The 2026 WNBA playoffs got underway with a series of blowouts on Sunday, and the first two awards were announced Monday when Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve was named Coach of the Year for the fifth time, extending her league record, and her point guard, Olivia Miles, was named the unanimous Rookie of the Year. The league has not announced an awards schedule this year, so it's unclear when the other major honors, including MVP, Defensive Player of the Year and the All-WNBA teams will be announced. I was once again honored to be selected as an official awards voter by the league, and as we wait to see which other players will earn some hardware for their efforst this season, I wanted to share my full ballot and my explanations in the spirit of transparency.
I went in-depth on my MVP ballot in a separate article, which you can read here: Miles won this award unanimously and I have a big feature on her historic campaign, so I'm not going to spend too much time explaining this one. She averaged 19.8 points, 4.7 rebounds, six assists and 1.3 steals on 49.2/38.8/87 shooting splits, led all rookies in scoring and assists, and finished eighth and seventh, respectively, in those categories. Defensive Player of the Year required far more deliberation than MVP or ROY.
There were a number of candidates with strong cases, including Wilson, who was co-DPOY last season and led the league in blocks for the fifth consecutive season. Ultimately, I went with Reese. You can pick at her lack of rim protection (0.8 per game, 24th in the league), but her versatility, rebounding and impact on one of the league's best defensive teams was impossible to ignore.
The Dream finished third in the league in defensive rating (103.5) in large part thanks to Reese. Reese was third in steals per game (1.8), seventh in stocks (steals plus blocks) per game (2.5), fourth in defensive rebounds per game (7.3) and first in defensive win shares (3.4). The Dream's defense was also 13 points per 100 possessions worse with Reese off the floor, and opponents' true shooting percentage was 6.4% worse with Reese on the floor.
This was another easy one, and it would not be surprising if Salaün wins unanimously. She led all bench players in scoring at 12.7 points per game, while shooting 39.2% from 3-point range, and was a huge part of the Valkyries' success this season, as they won nine more games than last season and finished in second place with a 32-12 record. Most Improved Player is always one of the most challenging awards, and there were once again a series of worthy candidates, including Dallas Wings forward Jessica Shepard and Washington Mystics forward Shakira Austin, both of whom had stellar seasons.
I went with Portland Fire guard Carla Leite. Leite, selected by the Fire from the Valkyries in the expansion draft, did enjoy a bigger role in Portland, where she was handed the keys to Alex Sarama's offense. But she didn't put up bigger numbers just because she played more minutes.
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