WNBA end-of-season awards lookahead spotlights Most Improved Player finalists Shakira Austin, Carla Leite, Marina Mabrey, Dominique Malonga and Jessica Shepard

The WNBA has turned its attention to the End-of-Season Awards race with a look at the league’s Most Improved Player contenders as the 2026 regular season closes on Thursday. In a release focused on five leading candidates, the league noted that three of the finalists are on new teams in 2026, including two players on expansion franchises. The league also specified that the candidates are listed alphabetically, with stats and rankings reflecting games played through Monday, Sept. 21.

Shakira Austin of the Washington Mystics was among the five players highlighted, with the league describing her continued upward trajectory since entering the WNBA as the No. 3 overall pick in the 2022 WNBA Draft. The WNBA said Austin’s scoring increased each season—moving from 8.7 points per game as a rookie to 10.0, 11.8 and 12.7 last year—before jumping to 17.0 points per game in 2026, a mark the league said ranks 14th in the WNBA. The league also emphasized her rebounding progress, stating Austin is at a career peak of 9.4 rebounds per game, which the WNBA reported is fourth in the league, after averaging 6.4 rebounds a season ago. The release further pointed to Austin’s double-double production, noting 19 double-doubles that rank fourth in the WNBA and are described by the league as five more than she recorded in her first four seasons combined.

Alongside those totals, the WNBA highlighted how Austin’s production has risen even without a corresponding increase in usage. The release said Austin’s scoring (+37.1%) and rebounding (+46.9%) increases are far greater than her minutes increase (+28.3%), and it added that her usage rate (26.0%) actually dropped from 28.3% a season ago. The WNBA presented that shift as a key part of its Most Improved Player framing, pairing increased output with stable or reduced possession share.

Carla Leite was the second listed candidate, and the WNBA tied her case to a 2024 draft-and-roster path that included time overseas before her WNBA debut. The league recounted that after Dallas selected Leite with the ninth pick in the 2024 Draft, she chose to stay overseas, and after the 2024 season the Wings left her unprotected in the expansion draft, where the Valkyries selected her for their inaugural roster. In 2026, the WNBA said Leite was again left unprotected in the expansion draft, this time leading to Portland Fire selecting her with the third overall pick amid selection also by Toronto Tempo and the release said she has become an emerging standout guard in Portland.

The league described Leite’s statistical jump as both scoring and playmaking. The WNBA said Leite posted 16 points and 6.3 assists per game in 2026, and it noted that only Caitlin Clark, Sabrina Ionescu, Skylar Diggins, Candace Parker and Diana Taurasi had previously logged seasons with 16-and-6 outputs before this year, as listed by the release. The league also said Leite has more than doubled her scoring average (+122.2%) and tripled her assist average (+215%) in 2026, while minutes increased by 50.6%.

Marina Mabrey, listed as the third candidate, was presented by the WNBA as a case where the improvement was tied less to increased playing time and more to what the league called the right opportunity. The release said Mabrey did not see an increase in minutes in 2026 compared to 2025, but that joining the expansion Toronto Tempo—her fifth team in eight WNBA seasons—coincided with a major scoring rise. The WNBA described her transformation from a veteran averaging 13.3 to 15 points per game over her previous five seasons into what the league called a top-five scorer at 20.8 points per game in 2026.

The league also highlighted standout scoring milestones for Mabrey. The WNBA said she tied the WNBA single-game scoring record with a 53-point performance against L.A. on June 25, and it added that she produced six 30-point games across 32 contests in 2026, compared with four such games in her first seven seasons. In addition, the release said Mabrey leads the WNBA in 3-pointers made per game (3.3) and recorded two of the nine games in WNBA history featuring nine or more made threes, adding that Kayla McBride is the only player with more in a single game (10 triples on Aug. 9, as cited by the league).

Dominique Malonga was the fourth listed Most Improved Player candidate, and the WNBA framed her development as a progression from limited minutes to league recognition at a young age. The release stated that Malonga went from flashes of potential as a 19-year-old rookie to becoming the youngest WNBA All-Star selection in league history as a 20-year-old sophomore. It then described how the Seattle Storm entered 2026 with a youth movement and a reset built around Malonga and rookies Awa Fam and Flau’jae Johnson.

According to the WNBA, Malonga made the most of that change by moving from seventh on the team in scoring and shots as a rookie to leading the team in both categories. The league said her 2026 efficiency includes more field goals made (6.6) than attempts (6.3) compared with a season ago attempt rate, emphasizing a shift in the relationship between how often she gets shots and how many she converts. The WNBA also noted that Malonga was voted midseason as a reserve for the 2026 All-Star Game by the league’s coaches.

As 2026 winds down, the WNBA provided rankings and positional impact markers for Malonga. The release said she ranks 15th in scoring, eighth in rebounding, seventh in blocks and fourth in points in the paint, and it pointed to her age as leaving room for further growth. The league’s inclusion of those rankings was presented as part of its end-of-season awards lookahead rather than as a forecast of the eventual winner.

Jessica Shepard was the final candidate named by the WNBA in its Most Improved Player lookahead. The league opened her section by pointing to the rarity of her current multi-category production, stating that the only players to average at least 14 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in a WNBA season are Candace Parker in 2015 and Shepard in 2026, characterizing it as the full list. The WNBA then described Shepard’s impact across multiple facets of the game since she arrived in Dallas as a free agent in 2026.

The release said Shepard began the season with one career triple-double over her first five seasons combined (125 games), and that during 2026—described as her first season as a full-time starter—she recorded five triple-doubles. The WNBA stated that five triple-doubles lead the league for 2026 and give her more career triple-doubles than any player in WNBA history outside of Alyssa Thomas (23), as referenced by the release. It also included detailed category rankings, saying Shepard ranks second in rebounds (11.1) and double-doubles (24), third in efficiency rating (23.9), fifth in field goal percentage (57.0%) and 11th in assists (5.1).

To quantify year-to-year growth, the WNBA reported that Shepard’s points (+78.8%), rebounds (+52.1%), assists (+96.2%) and efficiency (+70%) increases all surpass her increase in playing time (+51.7%). The league also stated she more than doubled her double-doubles (+140%) and recorded a larger increase in triple-doubles (+400%). The WNBA’s release presented these comparisons as part of its Most Improved Player framework, with all stats and rankings tied to games played through Monday, Sept. 21.

Overall, the WNBA’s Most Improved Player lookahead identified five players—Austin, Leite, Mabrey, Malonga and Shepard—each with a distinct pathway to improvement in 2026. The league’s release emphasized that three of the candidates are on new teams in 2026 and that two are on expansion franchises, setting up a focused award discussion as the regular season ends this Thursday.

The WNBA also specified that the candidates are listed alphabetically and that the analysis is based on stats and rankings through games played on Monday, Sept. 21. The league’s release did not name a winner, instead presenting the group as top candidates for Most Improved Player entering the end-of-season awards discussion.

Written by Vancouver Television Sports Desk