Two Fever Guards Make the All-WNBA First Team and the Finals-Bound Valkyries Get Zero

Photo: WNBA.com. Caitlin Clark, Indiana Fever guard, official WNBA headshot.

Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell both made the 2026 All-WNBA First Team on Saturday, giving the Indiana Fever two of the five spots on the league's top team. Olivia Miles of the Lynx, Breanna Stewart of the Liberty and A'ja Wilson of the Aces filled out the rest. The Second Team is Shakira Austin of the Mystics, Paige Bueckers of the Wings, Rhyne Howard and Angel Reese of the Dream, and Jackie Young of the Aces.

Count the ten names again. The Golden State Valkyries, a team in the WNBA Finals right now, have none of them.

The ballot that matches the AP almost to the name

The Associated Press released its own All-WNBA teams on Sept. 27, voted on by a 17-member media panel. Its First Team was the same five players the league announced Saturday. Its Second Team differed by one name. The AP had Gabby Williams of Golden State. The league's panel put Austin there instead.

That one swap decides whether the second-best team of the regular season, as WNBA.com described Golden State, has a single All-WNBA player. All-WNBA is a regular-season honor, so nothing Williams has done in the playoffs counts here. Williams started the All-Star Game, finished second to Reese for Defensive Player of the Year and led Golden State at a career-best 14.4 points a game.

Austin averaged 17.0 points and 9.5 rebounds for the youngest team in the league, and per WNBA.com she was one of only three players to average at least 17 and 9 this season. The other two were Wilson and Nneka Ogwumike. She also missed Most Improved Player by four votes.

Veronica Burton's numbers

Per WNBA.com, only Wilson had more win shares than Burton's 7.55. She posted the league's second-best assist-to-turnover ratio at 3.94, and Golden State was 14.1 points per 100 possessions better with her on the floor than off it.

Her box score is modest, 12.2 points and 5.7 assists a game.

The Valkyries are in year two. Atlanta took a 2-1 Finals lead with a 97-71 win in Game 3 Game 4 tipped Saturday afternoon at State Farm Arena. Golden State has built a contender out of depth: Janelle Salaun won Sixth Player of the Year unanimously.

Indiana's backcourt broke the record book

The Fever got two First Teamers on a team that won a franchise-record 28 games and lost in the first round, and the front office fired general manager Amber Cox on Friday.

Mitchell's season, per WNBA.com, set league records for points in a season (1,086), threes in a season (135), games with 10 or more points (44) and games with 20 or more (35). She scored at least 20 in 27 straight games, and the old record was 16. Her 24.7 points a game ranked second in the league and fifth all-time, on 50.9 percent shooting and 45.0 percent from three.

Clark averaged 22.3 points and 8.3 assists in 40 games. WNBA.com says she is the first player to finish a season top three in both points and assists, and her 41.2 points created per game is the most in a single season in league history. Indiana scored 96.0 points a game, breaking the 93.9 the 2010 Mercury had held since that season.

Miles and Wilson, at the top

Miles is a rookie on the First Team. She averaged 19.8 points, 4.1 rebounds and 6.0 assists on 49.2 percent shooting, won Rookie of the Year unanimously and broke Clark's rookie scoring record, per the AP. She finished second in MVP voting with 442 points and six first-place votes, leading Minnesota to a 33-11 record and the No. 1 seed. Per WNBA.com, Clark and Diana Taurasi are the only other players to average 19 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists in a season.

Wilson won her fifth MVP on Oct. 8 with 65 of 74 first-place votes. She averaged 26.2 points, second-best in league history behind her own 26.9 in 2024, and led the league in points, blocks and win shares for a third straight season. The MVP release already listed her as a five-time All-WNBA First Teamer before Saturday.

Stewart's spot is her seventh career First Team nod, which the Liberty say ties for third-most in WNBA history. She averaged 20.8 points and 8.3 rebounds and was MVP of the Commissioner's Cup.

Atlanta's double

The Second Team carries the other Finals story. Reese averaged 16.4 points and 12.1 rebounds, set the single-season record with 32 double-doubles, became the first player with more than 500 rebounds in a season and won Defensive Player of the Year. Howard led the league in steals at 2.3 a game and, per WNBA.com, is the first player to average three made threes and two steals over a full season. The Dream say they are the first pair in franchise history to make All-WNBA and All-Defensive in the same season.

Bueckers earned her spot with 20.9 points a game on 51.2/41.0/87.1 splits, while Dallas improved by 17 wins, the biggest single-season jump in league history. Young shot 92.8 percent from the line and carried a 61.4 true shooting percentage at 18.9 points and 6.8 assists.

What the ballot says

Four franchises filled the First Team, and Indiana took two of the spots. The Finals teams split the other way. Atlanta has two Second Teamers and a Defensive Player of the Year. Golden State has a unanimous Sixth Player, a DPOY runner-up and a point guard second in win shares, and no All-WNBA nod at all.

Sources: WNBA official announcement on X (@WNBA), Oct. 24, 2026. ESPN (Alexa Philippou) on X, Oct. 24, 2026. WNBA.com, "2026 End-of-Season Awards Lookahead: All-WNBA First Team" (Brian Martin). WNBA.com, A'ja Wilson 2026 Kia MVP release, Oct. 8, 2026. Associated Press (Doug Feinberg), AP WNBA awards, Sept. 27, 2026, via ESPN and NBC News. New York Liberty, Atlanta Dream and Indiana Fever team accounts on X, Oct. 24, 2026. WNBA.com Finals Game 3 recap.