As a sports fan, I love when new records are set. One of the things that makes this a great time for the WNBA is that new records are seemingly set weekly. Caitlin Clark is constantly rewriting the three-point record book while setting the record for most career games with 25+ points and 10+ assists just 42 games into her WNBA career. Meanwhile, Angel Reese finds new ways to grab more rebounds than anyone ever has.

With the league calendar expanding and the league adding new teams at a record pace, even more records will fall in the coming years. With that in mind, I have set out to identify several WNBA records that will never be broken.

This is a more difficult exercise than for other sports leagues for a few reasons. First of all, the WNBA has not been around as long as other leagues. We don’t even have 30 years’ worth of history to unpack. Leagues like the NBA, MLB, and NFL have been around so long and seen their sports evolve so much that certain records will be unbreakable simply because the game is different. The WNBA game isn’t that much different in 2025 than it was in 1997. One thing that is different is that the season is longer, so many season-long and even career records could be in jeopardy, just because future players will have more games with which to break records. In fact, if the WNBA adopts my idea to move the season to the winter, we could see a lot of records fall in short order.

Candace Parker is the only rookie to win WNBA MVP

Caitlin Clark was the most popular rookie we have ever seen, and she was incredible after the WNBA took a month off for the Olympics. Her 130 voting points are the most for a rookie since Parker won in 2008, and Clark still didn’t receive a single first-place vote. Paige Bueckers was probably better in her rookie year than Clark was in 2024, and Bueckers didn’t receive a single vote.

That illustrates another reason I don’t believe a rookie will ever win MVP again: the best college players are increasingly guards, but the WNBA remains dominated by bigs. No guard has won MVP since Diana Taurasi in 2009. Since then, every winner has been a forward or a center. Clark or Paige Bueckers could break Taurasi’s record before they are through, but there is no way a rookie guard is winning this award.

It is fitting that Parker won as a rookie in 2008 and Taurasi was the last guard to win in 2009. When Parker won in 2008, four of the top six vote-getters for MVP were guards. Parker ushered in a new era of forwards who had the size to play in the paint but had guard skills to dominate on the perimeter. She was arguably the first, but she was followed by Maya Moore, Elena Delle Donne, Breanna Stewart and A’Ja Wilson. Napheesa Collier, who probably should have won last season, fits that mold as well. This current crop of WNBA guards may be the best since Taurasi won MVP, but they just can’t compete with the size and skill displayed by the league’s best forwards. Even the best forwards need a few years to really become dominant in the WNBA, as we have seen with players like Collier, Wilson, and Aliyah Boston. Parker’s record should be safe for some time.

Brittney Griner 4.04 blocks per game in 2015

I’m not sure Griner was ever as good offensively as her size and athleticism said she should be, but she led the league in blocks in eight different seasons, tying Margo Drydek. A’ja Wilson has led the league in blocks per game five times, including each of the last four seasons, and she has never recorded more than 2.58 blocks per game in a season. It helps that Griner is five inches taller than Wilson, but even if we see another dominant big who is Griner’s size, I don’t think she’ll earn more than four blocks per game. Griner herself averaged just 2.1 blocks per 36 minutes in 2025, down from 4.7 blocks per 36 in 2015. While being 10 years older certainly makes a difference, I think the bigger difference is the way the game is played. With the increased emphasis on floor spacing and three-point shooting, there are fewer opportunities for bigs to contest shots in the paint. They are now being forced to guard on the perimeter where it is far more difficult to block a bunch of shots. Barring a crazy rule change like the elimination of defensive three seconds, I think Griner’s record is safe.

Tamika Williams .6684 field goal percentage in 2003

As we noted above, WNBA players are shooting from farther and farther away from the basket. Players who take nearly all of their shots around the basket, like Williams, are increasingly rare. Jessica Shepard led the league with a .6377 field goal percentage in 2025 but her lack of floor spacing hurt the Lynx in the playoffs, and I think she will extend her range in 2026, which would inevitably hurt her percentage. Shooting exclusively around the basket is not a guarantee of a high percentage, as Angel Reese has proven, but you have to if you’re going to make two-thirds of your shots. Those kinds of players are virtually extinct. Ruthy Hebard had a .682 FG% as a rookie in 2020 (she didn’t play enough to qualify for the record), and she has been out of the league for two years. You simply have to be able to play away from the basket to make it in today’s WNBA.

Angel McCoughtry 35.48% usage in 2011

Angel finished sixth in MVP voting that season and Atlanta was sixth in offensive efficiency. I just think defenses are too sophisticated now to allow a functional offense that is so reliant on one person. McCoughtry was a big skilled wing in the mold of Candace Parker, and one of the things that made her so formidable was her ability to get off her shot in the midrange any time she wanted it. While that is a great club to have in your bag, we now know it is not nearly as valuable as we thought 15 years ago. Someone like A’ja Wilson could have a 35 percent usage if she wanted, but her team is better off if she uses the defensive attention she draws to get open looks for her teammates.

Teresa Weatherspoon 3.33 steals per game in 1998

Weatherspoon and Tamika Catchings are the only players to average more than three steals per game. No one has averaged even 2.50 steals per game since Catchings in 2013. I think the league is much more talented than it was in 1998, and teams have learned to value the ball more. I also think there is more ball movement, player movement, and floor spacing than when Weatherspoon was winning DPOY. It is nearly impossible for one person to be involved enough to get three steals per game. There are just too many possessions where you’re not involved in the action, and there’s not even an opportunity for a steal. I don’t see that changing anytime soon.