The 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year rankings are always good to start looking at before the All Star break. So far, we’ve seen star rookies Caitlin Clark from the Indiana Fever and Angel Reese from the Chicago Sky lead the way in their draft class by setting their own individual rookie records. Cameron Brink (LA Sparks) was a dark horse; rocking and rolling too before she tore her ACL in mid-June. Even with Brink, it the WNBA Rookie of the Year race has come down to Angel and Caitlin, and it’s a lot closer than one would have expected when the season started. Let’s review Reese and Clark’s cases for ROTY and see who has the edge on winning the 2024 WNBA ROY this year.
How is the 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year Chosen?
Let’s back up a bit and look at how the award is given. Similar to how the NBA votes on the Finals MVP, the WNBA Rookie of the Year is picked by a panel of sportswriters. They are located all around the US so we don’t have too much favoritism for one’s favorite team. They vote for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place for the WNBA ROY award. A first place vote is worth 5 points, seconds are 3 points, and thirds are worth one point. Whoever gets the most points wins — easy peasey, right?
The WNBA Rookie of the Year award has been around since 1998. In that time, we’ve seen Cheryl Ford and Maya Moore win the ROY and a WNBA Ship in the same season. We probably aren’t in danger of that in 2024…but we’ll see!
Who are the Top WNBA Rookies in 2024?
With the injury to Brink, we’re pretty much down to five rookies to track for 2024. As we mentioned it comes down to Reese and Clark are leading the way as was the case when they were both in college living campus life, doing math, learning history, write my essay, practicing after classes and just living the life of a college student.
The other names that have bubbled up a few times over the season is Angel’s teammate, Kamilla Cardoso (Chicago Sky), Aaliyah Edwards (Washington Mystics), and Rickea Jackson (LA Sparks). They are all doing great things this season, but at this point it’ll be either Angel or Caitlin who brings home the 2024 WNBA ROY award.
Angel Reese’s 2024 WNBA Performance
Angel Reese is having an awesome year so far in the WNBA and I’ll be the first to admit I didn’t know how her game would translate as the #7 overall pick. To most everyone’s surprise, Reese is averaging a strong double double. This is despite her being only 6-3 tall. As of this post, she’s putting up 14.1 points and 11.9 rebounds per game. Angel is in the midst of a WNBA record with 13 consecutive double-doubles easily surpassing Candace Parker, who in the 2015 season had 9 double doubles in a row for the Los Angeles Sparks.
Let’s not overlook Reese’s almost 2 assists and 1.5 steals per game too. Any other WNBA season, and we’re not talking about anyone else. She’s going to be a force in the W for a long while. She was just selected as the Rookie of the Month for June too.
Caitlin Clark’s 2024 WNBA Performance
Despite a really rough start, the Indiana Fever are finally coming together. And Caitlin Clark has been the one leading the Fever. Clark continues to set records including becoming the first WNBA rookie to ever record a triple double in her first season. She’s averaging a healthy 16.2 PPG, 5.7 RPG, and 6.9 assists per game at the time of this writing. On the defensive side of things, 1.4 steals a game and almost a block a game. If anything, her 3 point % is a tad low (for her) at 34.6 %. Caitlin was name WNBA Rookie of the Month in May.
Who will Win the 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year?
On any given day it’s a tossup.
What makes it even more difficult is they both play fundamentally different positions and have very different styles of play too.
At the end of he day if both Clark and Reese continue to produce as they are, it may come down to which of their teams win the most. If there’s a 5+ game separation between the teams, that may well determine the Rookie of the Year. That’s not the case as of this post. The Chicago Sky (*-12) and Indiana Fever (9-13) are in the middle of the league standings so we can’t really use win-loss to help determine which player deserves the award based on winning.
In addition to Caitlin Clark’s performance and all-around play, the fact that Clark is constantly being double-teamed and the focus of the opponent’s defensive strategy, no doubt that Clark’s popularity coming into the WNBA has impacted the league is a multitude of positive ways. There’s been increased interest in the league, attendance records are being broken whenever Clark is in town, and not to mention that WNBA All-Star votes are up 600% over 2023. Should cultural impact matter when it comes to voting for the WNBA Rookie of the Year? If so, there’s no denying that Clark deserves the Rookie of the Year award. There hasn’t been a player that has had this much influence in the WNBA (for a variety of reasons that we won’t delve into).
Understanding that, if they were to vote today based on on-court performance; Interbasket would vote for Reese. Angel’s consistency and interior dominance has not only been a surprise but something we haven’t seen before. Not Candace Parker. Not Sylvia Fowles. Not Tamika Catchings. Not Brittany Griner. Not Lisa Leslie.
Angel’s rebounding is setting a new bar. In fact, Reese’s 11.85 rebounds per game is just short of the highest rebounding average in WNBA history — just a pinch off from Fowle’s 11.88 rebounds per game in 2018. Not only that, from what we’ve seen from the writers who vote that’s where the votes are going.
All that said, we can sit here and argue the numbers and accolades and records and try essay service as EssayLTD to come up with a case for Clark or Reese, but we should all calm down. Even with Caitlin Clark’s and Angel Reese’s armies of devoted followers lobbying for their favorite, we have another half of the season (and an Olympic break) before it’s time to pick the 2024 Rookie of the Year.
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