We're about one-quarter into the 2025 WNBA season and many award races are starting to take shape. Some feel like foregone conclusions already, though — can anyone realistically catch Napheesa Collier for MVP or Paige Bueckers for Rookie of the Year?
That's not the case in the race for DPOY. Four players have separated from the rest of the pack in the race, but there's really no telling at this point which of these players will emerge as the favorite by the end of the season.
Below are the current top four candidates and their case for the WNBA Defensive Player of the Year award.
Natasha Cloud - New York Liberty
The New York Liberty have the league's best defensive rating, v let's start off by talking about one of the key parts of that: Natasha Cloud.
Plenty was made in the past couple of seasons about the Courtney Vandersloot/Sabrina Ionescu pairing being a defensive liability for the Liberty. I think that concern was overblown, but it's also clear that adding one of the league's best perimeter defenders has been a huge boon for this team as it looks to repeat as WNBA champions.
Cloud currently ranks 10th in the league in steals per game, but her impact goes beyond the numbers. She's the lead perimeter defensive stopper on the league's best defense. The team has a 92.13 defensive rating with Cloud on the floor, 3.87 points per 100 possessions better than when she is off the floor.
Jonquel Jones - New York Liberty
Or maybe we should go with the best interior defender for the league's best defense? Right now, that would be Jonquel Jones. The former WNBA MVP has anchored the paint for the Liberty.
Jones currently leads the WNBA in defensive rebounds per game, pulling down 8.1 per contest, and she's one of the league's best shot blockers, swatting away 1.1 shots per game.
The Liberty have been without Jones for a handful of games, so we have a fairly good sample size of on/off data. In 243 minutes without Jones on the floor, New York has a pretty good defensive rating, allowing 98.98 points per 100 possessions. That would rank right around the middle of the league. You can win with that defensive rating, especially factoring in how good this offense is.
But with Jones on the floor? The Liberty are almost impossible to score on. The team's defensive rating in Jones' 197 minutes is an absurd 86.26, which would be the best defensive rating in the league by a good bit, considering New York's 92.3 defensive rating is currently the WNBA's top mark.
Napheesa Collier - Minnesota Lynx
Napheesa Collier isn't just the MVP favorite; she's also high in the running for Defensive Player of the Year.
We can talk about on/off numbers and impact stats and blah blah blah all we want — those things matter when it comes to winning basketball games. However, sometimes you can make a strong case just by looking at raw numbers, which is what a lot of award voters will probably do.
And the raw numbers for Collier are impressive, because she ranks sixth in the league in steals per game and sixth in the league in blocks per game. She's one of four players to rank in the top 10 in both stats and one of just two to rank sixth or better in both.
Collier is the best defender on the team with the second-best defensive rating in the league. Her steal and block numbers are better than both of the Liberty players, giving her a definite advantage in the eyes of some voters.
A'ja Wilson - Las Vegas Aces
Hey, speaking of raw numbers, let's talk about A'ja Wilson.
You can make a very good argument that no defender has been more impactful than Wilson, who ranks first in the league in blocks per game and third in steals per game. If she keeps this up, she would be just the fourth player in league history to rank in the top three in both stats after Yolanda Griffith (1999), Natasha Howard (2019) and Sylvia Fowles (2021).
As far as on/off impact goes, Vegas has a 99.8 defensive rating with Wilson on the court. That plummets to 109.94 when she's off the floor.
So, what's the issue? Wilson should be running away with the award, right?
Well, it's just tough to see Defensive Player of the Year going to Wilson when the Aces as a whole have fairly bad defensive numbers. With her on the floor, the team's defensive rating would only rank in a tie for eighth place in the league with the Mystics. I understand not holding the defensive struggles of her teammates against her, but can a player on a defense that ranks ninth out of 13 teams in defensive rating end up winning the award?
So, who is the current pick to win DPOY?
Right now, I'm going to have to go with Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier.
Collier's steal and block numbers coupled with how good the Lynx defense is overall make her the best candidate. Wilson has the individual numbers but not the team numbers. Cloud and Jones have the team numbers, but not the individual numbers. Collier has both things working in her favor.