WNBA Defensive Player of the Year Award

The Women's National Basketball Association's Defensive Player of the Year Award is an annual Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) award given since the league's inaugural season -- 1997, to the top defensive player of the regular season. The winner is selected by a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States, each of whom casts a vote for first, second and third place selections. Each first-place vote is worth five points; each second-place vote is worth three points; and each third-place vote is worth one point. The player with the highest point total, regardless of the number of first-place votes, wins the award.

Tamika Catchings has won the defensive player of the year award more times than any other player with the record of 5.^[1]

Winners

	Denotes player who is still active in the WNBA
	Inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame
	Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
	Denotes player whose team won championship that year
Player (X)	Denotes the number of times the player has won
Team (X)	Denotes the number of times a player from this team has won

Season	Player	Position	Nationality	Team
1997	Teresa Weatherspoon	Guard	United States	New York Liberty
1998	Teresa Weatherspoon (2)	Guard	United States	New York Liberty (2)
1999	Yolanda Griffith	Center	United States	Sacramento Monarchs
2000	Sheryl Swoopes	Guard / Forward	United States	Houston Comets
2001	Debbie Black	Guard	United States	Miami Sol
2002	Sheryl Swoopes (2)	Guard / Forward	United States	Houston Comets (2)
2003	Sheryl Swoopes (3)	Guard / Forward	United States	Houston Comets (3)
2004	Lisa Leslie	Center	United States	Los Angeles Sparks
2005	Tamika Catchings	Forward	United States	Indiana Fever
2006	Tamika Catchings (2)	Forward	United States	Indiana Fever (2)
2007	Lauren Jackson	Forward / Center	Australia	Seattle Storm
2008	Lisa Leslie (2)	Center[2]	United States	Los Angeles Sparks (2)
2009	Tamika Catchings (3)	Forward	United States	Indiana Fever (3)
2010	Tamika Catchings (4)	Forward	United States	Indiana Fever (4)
2011	Sylvia Fowles	Center[3]	United States	Chicago Sky
2012	Tamika Catchings (5)	Forward	United States	Indiana Fever (5)
2013	Sylvia Fowles (2)	Center[3]	United States	Chicago Sky (2)
2014	Brittney Griner	Center	United States	Phoenix Mercury
2015	Brittney Griner (2)	Center	United States	Phoenix Mercury (2)
2016	Sylvia Fowles (3)	Center[3]	United States	Minnesota Lynx
2017	Alana Beard	Guard / Forward[4]	United States	Los Angeles Sparks (3)
2018	Alana Beard (2)	Guard / Forward[5]	United States	Los Angeles Sparks (4)
2019	Natasha Howard	Guard / Forward[6]	United States	Seattle Storm (2)
2020	Candace Parker	Forward / Center[7]	United States	Los Angeles Sparks (5)
2021	Sylvia Fowles (4)	Center[8]	United States	Minnesota Lynx (2)
2022	A'ja Wilson	Forward[9]	United States	Las Vegas Aces
2023	A'ja Wilson (2)	Forward[10]	United States	Las Vegas Aces (2)
2024	Napheesa Collier	Forward[11]	United States	Minnesota Lynx (3)

Multi-time winners

Awards	Player	Team(s)	Years
5	Tamika Catchings	Indiana Fever	2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2012
4	Sylvia Fowles	Chicago Sky / Minnesota Lynx	2011, 2013, 2016, 2021
3	Sheryl Swoopes	Houston Comets	2000, 2002, 2003
2	Teresa Weatherspoon	New York Liberty	1997, 1998
	Lisa Leslie	Los Angeles Sparks	2004, 2008
	Brittney Griner	Phoenix Mercury	2014, 2015
	Alana Beard	Los Angeles Sparks	2017, 2018
	A'ja Wilson	Las Vegas Aces	2022, 2023

See also

• List of sports awards honoring women

References

1. "Saying Goodbye to WNBA Great Tamika Catchings". Archived from the original on October 2, 2016. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
2. "WNBA.com: Los Angeles' Lisa Leslie Named 2008 WNBA Defensive Player of the Year". www.wnba.com. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
3. "Sylvia Fowles wins WNBA Defensive Player of the Year". September 30, 2016. Retrieved October 1, 2016.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
4. "Los Angeles' Alana Beard Named 2017 WNBA Defensive Player of the Year". wnba.com. WNBA. September 12, 2017. Archived from the original on September 13, 2017. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
5. "Sparks' Alana Beard Named 2018 Defensive Player Of The Year" (Press release). WNBA. August 30, 2018. Archived from the original on August 30, 2018. Retrieved August 30, 2018.
6. "Seattle's Natasha Howard Named 2019 WNBA Defensive Player Of The Year" (Press release). WNBA. September 11, 2019. Archived from the original on October 1, 2019. Retrieved September 11, 2019.
7. "Candace Parker Named 2020 WNBA Defensive Player Of The Year". wnba.com. WNBA. September 24, 2020. Archived from the original on October 2, 2020. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
8. "Sylvia Fowles Named 2021 WNBA Defensive Player Of The Year". Archived from the original on September 26, 2021. Retrieved September 26, 2021.
9. "Las Vegas Aces' A'ja Wilson Named 2022 Kia WNBA Defensive Player Of The Year". wnba.com. WNBA. August 30, 2022. Archived from the original on August 30, 2022. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
10. "Aces star A'ja Wilson wins second straight DPOY award". ESPN. September 22, 2023. Archived from the original on September 22, 2023. Retrieved September 22, 2023.
11. "Napheesa Collier Named 2024 WNBA Defensive Player of the Year". Minnesota Lynx. September 29, 2024. Retrieved September 29, 2024.

• "WNBA Defensive Player of the Year". Retrieved January 19, 2009.