One voter thought Caitlin Clark should not have been WNBA Rookie of the Year

Caitlin Clark brought home the WNBA’s 2024 Rookie of the Year award, which wasn’t a surprise for most basketball fans. How she came to win the award, however, has provided an unexpected twist to the story. All statistics are sourced from Basketball Reference.

The WNBA uses a voting and points system to determine who wins their major awards at the end of the season. There are 67 votes for each award. After the season, 66 voters cast their selection for Caitlin Clark to win the award after her record-breaking season with the Indiana Fever.

Of course, simple math would tell us that one person believed that Clark was not the best first-year player in the WNBA during the 2024 season.

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The one vote that Clark did not receive went to Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese, who averaged 13 points and 13 rebounds per game in a record-breaking season of her own.

Reese’s rookie year was cut short due to injury, as she hurt her wrist in early September. She ended up playing six fewer games than Clark during the regular season.

Had Clark been the unanimous choice for Rookie of the Year, she would have been just the fifth player in league history to accomplish the feat, according to Marca.

ESPN sports personality Shannon Sharpe was perplexed by the results. He said on his podcast, “I don’t understand how you come to the conclusion that Caitlin Clark should not be the unanimous choice.”

The 67 votes are cast from members of the national media who closely cover the WNBA, as Bleacher Report and others have noted. However, the way in which each person on the panel voted has not yet been disclosed. One former women’s college basketball player and current ESPN basketball analyst wants this to change.

Andraya Carter said on the network, “Hats off to Caitlin, but it should have been unanimous, but I’ll stop there.” But she didn’t stop there. Carter later said, “If you were the person who had that one vote, you should be able to stand on it, and we should know who you are.”

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Former WNBA All-Star and fellow ESPN basketball analyst Chiney Ogwumike said, “Ever since Angel Reese had that injury, and also coming off of the Olympic break, Caitlin Clark separated herself. She should have been unanimous.”

Angel Reese was a rebounding machine for the Chicago Sky this season, as she posted a record setting streak of double-doubles. However, Chicago did not qualify for the WNBA postseason. Meanwhile, Clark’s Fever made the playoffs, but were ousted in the first round by the Connecticut Sun.

Although the votes and the consensus opinion tended to tilt in Clark’s favor, some notable followers of the WNBA thought Reese was a legitimate choice for the award midway through the season.

WNBA legend Dawn Staley said in July 2024 that Reese was undoubtedly the Rookie of the Year, as captured by Bleacher Report. This was just before the Olympic break.

As covered by Athlon Sports, Reese posted to social media shortly after Rookie of the Year votes were announced. Reese wrote, “I really just be minding my business cause it’s a lot to mind.”

Clark told the Associated Press, “I’m a tough grader. I feel like I had a solid year. For me, the fun part is I feel like I’m just scratching the surface and I’m the one that’s nitpicking every single thing I do.”

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There is precedent for a voter to make an error in basketball award voting. As captured by USA Today, former NBA player and analyst Mark Jackson accidentally left Nikola Jokic off of the MVP ballot during the 2022-2023 campaign. “I made an honest mistake with my MVP votes,” he later said on a radio show.