Top 20 WNBA Player Rankings After 2025 Unrivaled Season

10. Kahleah Copper, Wing, Phoenix Mercury

Kicking off the top 10, Copper is fresh off the most productive season of her career. She posted career highs in points (21.1) and assists (2.3) while putting together a strong Clutch Player of the Year case (2nd in points while converting nearly 58% of her shots) if the award existed on the W side.

Copper’s season-long defense naturally took a hit with the heightened offensive burden, but the clamps are still there when needed. With the talent influx in Phoenix, we may get to see more of that defensive value return—as well as her cutting chops offensively.

9. Jackie Young, Wing, Las Vegas Aces

It was an interesting year for Young as the Aces worked to find themselves on both ends. Young assumed more on-ball usage due to Gray’s early absence. That led to some process growth that should bode well moving forward—she became a more daring passer (career high 5.3 assists) and was much more willing to fire from deep (attempted a career high 5.6 3s, particularly when defenders went under screens, for example—but it didn’t lead to the cleanest year overall.

Her efficiency dropped pretty drastically last year, from an absurd 65.7 True Shooting mark to a still-solid 55.7, due to defenses ramping up the pressure and the basic truth of Young having to create for herself more. Over 44 percent of Young’s baskets were self-created last season, easily her highest mark since becoming a full-time starter in 2021. And because her offensive role shifted to this degree, she was far from her usual All-Defense level exploits.

(And on top of all that, we learned during the postseason that Young had been playing through injury since the Gold Medal game.)

A healthier Young should be a better Young.

8. Jonquel Jones, Big, New York Liberty

Jones finally “completed” her WNBA resumé last season, adding a title and Finals MVP to a scroll that includes an MVP, Sixth Woman of the Year, Most Improved Player and multiple All-WNBA and All-Defense selections.

She’s as dynamic as they come at the center spot: a menace on the block (1.13 PPP, 2nd among high volume post players per Second Spectrum), silky-shooting threat from distance (38.8% on 3.9 attempts last season), glass-cleaner on both ends, and a coverage-versatile defender. She’s had to scale her game up and down during her stint in New York; that isn’t an easy ask, but she’s handled the push-and-pull with grace.

It’s worth keeping an eye on Jones’ handling of double-teams—there’s room for more growth and consistency there—but she is undoubtedly one of the best players in the league.

7. Nneka Ogwumike, Forward, Seattle Storm

For my money, Ogwumike is the most underrated star in the league. The player with the strongest counter argument will, funny enough, appear in a couple of slides. It’s a label oxymoronic by nature, but true in my experience covering the league and monitoring award conversations.

Ogwumike was All-Defense good, arguably the best hedge defender in the league as part of Seattle’s aggressive ball screen ethos. She generated steals at a top-three clip (1.9) and disrupted many more possessions with her timing and understanding of angles. Offensively, Ogwumike was one of the most effective post players in the league (1.1 PPP, 3rd among high volume players per Second Spectrum) while serving as a low-ish volume spacer when asked (40.5% on 2.0 3s).

Her season ended in tough fashion in the opening round of the playoffs, with a mix of uncharacteristic misses and Aces double teams thwarting her. Still, Ogwumike can wear many hats on either side of the floor—and do so at a high level.

6. Sabrina Ionescu, Guard, New York Liberty

Somewhat similar to Young’s season, we saw a great deal of process improvement and game refinement from Ionescu that may be missed if you simply look at her box score.

Ionescu didn’t knock down threes at her usual level (33.3% on 8.4 attempts), but that largely didn’t change how teams defended her. More importantly, Ionescu leveraged the threat of her shot to further unlock her playmaking, and to become dangerous as a downhill threat.

She sought out and played through contact better. Crucially, she became more comfortable with floaters and short pull-ups, giving her a much-needed counter when teams ran her off the line and attempted to barricade the rim. Even more quietly, Ionescu grew as a defender. She was placed on a little bit of everyone last year, mostly as a vehicle to empower Breanna Stewart (and others) in cross matches, but that gambit wouldn’t have worked quite as well without Ionescu holding up her end of the bargain.

A fun stat from Second Spectrum: Ionescu was one of 60 players to defend at least 100 drives last season. Ionescu’s points-per-possession allowed (0.9 PPP) and blow-by rate (24.5) figures were lower than Napheesa Collier’s (0.91 PPP and 26.1 respectively).

No reasonable mind would argue that Ionescu was or is better than last year’s DPOY; New York’s ability to shrink the floor behind her obviously helped both of her numbers. But that she was even within this range speaks to the do-your-job level she’s reached on that end.