Exclusive: WNBA Sixth Player of the Year candidates make their case

The Sixth Player of the Year award — an honor bestowed upon the WNBA’s most impactful bench player — could go to a number of viable candidates this season. Tiffany Hayes of the Las Vegas Aces has led all bench players in scoring, while Leonie Fiebich of the New York Liberty has had the best plus-minus numbers. Sophie Cunningham, who had become accustomed to starting in Phoenix, has done a little bit of everything for the Mercury.

I spoke with each of the three candidates to learn more about what being named Sixth Player of Year would mean to them, how they feel they’ve improved, and what the experience of coming off the bench has been like. All three players — Tiffany Hayes, Leonie Fiebich, and Sophie Cunningham — were previously accustomed to starting, but all three have found a way to make an impact off the bench on their respective playoff-bound teams.

There are certainly lots of other impactful bench players also eligible for this award, including Jordan Horston of the Seattle Storm, Shatori Walker-Kimbrough of the Washington Mystics, and Myisha Hines-Allen of the Minnesota Lynx, among others. Plus, if Marina Mabrey came off the bench for a larger chunk of the season, she’d be a leading candidate, too.

While I won’t be picking winners, here’s a bit about each candidate’s case:

Regular season stats: 9.2 points (50.3% shooting, 39.2% on threes), 3 rebounds, 2 assists

When Tiffany Hayes announced her retirement from the WNBA last December, it appeared that an 11-season, year-round career had finally caught up to her.

“I really feel like I’m older now,” Hayes said at the time. “I got a lot of stuff that I really always want to get into but I’m so busy ’cause I’m playing year-round. Plus, my body, playing 11 seasons straight with no breaks, every year, two seasons in a year every time — that’s a lot.”

In an unexpected twist, however, Hayes joined the two-time defending champion Las Vegas Aces just a few months later. There, the former All-Star and All-WNBA player has emerged as one of the brightest spots of an up-and-down season, establishing herself as a leading candidate for Sixth Woman of the Year.

On paper, coming off the bench could have been a major adjustment — after all, prior to this year, Hayes started nearly every game for 9 consecutive WNBA seasons

But, it hasn’t felt like much of an adjustment at all.

“It’s really not difficult for me,” Hayes told SB Nation. “I’m just not the type that really cares whether I start or come off the bench. I’ve never been that way. It just so happens that I’ve always started. So, nobody’s really had to see that side of me and know that I’m really okay with whatever I have to do for the team. If it was gonna help us win, then I’m cool with it.”

That can be an unusual mindset for a professional athlete. Connecticut Sun head coach Stephanie White acknowledged last month that being relegated from the starting lineup could be an “emotional” thing for players.

But for Hayes, it’s simply been an opportunity to evaluate the game from the sidelines, and check into the ball game from another perspective.

Regular season stats: 6.8 points (46.9% shooting, 43.8% on threes), 3.1 rebounds, 1.8 assists

Leonie Fiebich is used to being a star. The 24-year-old was already named MVP of the Spanish League twice, and she averaged double-figures in each of her professional seasons in Europe.

But as a member of the New York Liberty in her first WNBA season, the German forward showed that she’s can star in any role — not just the star one. She’s come off the bench 23 times this season, averaging 21 minutes per game. Sometimes, she takes just a few shots, simply serving as a connector and deferring to her All-Star teammates. Other times, she’ll take over offensively, scoring double-digits points and sinking threes.

Her presence has been a welcome addition to an already-loaded Liberty roster. The German star was drafted by the Los Angeles Sparks in 2020, but the Liberty traded for her rights just a few years ago. When she signed a rookie-scale contract in February, it wasn’t quite clear what kind of impact she could have on the team in her first season. It was a relatively under-the-radar signing for an organization recovering from a loss in the Finals.

Now, just a half a year later, it’s evident that Fiebich is not just a game-changer, but also a very viable candidate for Sixth Player of the Year. She hasn’t missed a beat in her adjustment from primary scoring option to role player.

“[I’m] just bringing energy, honestly, especially on defense,” Fiebich said. “Because when you play big minutes, like our starters [do], it’s cool to have somebody come in and just be energetic and pressure the ball and be aggressive on defense.”

Regular season stats: 8 points (42.1% shooting, 35.9% on threes), 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal

Cunningham’s Sixth Player of the Year campaign will be hindered by the fact her team has underachieved this season. They currently sit in the 7th seed, and have looked especially disjointed since the Olympic break.

But, Cunningham deserves to be in the conversation for Sixth Player of the Year because she’s been one of the league most prolific and efficient scorers off the bench. Of players who have come off the bench at least 15 times this season, Cunningham has averaged the second-most points behind Hayes, 8.4 per game. Her shooting splits off the bench are also phenomenal; in 19 bench outings, she’s shot 49% from the field, 43.8% from three, and 87.2% from the line.

But even above the on-court stats, Cunningham told SB Nation that her biggest contribution this season has been her leadership.

“It’s meeting people where they’re at,” she said. “It’s being the glue of the team and making sure that all these personalities, and sometimes egos, are all coming together, and trying to create a great culture and a great environment for people to thrive and be successful. And so for me, it’s pretty much off court stuff. It’s about building chemistry. It’s about building rhythm. And then when you have that, and you have that type of team, naturally things go pretty well for those teams on the corner as well.”

“So that’s kind of where my focus is at. I think we have a lot of great players on our team who – they’re Olympians. They’ve won championships in the W, and so for me, it’s doing the little things and making sure that we’re all on the same page.”

Author’s note: This week, SB Nation is rolling out a series of stories about WNBA players who are leading candidates for various awards, including Most Improved Player, Sixth Player of the Year, and Defensive Player of the Year. This is the first installment in the series.