With the start of the 2024 WNBA season only days away, ESPN created the first version of its annual top 25 player rankings for the upcoming campaign (voted on by Kevin Pelton, Alexa Philippou, and Michael Voepel), which they intend to edit monthly.
After reviewing the list and comparing it to last year's, there are a lot of familiar faces and some new ones. Here, we will dissect the players who made the cut and point to two things we agreed with while highlighting a particular query with someone's spot in the ranks.
What ESPN got right: 1. A'ja Wilson > Breanna Stewart
While the 2023 MVP voting may not reflect it, ESPN got it right by ranking Las Vegas Aces star A'ja Wilson ahead of New York Liberty standout Breanna Stewart, especially after the former led her team to a championship victory against the latter this past season.
Stewart became the second player to earn the league's most prestigious individual honor despite finishing with fewer first-place votes than the runner-up (Connecticut Sun All-Star Alyssa Thomas) last season in the tightest race for the award in WNBA history. Wilson finished in third place, trailing the 2016 No. 1 overall pick by only 13 points on the voting ballot.
However, Wilson averaged more rebounds and blocks per game than Stewart in 2023 while shooting almost 10 percentage points higher on nearly identical scoring totals while playing almost four fewer minutes on a nightly basis, solidifying her status atop ESPN's list.
After earning Defensive Player of the Year for a second consecutive season and earning WNBA Finals MVP en route to knocking out Stewart and the Liberty, it is only fitting for Wilson to enter 2024 as the top-ranked player, ahead of the New York sensation.
What ESPN got right: 2. Not featuring Caitlin Clark in the top 25
ESPN prefaced their rankings by answering the "burning question on many people's minds up front," highlighting that 2024 No. 1 overall pick of the Indiana Fever, Caitlin Clark (or any rookie), did not crack this list. However, they followed it up by saying she and the rest of her draft class would have ample time and opportunity to do so throughout the season.
While this is not a knock on Clark, a unique talent that can uplift a franchise overnight, it is fair not to categorize her with multi-time All-Stars and players who have accomplished so much in the league before she even plays a regular-season game. We all witnessed how the NBA was skeptical of how quickly San Antonio Spurs phenom and Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama could establish himself as one of the premier options in the game in the early stages before he proved it on the court and defied everything we know about basketball -- this feels like a similar situation.
Clark has been under the spotlight from day one of her pro career, and understandably so. Her impact on women's basketball transcends the on-court product. But considering her a top 25 player in the WNBA before making her debut is premature. However, she will undoubtedly find her way on this list in due time, perhaps as soon as the next time ESPN updates it.
What ESPN got wrong: Sabrina Ionescu's placement on the list
After earning Second-Team All-WNBA honors and finishing in the top 10 of the league in assists while transforming her game to compliment the addition of five-time All-Star Courtney Vandersloot, who ranks second all-time in dimes behind only Seattle Storm legend Sue Bird), New York Liberty Guard Sabrina Ionescu deserves to be higher than the No. 11-ranked player.
Perhaps Ionescu has gotten lost in the shuffle because she plays alongside three legendary teammates like Vandersloot, Stewart, and Jonquel Jones. But make no mistake, the former Oregon sensation and 2020 No. 1 overall pick has also established herself as one of the best players in the WNBA.
Ionescu averaged 17 points, 5.6 rebounds, 5.4 assists, and 1.0 steals per game, putting her all-around two-way ability on full display. Moreover, she cemented her status as arguably the most lethal long-distance shooter in the league, ranking first in threes made per game (3.6) and second in three-point percentage (44.8).
Considering four of the top eight players on the list are members of the Aces, which feels like recency bias at its finest, we can push one of them out in favor of Ionescu.