The WNBA regular season officially tips off on Friday night, and it’s among the most pivotal in league history given the implementation of a historic new CBA agreement and the addition of two more expansion teams with others on the horizon.
In case you need to be caught up on where we left off last season, the Las Vegas Aces earned their third championship in four seasons on the shoulders of a mythical second half run that was anchored by A’ja Wilson. Wilson spent much of the season as a distant underdog to win a record fourth MVP award, but she walked down heavily-favored Napheesa Collier down the stretch to become the most accomplished individual player in league history.
Unfortunately, Collier is expected to miss at least the start of the season as she continues to make her way back from injuries to both ankles. In Indiana, Caitlin Clark is making her long awaited return from injuries that kept her sidelined for most of the 2026 season and she enters the season as one of the leading odds-on favorites to win MVP, to boot.
2026 WNBA Award Predictions
MVP: Caitlin Clark, Indiana Fever
As much as you want to ignore the voter fatigue factor, A’ja Wilson quite literally had to move mountains during the back half of the season to win her record-setting fourth MVP last season. The Aces are going to be a more consistent and solid team all season long and Jackie Young is on the verge of establishing herself as MVP candidate, so I don’t think A’ja will have to be quite as superhuman to get the Aces to where they want to be this season.
After the Indiana Fever nearly sent the Aces home in the Conference Finals without Caitlin Clark last season, some have been reluctant to predict an MVP season from Clark this season after the Fever largely proved their value as an elite team around her. I’ll do the opposite. What the Fever also proved last season is that they have the right pieces around Clark to maximize her performance when healthy, and the addition of defensive stalwart Raven Johnson from South Carolina will help alleviate Clark’s biggest weakness when the pair are on the floor together. I think this is the season the Fever finish with the best record and the league, with Clark finishing as a top five scorer on average and the league leader in assists. If that outcome is what we’re looking at come the end of the season, it’s going to be hard to vote against her.
Defensive Player of the Year: A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces
The WNBA’s undisputed best player probably won’t leave award season empty handed once during her prime, and at this rate we’re probably just going to have to rename the Defensive Player of the Year award after Wilson. The fact of the matter is, there simply isn’t a more impactful defender in the league since Wilson’s arrival in 2018 and the fact she only has three of these trophies to her name is somewhat of a disservice. Her case for this award will be helped subconsciously by the fact that voter fatigue will make it harder for her to win the MVP, while the voters will at the same time acknowledging that she’s still very much the best two way player in the game today and frankly, in the history of women’s basketball.
Coach of the Year: Lynne Roberts, Los Angeles Sparks
The Sparks are a prime candidate to emerge as the most improved team in the league after adding Nneka Ogwumike and Ariel Atkins this offseason. If Lynne Roberts can keep the car on the road and get this team to finish where many are projecting them to, it would already be a successful year. If Roberts can manage to coach this Sparks team into a top three seed in the playoffs with a legitimate chance to make a run in the postseason, you have to imagine things would start lining up pretty nicely for a coach that many have been skeptical of throughout her time in Los Angeles.
6th Player of the Year: Chennedy Carter, Las Vegas Aces
The Sixth Player of the Year Award is another trophy that’s found a consistent home in Las Vegas over the years, with Dearica Hamby (2), Kelsey Plum and Alysha Clark all earning the award during their time with the Aces. After seeing how well Chennedy Carter’s explosive playmaking fit in with the team during the preseason, it’s safe to say the embattled guard has earned her distinction as being the current odds-on favorite to win the award despite not playing in the WNBA last season. She’s certainly earned the trust of A’ja Wilson and her teammates, which should bode well for Carter meshes with the locker room.
WNBA Finals: Liberty def. Aces in 7
For as much change as we’ve seen in the league over the course of the last few years, the 2026 WNBA Finals are going to be between two teams we’ve become oh-so-accustomed to over the years.
Before the 2025 season, I predicted in writing that the Aces were going to respond from their nightmarish 2024 campaign to beat the New York Liberty in the WNBA Finals. For much of the season, the Liberty continued to be among the most dominant teams in the league while the Aces continued through turbulence that was starting to reach a point of no return. Seemingly at the flip of a switch, however, the roles reversed mid-summer and the Aces went on a torrid stretch to end the season en route to the title I had faith they would win, while the Liberty battled through injuries and woes en route to a first-round playoff exit that is one of the prime examples of how quickly something can fall apart in this league.
This year, I’m singing the same tune to a slightly different beat. It’s going to be the New York Liberty who win the WNBA Finals, avenging the unexpected disappointment of their 2025 campaign the same way the Aces did the year before. That win, of course, will have to come against the Las Vegas Aces, who will make the return trip to the Finals that the Liberty were unable to pull off last fall.
