This is the last WNBA Tuesday entry for 2024, and as usual, it brings us closer to the present day for women’s professional basketball in North America. The big news for this season was the ditching of conferences, as the league now had 12 teams and decided not to divide them regionally. Instead, one table would do for the standings, playoff seedings, etc. If only the NFL could do the same thing, you know? Ha!

2016 WNBA MVP: Nneka Ogwumike, F, Los Angeles (original, confirmed)

This is an open-and-shut conversation, as Los Angeles Sparks forward Nneka Ogwumike topped the league in PER (31.3) by over 5.0 points while also leading the WNBA in Win Shares (9.6) by 3.0 wins. The Sparks finished second in the standings and went on to win the title (which is irrelevant for this analysis), so the team was pretty good, but honestly, without Ogwumike, maybe they don’t make playoffs. Dominant!

2016 WNBA ROTY: Breanna Stewart, F, Seattle (original, confirmed)

With 5.7 WS as a rookie (remember, the allegedly great Caitlin Clark netted just 3.0 WS last year), Seattle Storm F Breanna Stewart won the award vote here, and we’re going to confirm it, readily, since no other rookie posted more than 1.8 WS during this season. With just 16 wins on the season, the Storm definitely would not have made the postseason without Stewart’s contributions, so she was a very valuable asset.

2016 WNBA DPOY: Sylvia Fowles, C, Minnesota (original); Stewart (revised)

Minnesota Lynx center Sylvia Fowles won her third DPOY vote by registering 3.0 DWS, but with a teammate in the Top 5 for DWS as well, it’s hard to give her the official nod here. In addition, two players from the Sparks finished tied for second in DWS (2.7), so those two get tossed as well. Our sole survivor in the Top 5 with no Top 10 DWS support? Stewart, who posted 2.5 DWS to carry Seattle’s defense. She wins.

2016 WNBA FINALS MVP: Candace Parker, F/C, Los Angeles (original); Ogwumike (revised)

The playoffs were weird, as team that won their respective series only dropped three games total in the postseason. Oddly, two of those losses came in the Finals as the Sparks defeated the Lynx in a full, five-game series. The third loss also came at the hands of the champion Sparks, when they beat the Chicago Sky in four games to advance to the Finals. So we can hardly call the L.A. path to glory an “easy” one, in the end.

So, who was the playoff MVP? Ogwumike, of course, with 1.8 WS in the Sparks’ nine games played (the playoff format was really weird in this season). She had two teammates to also surpass 1.0 WS in the postseason, but Ogwumike was the best of the bunch, as befitting her regular season. All good here. F/C Candace Parker (1.5) took the vote at the time, but we know how this work with the “popular” players.