Betnijah Laney-Hamilton

Betnijah Laney-Hamilton’s numbers will not pop out at you, but make no mistake in understanding that she is one of the very best players that the league has to offer. After a year in which she averaged 11.8 points, 4.2 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.1 steals per game, Laney-Hamilton finds her way onto the WNBA Top 35 list. She is one of the most efficient shooters in the entire W, shooting 40.2 percent from 3-point range en route to a 53.4 effective field goal percentage. She is invaluable to the New York Liberty as a player that truly shines in her role.

Laney-Hamilton is a completely unique player to land on this list because, in reality, she is the fourth-best player on her own team. She does not find herself in the top 20 of any major statistical category league-wide and does not lead her team in any metric, but her impact speaks for itself.

To move up the WNBA player ranking list next season, Laney-Hamilton needs to increase her aggression level and add more to the box score. Obviously, she is not the kind of player that is focused on such a thing, and the Liberty don’t need her to be anything other than what she has been this season. But she is definitely capable of a lot more, and if she were not on a team with three of the league’s best players, she could show more. We talked about her efficiency numbers being some of the very best in the league, so with more volume, she would be perceived as even more effective. In terms of true ability and talent to help her team win, she is one of the best players in the W, but without the numbers to match it, she may not climb the ranks.