Let's build a W29
Time to evaluate the WNBA's top players once again!
In 2021 the WNBA officially named its W25, a list of the 25 "greatest and most influential players" since the league's inception in 1997. Though I have no official vote, I wrote through my own process of deciding on a W25 and starting last year have decided to keep up in each offseason.
I won't be starting from scratch, so if you want to dig into the full process, here's how:
Starting to pick a WNBA All-Time Top 25: I began the process in 2021 by outlining who was eligible, who was very clearly in, and who was pretty clearly out.
My W25: After the league announced their official criteria but before they had named their final W25, I finished the process by deciding on my own W25.
Piecing together a hypothetical W28: Last year, using the same criteria from the W25 process, I added on to the W25 by talking through who would now be eligible, who had added to their case, and what my hypothetical W28 would be.
One year later, let's get up-to-date on who would be eligible today and who seems like the best group for an aptly and creatively named “W29.”
What are the criteria?
During the W25 selection, to be eligible for selection a player must have played in at least two seasons and meet at least four of the following seven criteria:
winner of a major individual award
selection to an All-WNBA First Team or All-WNBA Second Team
selection to an All-Defensive First Team or All-Defensive Second Team
selection to an All Star Game
member of a WNBA championship team
ranked among top 40 career leaders in a major statistical category (points, rebounds, assists, steals, or blocks)
recipient of the WNBA's season-long Community Assist Award
Some of these are ambiguous, but you can see my interpretation of who meets these criteria on the Top Players page.
Who was in my W28?
Last year, my process ended in the following list of the top 28 players all-time:
Seimone Augustus
Sue Bird
Swin Cash
Tamika Catchings
Tina Charles
Cynthia Cooper-Dyke
Elena Delle Donne
Sylvia Fowles
Yolanda Griffith
Brittney Griner
Becky Hammon
Lauren Jackson
Jonquel Jones
Lisa Leslie
Angel McCoughtry
Maya Moore
Deanna Nolan
Nneka Ogwumike
Candace Parker
Ticha Penicheiro
Cappie Pondexter
Katie Smith
Breanna Stewart
Sheryl Swoopes
Diana Taurasi
Tina Thompson
Lindsay Whalen
A'ja Wilson
Another Year of Accolades
There are two players who were eligible last year but no longer meet the criteria: Tamecka Dixon and Kara Lawson, who both fell out of the top 40 in total assists and meet just three other criteria otherwise.
No players are newly eligible this year, but several have added to their résumés. (Highlighted names were in my W28.)
Player | New Qualifications |
|---|---|
DeWanna Bonner | 2024 All Star |
Natasha Cloud | 2024 All-Defense 2nd Team |
Napheesa Collier | 2024 Defensive Player of the Year 2024 All-WNBA 1st Team 2024 All-Defense 1st Team 2024 All Star |
Kahleah Copper | 2024 All-WNBA 2nd Team 2024 All Star |
Chelsea Gray | 2024 All Star |
Brittney Griner | 2024 All Star |
Dearica Hamby | 2024 Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award 2024 All Star |
Tiffany Hayes | 2024 Sixth Player of the Year |
Sabrina Ionescu | 2024 Champion 2024 All-WNBA Second Team 2024 All Star |
Brionna Jones | 2024 All Star |
Jonquel Jones | 2024 Champion 2024 Finals MVP 2024 All-WNBA 2nd Team 2024 All-Defense 2nd Team 2024 All Star |
Betnijah-Laney Hamilton | 2024 Champion |
Jewell Loyd | 2024 All Star |
Ezi Magbegor | 2024 All-Defense 1st Team |
Arike Ogunbowale | 2024 All-WNBA 2nd Team 2024 All Star (MVP) |
Nneka Ogwumike | 2024 All-WNBA 2nd Team 2024 All-Defense 2nd Team 2024 All Star |
Kelsey Plum | 2024 All Star |
Breanna Stewart | 2024 Champion 2024 All-WNBA 1st Team 2024 All-Defense 1st Team 2024 All Star |
Diana Taurasi | 2024 All Star |
Alyssa Thomas | 2024 All-WNBA 1st Team 2024 All-Defense 2nd Team 2024 All Star |
Courtney Vandersloot | 2024 Champion |
A’ja Wilson | 2024 MVP 2024 All-WNBA 1st Team 2024 All-Defense 1st Team 2024 Peak Performer (Scoring) 2024 All Star |
Jackie Young | 2024 All Star |
A few notable cases:
Napheesa Collier: A perennial All Star and All-WNBA player, Collier won her first (non-ROTY) major individual award and is inching up on adding MVP and champion to the list.
Jonquel Jones: Last time around I acknowledged Jones as “the player with the most WNBA Finals games played without a title to their name,” but she put an end to her eligibility on that list, and with Finals MVP, All Star, All-WNBA, and All-Defense selections all in 2024, she has elevated from “in” up to a “lock” for the W29.
Breanna Stewart: Already a lock last time around, a third championship and a sweep of All-WNBA/All-Defense/All Star surely doesn’t hurt.
A’ja Wilson: On an individual level, there’s not much else a player can do in a season than what Wilson accomplished in 2024: scoring leader looks almost trivial when you add MVP, All-WNBA, All-Defense, and All Star to the list.
The Locks
I see 20 locks, players for whom I can’t see much of an argument against their inclusion.
Seimone Augustus | Sue Bird | Tamika Catchings | Cynthia Cooper-Dyke |
Elena Delle Donne | Sylvia Fowles | Becky Hammon | Lauren Jackson |
Jonquel Jones | Lisa Leslie | Maya Moore | Candace Parker |
Cappie Pondexter | Katie Smith | Breanna Stewart | Sheryl Swoopes |
Diana Taurasi | Tina Thompson | Lindsay Whalen | A’ja Wilson |
Just one new lock since last year: Jonquel Jones was in the W28, and now there’s no sense in debating it. She’s in.
The Pool
Although they are a bit more on the fringe than a true lock, I still think Tina Charles, Yolanda Griffith, Brittney Griner, Deanna Nolan, and Nneka Ogwumike are comfortably in the W29.
That leaves four open spots with 67 remaining eligible players, of whom I think 14 are truly in consideration.
DeWanna Bonner | Rebekkah Brunson | Swin Cash | Napheesa Collier |
Skylar Diggins-Smith | Chelsea Gray | Natasha Howard | Jewell Loyd |
Angel McCoughtry | Ticha Penicheiro | Penny Taylor | Alyssa Thomas |
Courtney Vandersloot | Teresa Weatherspoon |
When picking my W25 in 2016, I called A’ja Wilson “a victim of timing” and considered her just outside the final list. Napheesa Collier isn’t quite that close, especially with the W30 just a year away, but I do think she’s out now and has a chance to be in just a year from now if she and the Lynx pick up where they left off next season.
Similarly, there’s no new argument for Skylar Diggins-Smith, Natasha Howard, Jewell Loyd, or Penny Taylor, so they remain out.
On the other hand, no one has a compelling argument to jump past Swin Cash or Angel McCoughtry, so we’ll keep them in.
This comes down to picking two of DeWanna Bonner, Rebekkah Brunson, Chelsea Gray, Ticha Penicheiro, Alyssa Thomas, Courtney Vandersloot, or Teresa Weatherspoon.
My notes:
Teresa Weatherspoon: I thought 2024 was primed to be the start of Weatherspoon’s ascension as a WNBA head coach, but the Chicago Sky decided to quickly shift directions, leaving her currently out of the league. She’ll be back on the sideline as head coach of Vinyl BC when Unrivaled starts up in January, and hopefully a new WNBA opportunity is around the corner. Her case on this list remains unchanged from last time around, so I don’t think she makes the list.
Alyssa Thomas: Thomas was consistently good but ascended to great in 2022 and particularly 2023. Whether you think she’s redefining the bounds of a power forward or just uniquely exceeding them in ways no one has (and maybe ever will again), there’s no doubt she’s one of the greatest the league has seen. By this time next year she’ll likely be the first WNBA player to record 2,500 rebounds and 1,700 assists. While I’m leaving her off the list now, an MVP and/or a championship would definitely help push her on to the list, and she may not even need that to make the W30.
Rebekkah Brunson: Every time I do this I feel the heat coming from the glares of the “How do you leave off the league’s only 5-time champ?” crowd, and it’s a good question to ask. There’s no doubt she was an instrumental part of one of the league’s great dynasties, and should she be interested in becoming a head coach, she has an opportunity to extend her legacy in the WNBA. That said, she might be in a current W35-or-so, but I still don’t think she’s above some of the players on the list.
DeWanna Bonner: I think Bonner is similarly placed. A key part of two championship teams and a consistent veteran presence late in her career, she’s not far off, but she’s not in the W29 for me. If they play another season together and have the type of success they’ve been battling for, she and Thomas might be splitting votes in the W30.
Chelsea Gray, Ticha Penicheiro, Courtney Vandersloot: In terms of the WNBA’s greatest point guards, it’s probably Sue Bird, Lindsay Whalen, and these three. How do you parse out an ordering for Gray, Penicheiro, and Vandersloot? Penicheiro and Gray share the kind of exciting flair in their effectiveness that makes even their teammates’ eyes widen; Penicheiro and Vandersloot each have exhibited record-setting consistency over long careers; and Gray and Vandersloot have each won championships with multiple franchises. I’m giving Penicheiro the edge with her off-court influence on the game as an agent along with her ability to also impact the game defensively. Gray vs. Vandersloot is tough, but given her consistency over a longer career and an added championship since the last evaluation, I’m giving the slightest of edges to Vandersloot this year. With another spot opening up next year, this conversation may become moot.
The Picks
Based on that breakdown, here’s where I have the current W29, in alphabetical order:
Seimone Augustus
Sue Bird
Swin Cash
Tamika Catchings
Tina Charles
Cynthia Cooper-Dyke
Elena Delle Donne
Sylvia Fowles
Yolanda Griffith
Brittney Griner
Becky Hammon
Lauren Jackson
Jonquel Jones
Lisa Leslie
Angel McCoughtry
Maya Moore
Deanna Nolan
Nneka Ogwumike
Candace Parker
Ticha Penicheiro
Cappie Pondexter
Katie Smith
Breanna Stewart
Sheryl Swoopes
Diana Taurasi
Tina Thompson
Courtney Vandersloot
Lindsay Whalen
A’ja Wilson
Looking Ahead to the W30
I think one thing that will be interesting moving forward is how we view longtime members of the Top Players lists: there’s no denying the greatness of players like Yolanda Griffith, Cappie Pondexter, and Katie Smith, in terms of both résumé and influence, but will they continue to look like such shoe-ins as the league (and season length) grows? Did they build a foundation so substantial it props up today’s players to even greater heights? Or does that early influence actually play in their favor?
In terms of who might be in that 30th spot or who might be able to rise to that level over the course of a year, I’d say two things: (1) look to the list of players I cut last, and (2) this exercise of revising the W28 to a W29 in one year has helped illustrate that it’s difficult for a player’s case to change too dramatically in just one season. Jonquel had a very successful season but was already recognized as one of the league’s top players; on the other hand, could a player like Napheesa vault on to the list with an MVP and championship finish in 2025?
After next season, as we prepare for the league to celebrate its 30th season and name an official W30 (or whatever they choose to call it this time), I’ll be building my W30 from scratch again, so I’ll work through the process from qualifications again.
See you next year, with a whole new set of accolades and accomplishments.
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