As we pointed out in our look at five unbreakable WNBA records, the WNBA has been dominated by bigs for a long time. No guard has been named the league’s MVP since Diana Taurasi in 2009. Since then, the best player in the league has always been a forward or a center. Players like Candace Parker, Maya Moore, Elena Delle Donne, Breanna Stewart, and Jonquel Jones could all handle and shoot like guards while having the size and skill to play inside. No matter how good guards like Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird, Courtney Vandersloot or Sabrina Ionescu have been, they haven’t been able to compete with forwards when it comes to winning MVP. That may be changing.

To be clear, it’s probably not changing next season. Four-time MVP A’ja Wilson turns 30 next year, as does MPV runner-up Napheesa Collier. Barring injury, it is hard to envision anyone else winning the award, though 33-year-old Alyssa Thomas and 31-year-old Breanna Stewart could be in the mix. What is interesting is that nearly all of the young players coming up in their wake are guards. Caitlin Clark and Sabrina Ionescu had their seasons derailed by injury but they have the combination of talent and popularity that could win them the award. Paige Bueckers was the nearly unanimous choice for Rookie of the year, and her season was arguably better than Caitlin Clark’s rookie season. The only other rookie to receive ROY votes, Sonia Citron, is also a guard. Rhyne Howard and Veronica Burton both received an MVP vote in 2025, their age 24 season. Three of the expected top five picks in the 2026 draft are guards as well.

Once Wilson and Collier age out of the award, it sure looks like the best players in the league will mostly be guards. The biggest exception is Aliyah Boston, who finished tied for sixth in MVP voting in her age 23 season and was a huge part of the Indiana Fever pushing the Las Vegas Aces to the brink in their second-round playoff matchup. Boston does not have the perimeter game of many of the previous MVP winners, but she is dominant in the paint and in the midrange, much like A’ja Wilson. One thing that could hurt Boston is if she splits MVP votes with her teammates. Kelsey Mitchell was fifth in MVP voting in 2025 and Caitlin Clark finished fourth in 2024. Boston could struggle to win MVP if it's not clear she’s even the best player on her own team.

I think the sleeper MVP candidate in this conversation could be Cameron Brink. She has played just 34 games across two WNBA seasons due to injury, but she has demonstrated the size and athleticism that made her the second overall draft pick in 2024. She probably needs to shoot the three better at some point, but among the good young forwards in this league, I think her game most closely resembles some of the big wings who have won the award previously. Brink may not be the kind of scorer who traditionally wins MVP, but she has averaged 3.8 blocks per 36 minutes in each of her two seasons, and she is a very good passer.

If we’re discussing Cameron Brink, we probably need to to mention her teammate who was drafted two picks later, Rickea Jackson. I’m not sure how Jackson received an MVP vote last season, but she may have enough of an inside/outside game to earn MVP votes in the future. Jackson has shot 34.7 percent on threes in her career but just 48.6 percent on twos. She’ll need to increase her usage and her efficiency inside the arc, but based on her draft pedigree and production through her first two seasons, I wouldn’t put it past her.

While the 2026 MVP race figures to come down to Napheesa Collier and A’ja Wilson yet again, I will be watching to see if any young players can establish themselves and MVP candidates. If anyone can, I suspect it will be one of the star guards, but only time will tell.