(W)NBA Tuesday grinds on in the face of cultural sexism extreme, looking at another season in the history of women’s professional basketball in North America. It was 15 years ago, and the world seems to have changed so much since then, in so many ways. But that’s what happens when you live through paradigm shifts in the sociocultural timeline, right? Indeed. So, off we go to look at another season of superstars!

2009 WNBA MVP: Diana Taurasi, G, Phoenix (original); Lauren Jackson, F/C, Seattle (revised)

Phoenix Mercury guard Diana Taurasi won the MVP vote, after finishing second in PER (25.4) and third in Win Shares (5.4). Seattle Storm forward/center Lauren Jackson (26.1, 5.9) is our only other real candidate here, and she tops Taurasi in both sabermetric categories. How about the two teams? Well, the Mercury beat the Storm in the standings by three games, and Taurasi had more help in the form of G Cappie Pondexter.

The Mercury backcourt mates were both in the league’s Top 10 for PER and WS, with Pondexter coming in eighth in WS (4.5) and ninth in PER (22.2). Jackson was hauling the cookies relatively alone in Seattle, so she’s going to get our hardware (again). This ties Jackson with Yolanda Griffith with four MVP nods from us. It’s funny, because if someone asked a random person who the best WNBA players have been? Yeah.

2009 WNBA ROTY: Angel McCoughtry, F/G, Atlanta (original, confirmed)

Atlanta Dream F/G Angel McCoughtry (3.7 WS) won the ROTY vote as her team finished second in the Eastern Conference with an 18-16 record. We will note, again, that is a better WS mark than Caitlin Clark earned in 2024—and we bet you’ve never even heard of McCoughtry. Anyway, with the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth teams in the conference all within 16-18 victories, she made a huge value difference.

The WS mark was tops among rookies, and with that kind of impact on the standings, we confirm the vote.

2009 WNBA DPOY: Tamika Catchings, F, Indiana (original, confirmed)

The only player in the league over 3.0 DWS was Indiana Fever F Tamika Catchings, she of the most dominant rookie campaign in league history. She won the DPOY vote, too, which is great, considering no one else in the league surpassed 2.2 DWS. This was her third vote win for the award, and it is the second time we’ve given her the nod. Via our series sequence here, she was building herself quite the overall career.

2009 WNBA FINALS MVP: Taurasi (original); Penny Taylor, F, Phoenix (revised)

After missing the postseason in 2008, the Mercury blew through that barrier in a huge way, winning the franchise’s second league title. They did in stressful fashion, winning each of the three playoff series in the deciding game (going 7-4 overall). Four players topped 1.3 WS in the postseason alone, but the best of the bunch was F Penny Taylor (1.8). She also led the team in PER (25.3) for the playoff games, as well. Bingo!

Taurasi (1.5) won the vote, of course, but she wasn’t as good as perceived. Taylor was the top desert dog here.