25 WNBA seasons. 25 MVPs. Every single one of them has led their team in scoring.
Even Tamika Catchings’ 15.5 points per game in 2011, the lowest ever for an MVP, led the Indiana Fever, 1.6 ahead of Katie Douglas. Nneka Ogwumike only outpaced Candace Parker in scoring average three times out of eight years together, but one of those was her 2016 MVP season. (It should be noted that Parker led the Los Angeles Sparks in four of the five other seasons; Kristi Toliver was the team’s leading scorer in Ogwumike’s rookie season of 2012). In four years together, Maya Moore outpaced Sylvia Fowles three times, including by margins of 5.3 and 5.4 in 2015 and 2016, respectively. But Fowles had the edge in her MVP season of 2017, amazingly outpacing one of the best all-around No. 1 scoring options of all-time.
16 MVPs have fallen short of being the league’s scoring champion and it wouldn’t be shocking to see one of the players ahead of an MVP in scoring be on the same team as said MVP.
Scoring is a big part of the game, so you would think the MVP would be near the top of the league in scoring. And it’s unlikely another player on the same team would get enough attention on offense to outscore the MVP. So it would be surprising. But not shocking.
It’s just never happened before.
Enter the 2022 season. Your MVP frontrunner, A’ja Wilson, is third on her team in scoring. Third! Her Las Vegas Aces teammates Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young are ahead of her with 20.1 and 18.3 points per game, respectively. Wilson is averaging 18.1.
The Aces are unique in that they get almost all their scoring from their starters and those starters are simply having a field day on the rest of the league.
The 2022 Aces have 3 of the 7 largest scoring totals without a bench point (3, 5, 7):
1. CHI, 8/11/13: 94
2. MIN, 8/27/19: 93
3. LVA, 6/15/22: 92
4. MIN, 6/5/07: 90
5. LVA, 6/11/22: 89
6. LAS, 7/5/03: 84
7. SAN, 7/8/08: 83
LVA, 5/28/22: 83— Across the Timeline (@WBBTimeline) June 15, 2022
Not counting Riquna Williams, who is averaging nine points per game through just two appearances, Vegas’ highest-scoring bench player, Theresa Plaisance, is averaging just 4.4 points per game.
Wilson is an elite scorer who led the Aces in scoring in each of her first four seasons in the league (with this being her fifth), including by a margin of 6.1 over second-place Angel McCoughtry in what was Wilson’s lone MVP season so far (2020). But Plum, who is the NCAAW Division I all-time leading scorer (3,527 points as a Washington Husky), has improved upon her previous career-best scoring average (set in 2021) by 5.3 so far in 2022. She has become what she was in college and is exhilarating fans with her deceptive moves, speed, finishing ability and 3.2 triples per game at a 42.9 percent clip. She’s on pace to make 115.7 threes, which would be second all-time next to Diana Taurasi’s 121 in 2006.
Young is going to be right there with Plum in the Most Improved Player discussion as she has raised her scoring average by 6.1. She, like Plum and Wilson, was a No. 1 overall pick, but wasn’t expected to be a scoring champion contender after her career-best average at Notre Dame was 14.7. In 2019, the Aces took her ahead of an available Fighting Irish teammate, scoring phenom Arike Ogunbowale, who has gone on to win one scoring title so far, because she was a better fit. And Young had been quietly playing her role since then, playing in every game of a 63-25 stretch from 2019 to 2021 for Vegas. Now, she’s broken out as a scorer and potential All-Star Game starter.
Wilson is of course still considered the top MVP candidate of the trio. She is second in the league with 9.6 rebounds per game and second with 2.5 blocks per game. We’ll see if she continues to excel in those other two categories and if, at the same time, Plum and Young stay ahead of her in the scoring column.
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Another player who was in MVP conversations earlier in the season but has lost some steam in the scoring column recently is Alyssa Thomas of the Connecticut Sun. She excels in scoring, rebounding and distributing and opened the season with 48 points in her first two games combined. She’s averaging just 8.8 points over her last five contests, but if she picks that up she could be right back in the MVP discussion as she is averaging a phenomenal eight rebounds, 5.9 assists and 1.4 steals.
The thing about Thomas is that she is actually fourth on her team in scoring. Fourth! DeWanna Bonner (15.1), reigning MVP Jonquel Jones (15.1) and Brionna Jones (14.7) all have higher averages. With Thomas joining Wilson in the MVP race, it increases the chances that, for the first time ever, the MVP will not lead their team in scoring.
J. Jones will probably re-assert herself as the clear-cut No. 1 scoring option for Connecticut at some point this season and should score more than Thomas. Last year she led the Sun with 19.4 points per game, 4.2 ahead of second-place Bonner. However, she could run away with a repeat MVP bid if she starts scoring too much.
Another MVP candidate, who is standing in the way of history, is Breanna Stewart, who leads the Seattle Storm and the league in scoring. Other players having great seasons in Sabrina Ionescu, Skylar Diggins-Smith, Sylvia Fowles and Nneka Ogwumike are all leading their teams in scoring as well, but the weakness of their teams could prevent them from being in the MVP discussion.
Here’s a look at the 25 past MVPs and who on their teams immediately trailed them in scoring:
2021
MVP: Jonquel Jones, Connecticut Sun
Sun scoring leaders:
1) Jonquel Jones (19.4)
2) DeWanna Bonner (15.2)
2020
MVP: A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces
Aces scoring leaders:
1) A’ja Wilson (20.5)
2) Angel McCoughtry (14.4)
2019
MVP: Elena Delle Donne, Washington Mystics
Mystics scoring leaders:
1) Elena Delle Donne (19.5)
2) Emma Meesseman (13.1)
2018
MVP: Breanna Stewart, Seattle Storm
Storm scoring leaders:
1) Breanna Stewart (21.8)
2) Jewell Loyd (15.5)
2017
MVP: Sylvia Fowles, Minnesota Lynx
Lynx scoring leaders:
1) Sylvia Fowles (18.9)
2) Maya Moore (17.3)
2016
MVP: Nneka Ogwumike, Los Angeles Sparks
Sparks scoring leaders:
1) Nneka Ogwumike (19.7)
2) Candace Parker (15.3)
2015
MVP: Elena Delle Donne, Chicago Sky
Sky leading scorers:
1) Elena Delle Donne (23.4)
2) Cappie Pondexter (15)
2014
MVP: Maya Moore, Minnesota Lynx
Lynx leading scorers:
1) Maya Moore (23.9)
2) Seimone Augustus (16.5)
2013
MVP: Candace Parker, Los Angeles Sparks
Sparks leading scorers:
1) Candace Parker (17.9)
2) Nneka Ogwumike (14.6)
2012
MVP: Tina Charles, Connecticut Sun
Sun leading scorers:
1) Tina Charles (18)
2) Kara Lawson (15.1)
2011
MVP: Tamika Catchings, Indiana Fever
Fever leading scorers:
1) Tamika Catchings (15.5)
2) Katie Douglas (13.9)
2010
MVP: Lauren Jackson, Seattle Storm
Storm leading scorers:
1) Lauren Jackson (20.5)
2) Swin Cash (13.8)
2009
MVP: Diana Taurasi, Phoenix Mercury
Mercury leading scorers:
1) Diana Taurasi (20.4)
2) Cappie Pondexter (19.1)
2008
MVP: Candace Parker, Los Angeles Sparks
Sparks leading scorers:
1) Candace Parker (18.5)
2) Lisa Leslie (15.1)
2007
MVP: Lauren Jackson, Seattle Storm
1) Lauren Jackson (23.8)
2) Betty Lennox (13.4)
2006
MVP: Lisa Leslie, Los Angeles Sparks
Sparks leading scorers:
1) Lisa Leslie (20)
2) Chamique Holdsclaw (15)
2005
MVP: Sheryl Swoopes, Houston Comets
Comets leading scorers:
1) Sheryl Swoopes (18.6)
2) Michelle Snow (12)
2004
MVP: Lisa Leslie, Los Angeles Sparks
Sparks leading scorers:
1) Lisa Leslie (17.6)
2) Mwadi Mabika (14.4)
2003
MVP: Lauren Jackson, Seattle Storm
Storm leading scorers:
1) Lauren Jackson (21.2)
2) Sue Bird (12.4)
2002
MVP: Sheryl Swoopes, Houston Comets
Comets leading scorers:
1) Sheryl Swoopes (18.5)
2) Tina Thompson (16.7)
2001
MVP: Lisa Leslie, Los Angeles Sparks
Sparks leading scorers:
1) Lisa Leslie (19.5)
2) Tamecka Dixon (11.7)
2000
MVP: Sheryl Swoopes, Houston Comets
Comets leading scorers:
1) Sheryl Swoopes (20.7)
2) Cynthia Cooper (17.7)
1999
MVP: Yolanda Griffith, Sacramento Monarchs
Monarchs leading scorers:
1) Yolanda Griffith (18.8)
2) Ruthie Bolton (13.6)
1998
MVP: Cynthia Cooper, Houston Comets
Comets leading scorers:
1) Cynthia Cooper (22.7)
2) Sheryl Swoopes (15.6)
1997
MVP: Cynthia Cooper, Houston Comets
Comets leading scorers:
1) Cynthia Cooper (22.2)
2) Tina Thompson (13.2)