WNBA Tuesday returns with a look at another season of awards in women’s professional basketball. The league at this point was in its teenage years, but it still struggled to get much traction in terms of popularity and profitability. Meanwhile, the Minnesota Lynx won their second championship in three seasons, while a familiar name keeps popping up in our analyses here, staking a claim to be the best ever in league history.

2013 WNBA MVP: Candace Parker, F/C, Los Angeles (original); Tamika Catchings, F, Indiana (revised)

We basically have a five-person race for this award, with the vote winner—Los Angeles Sparks forward/center Candace Parker (30.6 PER, 6.5 WS)—among them. Also considered? Minnesota Lynx F Maya Moore (27.9, 8.5); Chicago Sky C Sylvia Fowles (27.7, 7.2); Sparks F Nneka Ogwumike (27.3, 6.5); and Indiana Fever F Tamika Catchings (27.3, 6.2), our defending MVP. The L.A. duo is out, therefore. Now what?

Chicago finished with the best record in the Eastern Conference; Minnesota finished with the best record in the Western Conference. Indiana claimed the last spot in the East with a losing record, even though the Fever still had a five-win cushion for that spot. Fowles had Top 8 PER/WS support from a teammate herself, so this comes down to Moore or Catchings (again) for us. And Moore had Top 10 WS support, twice over.

We have to point out this is the fifth MVP nod we’ve given to Catchings, and it’s also the fourth consecutive.

2013 WNBA ROTY: Elena Delle Donne, F/G, Chicago (original, confirmed)

By unanimous vote, Chicago forward/guard Elena Delle Donne (6.5 WS) won the ROTY trophy. Let’s point out again that her value was more than twice as much as Caitlin Clark posted in 2024. But we digress: Delle Donne was fifth overall in WS and eighth in PER (25.2), so she was a very dominant rookie baller. We confirm this vote without much more detail or snark toward the most overrated WNBA player ever.

2013 WNBA DPOY: Sylvia Fowles, C, Chicago (original); Catchings (revised)

Eight players registered 2.0-plus DWS, including vote winner Fowles (2.6). Sifting through those eight to eliminate teammates, non-playoff combatants, etc., we end up with this short list: Fowles and Catchings (2.7), again. We feel bad for Fowles, who is clearly a very good player, all around, but the quality of her teammates just hurts value, whereas Catchings was carrying a tremendous burden, every year it seems.

This is the fourth time we’ve given this hardware to the Fever star.

2013 WNBA FINALS MVP: Maya Moore, F, Minnesota (original, confirmed)

The Lynx won another WNBA title, thanks to a perfect 7-0 sprint through the postseason, defeating Seattle, Phoenix, and Atlanta, in order. Moore posted 2.5 WS, which was 1.0 WS more than the next-best player on the team, in terms of playoff value. Perhaps the true “best college player of all time”? This is Moore’s second major nod from us after winning the 2011 ROTY vote. We suspect she will get more stuff from us in due time.