WNBA MVP voter shares why Caitlin Clark wasn’t in his top 5
· Yahoo Sports
One WNBA voter is finally explaining why he didn’t put Caitlin Clark in his top five for MVP.
Visit iwanktv.club for more information.
A’ja Wilson locking up her fifth MVP wasn’t a shocker to anyone, but the online chatter blew up when the final standings showed Caitlin Clark dropping down to fourth.
Finishing behind Lynx rookie Olivia Miles and her own teammate Kelsey Mitchell had fans completely split. When someone posts numbers like Clark’s and drives that much eye-level noise for the league, landing outside the top three instantly sparks talk about voter fatigue and people having an agenda against her, no matter what the box score actually says.
WNBA MVP voter explains Caitlin Clark snub
One WNBA voter is getting some heat after explaining why he left Caitlin Clark completely off his top-five MVP ballot. Rather than putting two teammates from a sixth-place squad on his card, he picked Kelsey Mitchell over Clark, pointing to Mitchell’s elite scoring efficiency and taking shots at Clark’s turnovers.
‘I voted A’ja Wilson for MVP. Easy: No player did more for their team on both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor.
‘Less easy: sorting the rest of the ballot. I went with… 1. A’ja Wilson 2. Olivia Miles 3. Kelsey Mitchell 4. Breanna Stewart 5. Paige Bueckers.
‘Deciding whether two players from the same team (a team that finished sixth) should be on the Most Valuable Player ballot, and choosing which one to pick, was difficult. It was reasonable and justified to vote for both Clark and Mitchell; I ultimately felt like picking one was the right path.
‘I hope we don’t forget the season Mitchell had. No guard, other than Mitchell this season, has ever averaged more than 18 points per game on at least 64% true shooting. In words: Mitchell had the most efficient high-volume scoring season from a guard in WNBA history.
‘I had to pick nits between her and Clark. It also felt like Mitchell was trusted with more difficult matchups on the defensive end and she wasn’t hunted as often as Clark was. And while Clark’s playmaking is otherworldly and turnovers come with the territory, I still felt like Clark’s turnovers were costly. (There are good arguments for Clark over Mitchell, too. Clark’s overall offensive creation burden is higher, she was also efficient, and it’s hard to untangle Mitchell’s success from Clark’s presence.)’
Sure, that reasoning makes sense on paper if you’re just staring at a spreadsheet, but completely discounting the amount of defensive pressure Clark draws to give Mitchell those wide-open lanes is crazy.
Picking between teammates on a fringe playoff team is fine, but completely erasing Clark from the card just feels like massive overthinking.
Read more: