Ranking the W 2024: The best of the best, from 5 to 1

The final installment of results from #RankingTheW, as we reveal the top 5 of our expert panel's list of the expected best players in the WNBA for 2024

Thanks for reading the Her Hoop Stats Newsletter. If you like our work, be sure to check out our stats site, our podcast, and our social media accounts on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. You can also buy Her Hoop Stats gear, such as laptop stickers, mugs, and shirts!

Haven’t subscribed to the Her Hoop Stats Newsletter yet?

---

After 50 to 26, 25 to 11 and 10 to 6, we've finally reached the concluding part of 2024's Ranking the W. Now we're going all the way up to No. 1.

We’re introducing Ranking the W to create a snapshot of the consensus expectations of WNBA player performance in 2024. We invited an international panel of over 100 writers, reporters, analysts and broadcasters from around the world of women's basketball to lend their expertise to this exercise. Thanks to all of them for their time and input.

Participants were asked to vote on player vs. player matchups with the question "Who will be the better WNBA player in 2024?", taking into account both performance and availability. Voting was anonymous among the invitees, so no one had to be worried about their hot takes being stolen or being embarrassed later in the year if a choice turns out to be wildly inaccurate.

After over 10,000 votes, the results are in. We’ve released them from No. 50 to No. 1 this week along with commentary on each player and their rank. Let us know your thoughts on what surprised you, who’s been overvalued and who’s been snubbed, or anything else about the project. We’ll be using the hashtag #RankingTheW on social media or you can leave comments on the articles themselves.

On to the final five.

#5 Aliyah Boston

I'll be honest with you - there have been several players in this list whose position I didn't entirely agree with, but this may have been the one that surprised me the most. Boston was very, very good as a rookie. Her efficiency set records for a player in their first year, shooting 58% from the field while averaging 14.5 points per game, with 8.4 rebounds and over a steal and a block per night. She basically transitioned her smooth and effective game from South Carolina without too much of a struggle. But Indiana were still bad, and only the dismal Mercury prevented them from having the worst defense in the league yet again, despite Boston's presence in the middle. That 14.5 point average left her outside the top 25 in the league, and third on her own team. She didn't make an All-WNBA team and only appeared on one MVP ballot. There were several times when she could've demanded the ball more or tried to take over games but continued to stay within the flow of a team offense. For all her obvious talents that didn't scream top five to me. Not yet.

But with the benefit of a year of pro seasoning, and Caitlin Clark alongside her to help spread the floor and feed her the ball, our panel is expecting a leap from Boston in year two. For whatever reason, there is less demand for Boston to “prove it” than we’ve seen for much of the list - our voters believe already. The Fever should be better, at least in playoff contention, which could help. The chemistry with other key players like Kelsey Mitchell and NaLyssa Smith should be easier after a year together. There are people who argue that second-year players should be disqualified from Most Improved Player candidacy because so many should and do make a jump that season. Our panel is expecting her to go from Rookie of the Year to a WNBA superstar.

#4 Jewell Loyd

See, this one makes sense to me. Voters always like scoring. Loyd did a whole lot of that last year, breaking the WNBA record for most points in a season (albeit with the help of more games than Diana Taurasi had in 2006, which is still the points per game record). With Breanna Stewart and Sue Bird gone, Loyd was basically asked to "shoot till your arm falls off" in 2023, and resolutely kept firing. It resulted in a points per game average of 24.7, which is only behind that 2006 Taurasi season in league history. She remains a very effective scorer on all levels, capable of punishing defenses from deep, getting to the rim and drawing fouls. She entered the league as a shaky outside shooter but only took a couple of years to develop that part of her game and has been significantly above league-average from outside ever since. Her overall efficiency took a hit last year when she was asked to carry such a heavy offensive load, although the 37% from the field was mitigated by the huge 3-point volume and leading the league in free-throw attempts. Seattle will be hoping that with the additions of Skylar Diggins-Smith and Nneka Ogwumike to help her out, Loyd can continue to lead their offense without having to force up quite so many difficult attempts. Our voters clearly think she's going to have another very strong season.

#3 Breanna Stewart

After performances over the last couple of years and the clear three-pronged debate for MVP last season, I think most WNBA observers could've comfortably guessed who'd make up our top three. The order of the trio was decidedly less predictable, and this result may come as a surprise to many. Stewart is a superstar and a consistent winner. She's finished in the top three for MVP in each of her last five seasons (ignoring the 2019 season she missed due to injury). She has two rings from her time in Seattle, two MVP trophies (including last season), and plenty of other medals and accolades to fill an overflowing trophy cabinet. Bringing her home to New York was the centerpiece move of the effort to build a championship team with the Liberty. Her combination of guard skills in a big's body, the ability to shoot from anywhere and impact a game with her defense, has made her one of the best players in the league ever since she was drafted back in 2016.

So why third? Obviously the two above her are exceptional players as well. There may also be the feeling that with the development of Sabrina Ionescu and Jonquel Jones hopefully healthy for a full season, Stewart may not be needed to push herself quite as hard over the course of the regular season as in other recent years. Maybe the panel is expecting her to drop off a tiny bit in the season where she'll turn 30. Maybe it's just that the most recent memory people had of her was a run of playoff games where her shooting wasn't at its usual standards. Whatever the reasons, last year's MVP falls at No. 3. Opponents better hope she doesn't hear about it and let that fuel her for 2024.

Connecticut Sun forward Alyssa Thomas (25) boxes out New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart (30). Photo credit: Chris Poss

#2 Alyssa Thomas

"The Engine" comes in at No. 2, the same spot she finished in MVP voting last year (despite receiving the most first place votes). Thomas has had a fascinating pro career. She spent her first three years in Connecticut as a pretty good player, but no more than that. Everyone wondered if she'd ever develop a jump shot so that she could be a more dangerous wing. Then early in her fourth season, Morgan Tuck got hurt. Curt Miller didn't really have anyone else he wanted to play at the 4, so Thomas slid over to give it a shot. The rest, as they say, is history. Her blend of physicality and creativity as an undersized post makes her a practically unique player, able to be wildly effective in manufacturing offense both for herself and her teammates, even though she never did develop that jump shot. The last couple of years she's risen a further level, acting as such a primary hub for the Sun that she's been top five in assists per game both years, only narrowly trailing Courtney Vandersloot for the league lead in 2023.

She's essentially a point forward at this stage (or with Brionna Jones out for most of last year, often a point center). A versatile and bruising defender as well, the only real knock on her is that she doesn't directly score as many points as the players around her in this range of the list. Also, while she's so good that you often forget the deficiency, still only having a shooting range out to maybe 10 feet means her presence somewhat dictates how the team has to play. Fortunately for her, the Sun, and the viewing public, teams with her leading the way tend to win a lot of games.

#1 A'ja Wilson

Las Vegas Aces center A'ja Wilson. Photo credit: Chris Poss

She may have finished third in MVP voting last year, but after another dominant playoff run that ended with a back-to-back championship, our panel projects Wilson as the best player in the WNBA in 2024. It's not hard to see why. Wilson has been an elite performer ever since coming into the league in 2018, scoring at will from 15 feet and in, while providing athletic post defense and strong rebounding. While she already had an MVP trophy from the 2020 season, the last couple of years she's stepped up another notch, becoming even more efficient and unstoppable on the offensive end while winning back-to-back Defensive Player of the Year awards. Obviously, she now has a lot of star-level help in Las Vegas - three other players in the top 13 of this list - but it's a virtuous circle. They may be helping create room for her, but she's also helping them a lot with the attention she draws from defenses and her rim protection at the other end.

Shooting 56% from the field last season, comfortably the highest of her career, was scary for the rest of the league. It came with a significant drop off in the threes she'd started to take the year before, but additional free throws made up the difference. At 27 years old it indicated a player who's still getting better and refining her game, which may also have played a part in giving her the edge over Thomas and Stewart for our panel. No WNBA team had won back-to-back titles in over 20 years until the Aces did it last year. Wilson will be looking to lead her squad to yet more history in 2024.

Thanks for joining us for 2024's Ranking the W. If you want to check out all the entries, we had an introduction piece that included honorable mentions and some significant names who missed out, a 50-26 piece, a 25-11, yesterday's 10-6, and then everything you just read above. Hope everyone enjoyed the exercise, maybe combined with just a little bit of anger about what you think the 'experts' got wrong. Feel free to let us know how you feel. Nicely, please.

---

Thanks for reading the Her Hoop Stats Newsletter. If you like our work, be sure to check out our stats site, our podcast, and our social media accounts on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.