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The WNBA Rookie of the Year award race has arguably been the league’s most exciting award race to follow over the past few seasons. This is owed to the extraordinary crop of young talent that has entered the league over the last two drafts, who have played an integral part in women’s basketball’s boom in popularity and attention from the rest of the sports world.
In 2024, the Rookie of the Year race was between Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark and Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese. While this race was neck-and-neck at one point (largely because Reese set a WNBA record with 15 consecutive double-doubles at one point), Clark ultimately separated herself as the season progressed and ultimately won the award with ease, in part because Reese missed most of September with a wrist fracture.
The 2025 WNBA Rookie of the Year award race is between Dallas Wings star Paige Bueckers and Washington Mystics standout Sonia Citron. While most believed that Bueckers was the clear favorite through the first half of the season, Citron has been making a great case for herself over the past month or so.
Some of Citron’s closing the gap was because Bueckers has missed several games due to injury this season, which has sparked debate about whether the former UConn Huskies star not playing the entire year should impact where she finishes in the ROTY race.
Paige Bueckers’ WNBA Record Game Sparks Stance From Rebecca Lobo
However, not only is Bueckers fully healthy and back on the court, but she’s playing at an extraordinary level. This is shown by the 44 points she scored against the Los Angeles Sparks on August 20, which is the most points a single player has scored in a WNBA game this season and tied four-time league champion and four-time WNBA Finals MVP Cynthia Cooper’s 28-year-old record for most points in a game by a first-year player, according to ESPN.
It was also the first time in WNBA history that a player scored 40 or more points while shooting 80% or higher from the field.
This seems to have ended the Rookie of the Year debate for women’s basketball icon Rebecca Lobo, who made an X post on August 21 that read, “Paige just put an exclamation mark on Rookie of the Year.”
Paige just put an exclamation mark on Rookie of the Year. https://t.co/LHejHpmuUa
— Rebecca Lobo (@RebeccaLobo) August 21, 2025
It’s hard to disagree with Lobo’s sentiment. Barring a 40-point outing from Citron in one of the Mystics’ final nine games, Bueckers probably put a bow on the Rookie of the Year award on Wednesday night.
