WNBA End of Year Awards prediction: Pt. 2

The 2024 WNBA regular season came to a close on Thursday, Sept. 19. The postseason began this weekend.

Tickets to the Indiana Fever Round 1 series are more expensive than the total cost to attend every game of the 2023 WNBA Finals between the Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty.

Caitlin Clark continues to bring viewership to the league and looks to beat the Connecticut Sun in the first series.

Last week I predicted three end-of-season awards and this week, I’ll predict the other three.

Defensive Player of the Year

Napheesa Collier, Minnesota Lynx

A’ja Wilson has won this award back-to-back years in 2022 and 2023. This season, Collier deserves the recognition.

Defensively, she led the Lynx in steals and defensive rebounds, 1.9 and 7.5 per game respectively.

She is also ranked the highest in defensive ratings for the league this season.

Sixth Player of the Year

Leonie Fiebich, New York Liberty

Fiebech is a rookie for the Liberty from Landsberg am Lech, Germany. Drafted with the 22nd pick of the 2020 draft, she made her debut for the Liberty this May.

She averages 20 minutes a game and makes her presence known on the hardwood. Shooting 47.8% from the field and 43.3% beyond the arc, Fiebich averages 6.7 points per game.

The Liberty needed a stronger bench presence this season. Last season, as they were swept by the Las Vegas Aces in the Finals, the Liberty bench scored just 39 of the 314 points in that series. That’s just 12% of the team’s total scoring.

To make a title run and win it all this time, the Liberty will look upon their bench and Fiebich to lead the charge.

Most Improved Player

DiJonai Carrington, Connecticut Sun

The Sun beat the Fever in Game 1 of Round 1 of their playoff matchup. Carrington poked Clark in the eye early in the game and shut her down defensively.

Carrington held Clark to just 11 points as she shot 4-17 from the field.

Entering her fourth season in the league and her first as a starter, Carrington’s impact has been felt on the court for the Sun.

She leads the team in steals averaging 1.6 per game and also averages 12.7 points per game.

Last season, she averaged 8.3 points and 0.6 steals per game.

Her improvement is significant and her playing time reflects that as it has almost doubled from 17 minutes in 2022 and 2023 to 29 minutes in the 2024 season.

The WNBA End of Year Awards continue to roll out over the course of the postseason. Time will tell who wins which awards and who will win the league’s championship.

Julia Henry is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism and labor and human resources. to contact her, please email jbh6443@psu.edu.