Every year WNBA fans debate which players are the best, and who is the best of all time. There is even more such talk this year, as the league has begun its 20th season.
To statistically analyze which players have made the biggest impact on the league the last two decades, engineer Tarsha Eason took a sample of the top athletes and compared their statistics in six categories. The goal was to objectively determine which players are the WNBA’s top 20 of all time, based on their on-court performance.
Eason began with a random sample that included the WNBA’s top 15 players of all time from the 15th anniversary season, members of the 2008 and 2012 Olympic teams, the “three to see” from 2013, and a few other notable players in WNBA history. She then gathered career statistics for each player through May 20, 2016, which included points per game, rebounds per game, steals per game, assists per game, blocks per game and minutes played per game.
Player stats were then ranked from 1 to 41. The lower the score, the less the player’s stats tend to deviate from the mean, and thus the more consistent she plays. From that, Eason was able to get an average rank score for each athlete, and an overall rank. The data and analysis is summarized on the power point.
The raw data, including the full list of player names and their statistics, is on slide 4. The statistical summary, on page 5, shows the mean and standard deviation of the stats, and the distribution of player stats. The sample includes 19 historical players and 22 current players – 37 percent of whom are able to play multiple positions on court.
The summary of the ranked data is on slide 7, and the rankings are on slides 8 and 9. On average, the top 20 players average 17.1 points, grab 6.2 rebounds, dish out 2.9 assists, block nearly one shot per game, snag 1.4 steals and play 31 minutes per game.
Eason did one final comparison, using the advanced stats that the WNBA has rolled out this season.
Based on the results, the WNBA’s top 20 players in its 20th anniversary year are:
- Candace Parker
- Tamika Catchings
- Lisa Leslie
- Maya Moore
- Chamique Holdsclaw
- Sheryl Swoopes
- Cynthia Cooper
- Diana Taurasi
- Tina Charles
- Angel McCoughtry (tied for 9th)
- Lauren Jackson
- Yolanda Griffith
- Cappie Pondexter
- Sylvia Fowles
- Elena Delle Donne
- Odyssey Sims
- Nneka Ogwumike
- Tina Thompson
- Skylar Diggins
- Sue Bird
