September 30, 2021
Kelsey Plum named sixth player of the year
By Tee Baker
Las Vegas Aces General Manager repeats as top executive
Las Vegas Aces guard Kelsey Plum is the WNBA’s sixth player of the year, the league announced today. Plum earned the honor for the first time in her career.
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To be eligible for the sixth player of the year, a player must come off the bench in more games than they start. Plum, who came off the bench in each game she played in this season, earned 41 of 49 possible votes from a national panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. Dearica Hamby (five votes), Marina Mabrey (2 votes) and Natisha Hiedeman (1 vote) were the other players who received votes from the panel. Hamby, Plum’s Aces teammate, won the award in both the 2019 and 2020 seasons.
Plum played 663 minutes in 26 games this season. She averaged 14.8 points, 3.6 assists, 2.5 rebounds and 1.0 steal a game. The number one overall pick in the 2017 WNBA draft; played a major role in leading the Aces to a 24-8 regular-season record and the No. 2 overall seed in the playoffs. She was the WNBA’s Western Conference Player of the Month in September. And Player of the Week for the final week of the regular season. This summer, Plum also won a gold medal with the 3×3 basketball team in the Tokyo Olympics.
⚡ Instant Offense ⚡
Kelsey Plum named the 2021 @Kia #WNBA Sixth Player of the Year after averaging a career-high 14.8 PPG. She also had two games of at least 30 PTS off the bench, tying a league record 👏#CountIt pic.twitter.com/CePpaKZNGL
— WNBA (@WNBA) September 30, 2021
Aces GM is top executive
Las Vegas Aces General Manager (GM) of Basketball Operations Dan Padover was voted the WNBA’s top executive for the second consecutive year. Padover strengthened the Aces roster this past off-season with the additions of unrestricted free agents Chelsea Gray and Riquna Williams.
The top executive was selected by a panel consisting of one executive from each of the league’s twelve teams. Each panelist submitted a ballot with a first, second and third-place vote. Padover got the most ballots (nine) followed by Minnesota Lynx GM and Head Coach Cheryl Reeve (eight ballots) and New York Liberty GM Jonathan Kolb (six ballots).
Written by Tee Baker
Tee has been a contributor to The Next since March Madness 2021 and is currently a contributing editor, BIG EAST beat reporter and curator of historical deep dives.
