A’ja Wilson easily took home her fifth MVP and third straight, grabbing 65 first-place votes. Minnesota Lynx rookie guard Olivia Miles finished second with six first place votes, followed by the Indiana Fever’s dynamic duo of Kelsey Mitchell (two first place votes) and Caitlin Clark, who finished third and fourth respectively in the voting.
The WNBA Most Valuable Player award is decided by a panel of 74 sportswriters and broadcasters. These media members are selected from across the country to cast weighted ballots for the league’s top performers. If anyone thought the media was pushing a Caitlin Clark narrative, the MVP results show that her popularity still exceeds her productivity.
Breanna Stewart, Paige Bueckers and Angel Reese also finished in the top seven vote-getters.
Reporter Doesn’t Think Olivia Miles Should Have Finished Above Caitlin Clark In WNBA MVP Voting
Clark fans expected A’ja Wilson to win it again, but they were undoubtedly outraged that a top-3 scorer and league assists leader would finish so low in the balloting. Clark received just one first place vote.
Robin Lundberg works in women’s sports media and was very vocal about his criticism of voters who elevated Miles to second place in the voting, ahead of Clark.
“It reveals pretty clearly that Clark and Mitchell never had a chance for MVP. There was no chance either of them were going to win the MVP,” Lundberg said in a video clip via his YouTube channel.
“Caitlin Clark should not be fourth in the MVP Vote. She’s too good for that,” Lundberg said. “I just really don’t see how you have her anywhere lower than second. She was in my mind top 3. … But I would have had Caitlin Clark at worst second place for MVP.”
Lundberg also had an issue with the rookie Miles coming in second. He suggests that her voting position was driven by a narrative that developed early in her rookie season. Despite a clear decline in play as the season came to an end, Lundberg feels she was able to ride the wave and capitalize on voters who may have been looking for other options than the obvious.
“What happened with Olivia Miles to me….who had a terrific rookie season, but it feels like a narrative set in that never went away. I think Olivia Miles got a bit of the benefit for the record of the Minnesota Lynx and it was a bit of a surprise because Napheesa Collier was out. There’s nothing wrong with that. The best player on the best team has always been in some sort of contention for the MVP. I think it got overvalued a little bit, relatively speaking, when you compare her to the other MVP candidates,” Lundberg insisted, before comparing statistics.
“The actual stats breakdown, Olivia Miles is not there in the scoring department,” Lunberg continues, noting Miles was eighth in the league in scoring, well behind the other candidates, and she was seventh in assists.
“The way she finished the season, the lack of statistical case, I don’t think she should have gotten that many first-place votes or finished in second place,” Lundberg concluded.
The WNBA MVP has inspired plenty of social media debate throughout the season. Fans have thrown their support behind their favorites and often discounted the accomplishments of their opponents. These MVP results — as expected — caused some backlash.
“Olivia Miles receiving more votes than KM and CC is literally insane,” one fan complained in the comments section under Lundberg’s YouTube video.
“Complete agenda,” said another fan accusing the WNBA of playing favorites.
“Credit the ESPN sisterhood pumping her tires and the community of on court players that let her walk to the net like someone’s little sister playing with the negro kids. She was exposed late and led her team to being swept out of the playoffs,” a user commented.
“Clark will never win until she is the undeniable best player ever then the politics will try to diminish her,” one Clark partisan quipped.
“If CC averaged 30 and 10 they still wouldn’t vote for her,” another Clark fan lamented.
Clark and Mitchell were in a tough spot, with both of them being so explosive offensively. They were bound to cancel each other out in the MVP voting. Miles captivated WNBA fans early, and she kept that momentum rolling into All-Star voting. Clark exhaustion became a factor, and at this point it’s almost impossible for her to live up to the billing. The MVP voting showed her she has a lot of work to do to overcome her own machine.
