Caitlin Clark, A'ja Wilson open as co-favorites to win WNBA MVP

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Yahoo Sports Daily hosts Caroline Fenton and Jason Fitz react to the preseason odds to win WNBA MVP and why Caitlin Clark shouldn’t be a co-favorite with A’ja Wilson. Watch the full episode of Yahoo Sports Daily on YouTube or YahooSports.TV.

Video Transcript

These are your early odds on WNBA MVP.

And you see right there, Caitlin Clark at plus 260 and A’ja Wilson also at plus 260.

And this shows you that we have co-favorites, which is a little surprising, or is it?

That’s what we’re gonna figure out, as we are only a few weeks away from the season starting.

And Caroline, I just keep thinking about name recognition, public money, versus actual MVP odds, right?

Because Caitlin certainly- everybody’s on Caitlin Clark.

There’s no doubt she’s the biggest star in the W. But do you agree that she should be the shortest odds, tied for the shortest odds to be the MVP?

I don’t.

And look, everybody take a chill pill, okay?

Just because I don’t think Caitlin Clark should have the best odds to be MVP doesn’t mean that I hate Caitlin Clark, okay?

‘Cause I don’t.

I love Caitlin.

Caitlin is the biggest star in the league.

Caitlin is a massive reason why the WNBA just cashed in on that massive CBA.

She commands eyeballs, which means she’s brought so many eyeballs and so much popularity to this, to this sport.

But also, let’s not forget, Caitlin only has one full season of the WNBA under her belt.

She was hurt for a majority of last season.

Kelsey Mitchell was the most important player on that team last year.

And I know, if Caitlin was healthy, would things have been different?

Of course, yeah, I think that’s very fair to say.

But things weren’t different, and that is how it was.

And Kelsey Mitchell, I think v- very much so, had a strong case to be MVP this past season.

Now, A’ja Wilson got, won MVP and deserved MVP, but Kelsey Mitchell was a finalist, and for very good reason.

So if Caitlin wasn’t even the most impactful or important player on her team last year, how can I say that she should have the best odds to win MVP?

I think if we wanna talk about best odds for MVP, A’ja Wilson should be alone at the top.

Because she very, she was, she No player was more important to one team than A’ja Wilson was to the Vegas Aces last year, and they won a championship in large part because of her.

Now, I understand how betting markets work.

I understand that they’re trying to play into the public, and a lot of public will put money on Caitlin Clark.

I, I understand that.

It’s not just about who’s deserving to be, to have the best odds to win MVP.

There’s business to this.

There’s skyscrapers in the desert for a reason.

But just based off of the information that we have now, look, can Caitlin Clark be an MVP?

100%.

We’ve seen that with USA Basketball this past, this past couple of Mar- of months.

Would I be surprised if Caitlin won MVP?

No, ’cause that’s the kind of player that she is.

But based on the information that we have now and what we know now, I don’t think that she should be co-MVP favorites with A’ja Wilson