FILE PHOTO: 2016 Rio Olympics – Basketball – Preliminary – Women’s Preliminary Round Group B Canada v USA – Youth Arena – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – 12/08/2016. Elena Delle Donne (USA) of USA pauses during the game. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
Washington Mystics forward-guard Elena Delle Donne is the 2019 WNBA Most Valuable Player, making her the first player to win the league’s top individual honor with two different teams.
She was crowned the 2015 MVP with the Chicago Sky.
Delle Donne received 41 of 43 first place votes and a total of 420 points from a national panel of writers and broadcasters. Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner was second with 167 points, followed by Connecticut Sun forward-center Jonquel Jones (145) and Los Angeles Sparks forward Nneka Ogwumike (128). Sky guard Courtney Vandersloot received the other two first place votes and was sixth in balloting.
“My growth from my first MVP to this one is a big difference,” Delle Donne told ESPN. “Before, I felt like I was just a scorer and wasn’t making my teammates better around me. Whereas now, I’m much more efficient and better at finding others.
“And if you make others better, it ends up making your job easier. I think I’ve learned so much over my career, and the reason I don’t sit down and say, ‘Oh, that’s great; I’m so excited,’ is because I want to do more.”
Delle Donne, 30, led Washington to a league-best 26-8 record and the No. 1 seed in the playoffs. She will receive her award Thursday night before the Mystics host the Las Vegas Aces in Game 2 of their best-of-five semifinal series. Washington leads 1-0.
The Delaware native averaged 19.5 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.3 blocked shots in 31 games this season and became the first player in WNBA history to shoot at least 50 percent from the field, 40 percent from 3-point range and 90 percent from the free-throw line.
Delle Donne is the sixth player to win multiple MVP trophies, joining three-time winners Lauren Jackson, Lisa Leslie and Sheryl Swoopes and fellow two-time recipients Cynthia Cooper and Candace Parker.
—Field Level Media