Liberty's Breanna Stewart edges Sun's Alyssa Thomas to win 2nd WNBA MVP award 2023
New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart has been named the WNBA Most Valuable Player for the second time, the league announced Tuesday.
Stewart received 20 first-place votes and 446 total points from a national panel of 60 sportswriters and broadcasters to finish only seven points ahead of Connecticut Sun forward Alyssa Thomas, who received 23 first-place votes and 439 total votes.
Las Vegas Aces center A’ja Wilson, who won the award in 2020 and last season, came in third in the voting with 17 first-place votes and 433 total votes.
The margin between the winner of the award and runner-up (seven points) was the second smallest in the league's history. The closest finish was a two-point difference between Sheryl Swoopes and Lauren Jackson in 2005.
However, the margin between first- and third-place finisher (13 points) for MVP was actually the smallest in WNBA history, surpassing the 45-point difference in 2013 between Candace Parker and Elena Delle Donne.
Stewart, who also won the award in 2018 as a member of the Seattle Storm, averaged 23 points, 9.3 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.57 blocked shots and 1.45 steals in 40 games. She set a WNBA record with four games with 40 or more points this season.
Stewart, 29, becomes the eighth player in WNBA history to win the WNBA MVP award multiple times, joining three-time winners Lisa Leslie, Jackson and Swoopes and two-time winners Cynthia Cooper, Delle Donne, Parker and Wilson.
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