Our NBA Tuesday miniseries on the WNBA rolls on today with a look back to 21 years ago: the first six league championships went to just two franchises, but in the 2003 season, there was a new champion. How did that reality impact the awards voting? Well, we still see a lot of the same names below winning the big prizes. It’s a fun time when we get to analyze these awards without the distractions in other miniseries!

2003 WNBA MVP: Lauren Jackson, F-C, Seattle (original, confirmed)

Our choice for the 2001 ROTY honor, Seattle Storm forward-center Lauren Jackson was named the league MVP after topping her peers in scoring (21.2 ppg) and Win Shares (9.2). That’s a nice combination of traditional and sabermetric measurements, something lacking in the current profile for the overhyped Caitlin Clark. But with the Storm missing the postseason via tiebreaker with an 18-16 record, what gives?

Last year’s MVP/ROTY phenom Tamika Catchings was second to Jackson in both WS and Player Efficiency Rating (32.1 to 28.1), but the Indiana Fever still finished one game out of the playoffs with a 16-18 record. Everyone else finished quite off the sabermetric pace, and with the Storm at least posting a winning mark and only missing out due to a tiebreak procedure, we will confirm Jackson’s vote win as a well-deserved one.

2003 WNBA ROTY: Cheryl Ford, F, Detroit (original, confirmed)

The two prime candidates here were Detroit Shock F Cheryl Ford (4.0 WS), who averaged a double double for the eventual league champions, and Cleveland Rockers F LaToya Thomas (3.6), who helped her team claim the last Eastern Conference postseason berth by one game over the Fever. Thomas had a slightly better WS/48 mark, but as we look at the Top 10 for WS overall in the league, there’s some tell-tale signs.

Cleveland had one player in the WNBA Top 10 for Win Shares, and it had another player in the Top 10 for PER. The Shock did not have that kind of top-shelf talent, oddly enough, so we have to go with Ford here for taking a lot on her shoulders (10.8 ppg, 10.4 rpg). Confirmed, again, with a higher WS mark than Clark in 2024.

2003 WNBA DPOY: Sheryl Swoopes, F-G, Houston (original); Jackson (revised)

Only three players should be under consideration here, and three are familiar names by now: Sacramento Monarchs F-C Yolanda Griffith (2.9 defensive WS); Houston Comets forward-guard Sheryl Swoopes (2.7 DWS); and Jackson (2.5 DWS). Swoopes won the vote, as she has many times here already for different awards. Yet we’ve never confirmed any of them, despite being big fans of hers in the contemporary era.

Glancing at the league’s Top 10 for DWS, this is what we see: two Comets players in the Top 5 and three Monarchs players in the Top 8. Jackson was fifth overall in DWS, as Ford finished with 2.5 DWS herself. No other players topped 2.5 DWS, and both Jackson and Ford were the only members of their respective rosters to be in the Top 10. The Shock won the East by 7 games, and we know where the Storm finished. Value? Yeah.

2003 WNBA FINALS MVP: Ruth Riley, C, Detroit (original); Deanna Nolan, G-F, Detroit (revised)

The Shock went 6-2 to claim its first title, and the team leaders in WS and WS/48 were one and the same: G-F Deanna Nolan (1.3 WS, 0.205 WS/48). She was the only player on the team to crack thresholds (1.0 WS, 0.200 WS/48). She topped the team with some hot shooting as well: .568 eFG and .602 TSP. She was second on the team in scoring average (15.5 ppg), but it’s hard to top that efficiency and accuracy from the floor.

Therefore, we overrule the voters here, who went for C Ruth Riley (0.7 WS).