Which improved WNBA player has made the biggest, award-winning leap?

Improvement is essential for every WNBA player. Remaining among the league’s 156 requires a constant, concerted honing of one’s craft. The jump shot can always be smoother. The handle can always be tighter. The passes can always be snappier. The reads can always be quicker. The rotations can always be sharper. The endurance can always be extended.

Being considered one the league’s most improved players, therefore, is an impressive achievement, indicative of extra, unexpected growth in one’s game, when refined skills and a different context often combine to help a player reach a new level.

In 2025, the Golden State Valkyries’ Veronica Burton, the Los Angeles Sparks’ Azurá Stevens and the Seattle Storm’s Gabby Williams are three players who have demonstrated the extraordinary improvement that makes them Most Improved Player candidates. Here’s why:

Veronica Burton (Golden State Valkyries)

The tale of the 2025 Valkyries, an expansion team that has defied all odds and expectations, will be told often as an example of how to run a WNBA organization. From the top down, Golden State has gotten seemingly everything right on its first try, including assembling a roster of players that have created a culture of hard work and tenacity.

None of those players exemplifies the Valkyries’ improbable success quite like Veronica Burton. Once regarded as a defense-first guard who was hesitant to shoot the ball, Burton has made tremendous strides since last season, starting in every one of the Valkyries’ games and posting career-highs across the board: 12 points, 4.5 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 1.1 steals. She’s been able to effectively leverage her physicality into 4.2 free throw attempts per game, and her persistence at the point of attack fuels a Valkyries defense that prides itself on simply outworking its opponents.

Burton is not only having a career year—she’s been one of the best guards in the entire league. For perspective, she’s one of four WNBA players currently averaging at least 10 points, five assists, and 1.5 3-pointers made per game. The others? Kelsey Plum, Sabrina Ionescu and Caitlin Clark. Not bad for a player who had previously played more games as a reserve than as a starter. Burton’s sudden rise has been one of the best stories in the WNBA, and she fits just about any definition of “most improved” that you could come up with. — Eric Nemchock

Azurá Stevens (Los Angeles Sparks)

Azurá Stevens has improved by leaps and bounds this season. She has not only cemented herself as a starter for the Sparks, but she’s a big reason why the team has improved by over 10 wins compared to last season.

Stevens is averaging 13.8 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.2 steals per game. Each of those categories is a career best for the eighth-year forward.

With the 3-point shot becoming increasingly more important, Stevens’ game has evolved. She’s now taking 4.4 attempts from deep per game and converting on 41 percent of them. The fact that she’s never taken this many shots from 3 and is making them at a better rate than she ever has is impressive. Stevens is turning into the kind of big every WNBA team needs.

It’s rare for a player as experienced as Stevens to have a jump like this. Because she’s only playing four more minutes per game compared to last year, it’s not just a matter of more opportunity equals more production; she’s doing more with similar minutes, proving she’s actually improved and not just benefitting from an increase in playing time. When you talk to her head coach Lynne Roberts and her teammates, they all praise Stevens for her play and impact on the Sparks.

The list of players even in the realm of Stevens’ improvement level is small. When you factor in the impact on the Sparks, along with her usage actually decreasing, she has a strong case for MIP this year, and not simply as a candidate but as the favorite to win. — Edwin Garcia

Gabby Williams (Seattle Storm)

Gabby Williams is a strong, under-the-radar candidate for Most Improved Player this season. The Storm look primed to make a run at their second-straight postseason after an out-of-character 2023 campaign, and Williams has been instrumental in their success this season after missing the majority of the past two WNBA seasons due to other commitments.

Williams, who notched her first All-Star appearance this season, has been a true hooper on both ends of the floor for this Storm squad. Currently averaging 11.9 points, 4.2 assists and 4.4 rebounds on a 43 percent shooting clip while also playing suffocating defense with 2.3 steals a game, she has become a Swiss Army knife for Seattle, tagging career highs in nearly every major statistical category. The impact and growth displayed by Williams this season doesn’t stop at a possible Most Improved candidacy; she’s also further establishing herself as one of the best defenders in the league, leading the league in deflections and only five steals away from having the record for MOST steals in a season in WNBA history.

A solid chunk of Williams’ case for MIP will boil down to whether or not the Storm can secure a postseason nod, which they’re currently in a prime position to achieve. If the Storm can close out the season on a high note with solid showings from Williams, I would not be surprised to see Williams be a high-bidder for this award. — Mykah Horrell