVP race looks wide open. Which players could seize this opportunity to earn themselves some serious hardware?
5. A’ja Wilson/Liz Cambage
The Aces will need to be much better this year for Wilson to have a chance at winning MVP but, as a rookie, she already established that she has the individual production to at least enter the conversation. Wilson was a dominant scorer, averaging 20.7 points per game and leading the league in free throw attempts. However, there is room for her to expand her range and efficiency — she didn’t attempt a single 3-pointer despite her very reliable mid-range jumper, and she shot just 46.2 percent inside the arc.
At the other end of the floor, Wilson has the potential to develop into an even more impactful defender. She finished in the top-10 in the league in both rebounds and block percentage and her size and agility make her ceiling high. Wilson is going to put up numbers next year and if that translates to the Aces winning games and making a push towards the top half of the Western Conference, she’ll be hard to ignore.
Of course, she’ll now be splitting sharing frontcourt scoring opportunities with Liz Cambage, an MVP candidate in her own right. Cambage led the WNBA in scoring last season, including setting a single-game record with 53 points against the Liberty. Neither player consistently stretches things out to the perimeter so space inside the arc may be at a premium when they’re both on the floor.
Having Wilson and Cambage together is a huge boon for the Aces championship hopes, but the sharing the load probably hurts the MVP case for each player.