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 Denotes player who is still active in the WNBA Inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of FamePlayer (X)Denotes the number of times the player has wonTeam (X)Denotes the number of times a player from this team has won
Season Player Position Nationality Team 1997 Cynthia Cooper Guard Houston Comets 1998 Cynthia Cooper (2) Guard Houston Comets (2) 1999 Cynthia Cooper (3) Guard Houston Comets (3) 2000 Cynthia Cooper (4) Guard Houston Comets (4) 2001 Lisa Leslie Center Los Angeles Sparks 2002 Lisa Leslie (2) Center Los Angeles Sparks (2) 2003 Ruth Riley Forward / Center Detroit Shock 2004 Betty Lennox Guard Seattle Storm 2005 Yolanda Griffith Center Sacramento Monarchs 2006 Deanna Nolan Guard Detroit Shock 2007 Cappie Pondexter Guard Phoenix Mercury 2008 Katie Smith Guard Detroit Shock 2009 Diana Taurasi Guard Phoenix Mercury (2) 2010 Lauren Jackson Forward / Center Seattle Storm (2) 2011 Seimone Augustus Guard / Forward Minnesota Lynx 2012 Tamika Catchings Forward Indiana Fever 2013 Maya Moore Forward Minnesota Lynx (2) 2014 Diana Taurasi (2) Guard Phoenix Mercury (3) 2015 Sylvia Fowles Center Minnesota Lynx (3) 2016 Candace Parker Forward Los Angeles Sparks (3) 2017 Sylvia Fowles (2) Center Minnesota Lynx (4) 2018 Breanna Stewart Forward / Center Seattle Storm (3) 2019 Emma Meesseman Center Washington Mystics 2020 Breanna Stewart (2) Forward / Center Seattle Storm (4) 2021 Kahleah Copper Guard / Forward Chicago Sky 2022 Chelsea Gray Guard Las Vegas Aces 2023 A'ja Wilson Forward / Center Las Vegas Aces (2) 2024 Jonquel Jones Forward / Center New York Liberty 2025 A'ja Wilson (2) Forward / Center Las Vegas Aces (3)
Multi-time winners +PlayerTeam(s)No.YearsCynthia CooperHouston Comets41997, 1998, 1999, 2000Lisa LeslieLos Angeles Sparks22001, 2002Diana TaurasiPhoenix Mercury2009, 2014Sylvia FowlesMinnesota Lynx2015, 2017 Breanna StewartSeattle Storm2018, 2020 A'ja WilsonLas Vegas Aces2023, 2025
See also
List of sports awards honoring women
Footnotes
References