5 WNBA Defensive Player of the Year candidates, including A’ja Wilson and DiJonai Carrington

Defensive Player of the Year is one of the hardest awards to determine in professional basketball. There’s the question of whether guards can ever impact a game defensively the same way that post players can (see: DiJonai Carrington), and a dilemma regarding whether someone should be able to earn the honors if their team’s defense has been underwhelming (see: A’ja Wilson).

There’s also a question around how much counting stats like blocks and steals matter versus more advanced analytics.

Though it’s not a perfect science, I picked my five candidates for Defensive Player of the Year, all of whom should be on the All-Defense Team as well.

Blocks: 1.4 blocks (6th)
Steals: 1.9 steals (4th)
Defensive Rating: 91.4 (1st)
Defensive Win Shares: 3.6 (2nd)

Napheesa Collier is ESPN’s pick for Defensive Player of the Year, and it’s easy to understand why. The Minnesota Lynx have had the second-best defense in the league this, and Collier has the best defensive individual rating of any player.

The frontcourt partnership between Collier and Alanna Smith has been particularly effective.

“I’m really lucky in that Phee and I play really well off of each other defensively,” Smith told SB Nation. “That was kind of something that happened from the very start with us. It was just like, we read each other really well and worked together really well on the defensive end, without having to do much.”

Blocks: 2.6 (1st)
Steals: 1.8 (5th)
Defensive Rating: 92.3 (2nd)
Defensive Win Shares: 3.8 (1st)

A’ja Wilson leads the league in blocks and has the most steals of her career. She has the highest Defensive Win Share of any player in the W, and the second-highest defensive rating. The biggest knock on her candidacy is the fact the Aces have had the fifth best defense this season, below the other candidates on this list.

Wilson has won the award in both 2022 and 2023, so if she were to take this one home, she’d be the first player in WNBA history to win the award three consecutive years. To her, continued success and improvement is always the goal.

“It doesn’t matter how many MVPs, it doesn’t matter how many championships: my thing is to get better every single year,” Wilson told SB Nation. “I want someone to say, ‘Damn, she worked on that. Oh, damn, she got good at that.’ That’s the biggest thing. That’s why it doesn’t come as a surprise to me.”

Blocks: 1.3 (6th)
Steals: 1.7 (7th)
Defensive Rating: 93.6 (4th)
Defensive Win Shares: 3.4 (3rd)

Breanna Stewart is a perennial Defensive Player of the Year candidate, but she’s never actually won the award. The Liberty have the league’s third-best defense this season, and Stewart has been a big reason why. Her versatility has stood out, and the Liberty have benefitted from having her play alongside Jonquel Jones as a rim protector.

“I think where I’ve improved the most defensively is the perimeter, the guard defense,” Stewart told SB Nation. “I feel like this year, especially, we’re switching a lot more, which is putting me on guards and trying to make sure that I’m using my length, I’m able to block shots, I’m able to get steals. Really just the awareness of — what is the offense trying to do, and how can I disrupt it?”

Winning the honor for the first time would mean a lot to the 2x MVP.

“Just because I know what I can do offensively, but to really kind of continue to transform into an elite two-way player is a goal of mine,” Stewart said. “And, just knowing that I was making an impact and a difference on my team, on both ends of the floor.”

Blocks: (0.4)
Steals: 1.6 steals (9th)
Defensive Rating: 96.2 (8th)
Defensive Win Shares: 2.6 (9th)

The Connecticut Sun have the best defense in the league, and DiJonai Carrington is their best defender. She’s typically tasked with guarding opposing team’s best players. Carrington has the fourth-most steals per game among guards. While she’s a bit lower than the rest of the pack in Defensive Rating and Defensive Win Shares, Carrington is first among guards in those categories.

Sun head coach Stephanie White things Carrington is a worthwhile candidate.

“We look at the numbers all the time, and she is consistently holding opponents’ best perimeter players under their averages or holding them to poor shooting percentages.”

Carrington told SB Nation she is aware of the DPOY campaign for her, but that she’s not attaching her worth to it.

“I’m on social media, and I see people discussing it, and they’re doing campaigns and stuff,” Carrington said. “I’m used to not getting recognized or accolades. I’ve just never been the type of player that needs the public recognition, so it would obviously be an amazing honor and cool, and all of those things.”

Blocks: 2.2 (2nd)
Steals: 1.1 (25th)
Defensive Rating: 95.9 (7th)
Defensive Win Shares: 2.7 (8th)

Ezi Magbegor has anchored the Seattle Storm’s defense all year, and the Storm have been solid on that end (96.6 defensive rating, good for fourth overall). The problem, however, is that she ranks lower than Wilson in every category, and lower than Collier and Stewart in all but one. So, in that sense, it’d be hard to make a case for her over the other post players in this race.

Still, her teammates and coaches have relentlessly campaigned for her. Gabby Williams reflected on Magbegor’s defensive impact after a win over the Sparks last week.

“It makes things so difficult when you have someone like that who’s equally tall, equally athletic, equally smart defensively, who’s hounding you on the ball… because you know you can’t do anything when Ezi traps you,” Williams said. “So not only just her presence at the rim, but her ball pressure, I think. And also, when you — if she’s not blocking shots, you’re scared to drive because you know that you have a shot blocker behind. So just her presence makes it a lot easier for us.”

Storm teammate Skylar Diggins-Smith simply repeated: “DPOY.”