WNBA Awards 2026: Full List of Winners as Angel Reese and Janelle Salaün Make History
Angel Reese, Janelle Salaün and Olivia Miles headline the WNBA awards 2026, with five of the league’s major individual honours announced between 28 September and 4 October. Reese became the first Atlanta Dream player to win Defensive Player of the Year, while Salaün was the first unanimous Sixth Player of the Year in league history. The league has yet to announce the Most Valuable Player award, according to CBS Sports.
A national panel of 74 sportswriters and broadcasters votes on all of the awards. Here is the full list of winners so far.
WNBA Awards 2026: Winners at a Glance
- Rookie of the Year: Olivia Miles, Minnesota Lynx (unanimous)
- Coach of the Year: Cheryl Reeve, Minnesota Lynx
- Most Improved Player: Jessica Shepard, Dallas Wings
- Defensive Player of the Year: Angel Reese, Atlanta Dream
- Sixth Player of the Year: Janelle Salaün, Golden State Valkyries (unanimous)
- Still to come: MVP, All-WNBA teams, All-Defensive teams and the All-Rookie team
Angel Reese Wins Defensive Player of the Year
Reese received 46 of the 74 votes, ahead of Golden State’s Gabby Williams on 20 and Las Vegas’s A’ja Wilson on four, the WNBA announced on 1 October.
In her first season in Atlanta, she set several league records. Reese grabbed 521 rebounds, becoming the first player to pass 500 in a season, and collected a record 206 offensive rebounds. She also ranked third in the league for steals with 1.8 per game.
Her mother presented the award. “I’m just happy to be in Atlanta,” Reese said, as quoted by CBS Sports.
Janelle Salaün Makes Sixth Player History
Salaün received all 74 votes, according to the WNBA. The French forward led all reserves with 12.7 points per game and played all 40 of her games off the bench.
She also set three single-season records for a reserve: 509 points, 93 three-pointers and 27 games with at least 10 points. Salaün is the first Golden State player to win the award in only the franchise’s second season.
Olivia Miles and Cheryl Reeve Win WNBA Awards 2026
Miles was also a unanimous choice, taking all 74 votes for Rookie of the Year, Yahoo Sports reported. She averaged 19.8 points, six assists and 4.7 rebounds, and her 790 points broke the WNBA rookie record previously held by Caitlin Clark.
In addition, Miles scored 20 or more points in a rookie-record 22 games and swept every Rookie of the Month award, FOX 9 reported.
Reeve won Coach of the Year for a record fifth time, after previous wins in 2011, 2016, 2020 and 2024. She guided the Lynx to a 33–11 record and the No. 1 seed despite losing Napheesa Collier to ankle surgery for the first half of the season. However, Minnesota were then knocked out by the eighth-seeded Liberty, as we reported in our Liberty Lynx Game 1 story.
Jessica Shepard Named Most Improved Player
The closest race came in Most Improved. Shepard received 29 votes, ahead of Washington’s Shakira Austin on 25 and Portland’s Carla Leite on 11, the Wings announced.
In her first year in Dallas, Shepard averaged 14.5 points, 11.1 rebounds and 5.3 assists. She also led the league with six triple-doubles, CBS Sports reported. Her Dallas team-mate Paige Bueckers had a record season too, as covered in our Paige Bueckers record report.
When Is the WNBA MVP Announced?
The league has not yet confirmed the MVP winner. Even so, the Associated Press named A’ja Wilson its WNBA Player of the Year for a third straight season in late September, while Reese took the AP’s top defensive honour.
Wilson and the Aces are still competing in the semi-finals. Follow the latest in our WNBA playoffs Game 2 preview.
