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WNBA Finals Most Valuable Player
Basketball award
Basketball award
The Women's National Basketball Association Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) is an annual Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) award given since the league's inaugural season.
During the first four years of the league, the Houston Comets' Cynthia Cooper won the award four consecutive times. The Los Angeles Sparks' Lisa Leslie won back-to-back in the subsequent two seasons. No other players have won the award in consecutive seasons, but Diana Taurasi, Sylvia Fowles, Breanna Stewart, and A'ja Wilson have won the award twice. While some teams have won multiple championship since the dynasty years of the Comets and the Sparks, the match-up usually resulted in different MVPs. For example, in the Detroit Shock's three wins over six years, three different players won the award. As of 2024, there have been three non-American Finals MVPs – Lauren Jackson of Australia (2010), Emma Meesseman of Belgium (2019), and Jonquel Jones, a Bahamian who has represented Bosnia and Herzegovina internationally (2024).
Winners
| Team (X) | Denotes the number of times a player from this team has won |
|---|
| Season | Player | Position | Nationality | Team | Cynthia Cooper | Cynthia Cooper (2) | Cynthia Cooper (3) | Cynthia Cooper (4) | Lisa Leslie | Lisa Leslie (2) | Yolanda Griffith | Katie Smith | Lauren Jackson | Seimone Augustus | Tamika Catchings | Maya Moore | Sylvia Fowles | Sylvia Fowles (2) | Breanna Stewart | Emma Meesseman | Breanna Stewart (2) | Kahleah Copper | Chelsea Gray | A'ja Wilson | Jonquel Jones | A'ja Wilson (2) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [1997](1997-wnba-finals) | Guard | Houston Comets | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| [1998](1998-wnba-finals) | Guard | Houston Comets (2) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| [1999](1999-wnba-finals) | Guard | Houston Comets (3) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| [2000](2000-wnba-finals) | Guard | Houston Comets (4) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| [2001](2001-wnba-finals) | Center | Los Angeles Sparks | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| [2002](2002-wnba-finals) | Center | Los Angeles Sparks (2) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| [2003](2003-wnba-finals) | Ruth Riley | Forward / Center | Detroit Shock | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| [2004](2004-wnba-finals) | Betty Lennox | Guard | Seattle Storm | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| [2005](2005-wnba-finals) | Center | Sacramento Monarchs | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| [2006](2006-wnba-finals) | Deanna Nolan | Guard | Detroit Shock | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| [2007](2007-wnba-finals) | Cappie Pondexter | Guard | Phoenix Mercury | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| [2008](2008-wnba-finals) | Guard | Detroit Shock | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| [2009](2009-wnba-finals) | Diana Taurasi | Guard | Phoenix Mercury (2) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| [2010](2010-wnba-finals) | Forward / Center | Seattle Storm (2) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| [2011](2011-wnba-finals) | Guard / Forward | Minnesota Lynx | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| [2012](2012-wnba-finals) | Forward | Indiana Fever | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| [2013](2013-wnba-finals) | Forward | Minnesota Lynx (2) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| [2014](2014-wnba-finals) | Diana Taurasi (2) | Guard | Phoenix Mercury (3) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| [2015](2015-wnba-finals) | Center | Minnesota Lynx (3) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| [2016](2016-wnba-finals) | Candace Parker | Forward | Los Angeles Sparks (3) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| [2017](2017-wnba-finals) | Center | Minnesota Lynx (4) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| [2018](2018-wnba-finals) | Forward / Center | Seattle Storm (3) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| [2019](2019-wnba-finals) | Center | Washington Mystics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| [2020](2020-wnba-finals) | Forward / Center | Seattle Storm (4) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| [2021](2021-wnba-finals) | Guard / Forward | Chicago Sky | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| [2022](2022-wnba-finals) | Guard | Las Vegas Aces | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| [2023](2023-wnba-finals) | Forward / Center | Las Vegas Aces (2) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| [2024](2024-wnba-finals) | Forward / Center | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| [New York Liberty](2024-new-york-liberty-season) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| [2025](2025-wnba-finals) | Forward / Center | Las Vegas Aces (3) |
Multi-time winners
| Player | Team(s) | No. | Years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cynthia Cooper | Houston Comets | 4 | 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 |
| Lisa Leslie | Los Angeles Sparks | 2 | 2001, 2002 |
| Diana Taurasi | Phoenix Mercury | 2009, 2014 | |
| Sylvia Fowles | Minnesota Lynx | 2015, 2017 | |
| Breanna Stewart | Seattle Storm | 2018, 2020 | |
| A'ja Wilson | Las Vegas Aces | 2023, 2025 |
Footnotes
References
This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.
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