WNBA Defensive Player of the Year

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:WNBA Awards The Women's National Basketball Association's Defensive Player of the Year Award is an annual Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) award given since the league's inaugural season -- 1997, to the top defensive player of the regular season. The winner is selected by a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States, each of whom casts a vote for first, second and third place selections. Each first-place vote is worth five points; each second-place vote is worth three points; and each third-place vote is worth one point. The player with the highest point total, regardless of the number of first-place votes, wins the award.

Tamika Catchings has won the defensive player of the year award more times than any other player with the record of 5.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Winners

	Denotes player who is still active in the WNBA
	Inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame
	Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
	Denotes player whose team won championship that year
Player (X)	Denotes the number of times the player has won
Team (X)	Denotes the number of times a player from this team has won

Season	Player	Position	Nationality	Team	First-Place Votes	Template:Abbr
1997	Teresa Weatherspoon	Guard	Template:USA	New York Liberty	22 out of 37
1998	Teresa Weatherspoon (2)	Guard	Template:USA	New York Liberty (2)	28 out of 45
1999	Yolanda Griffith	Center	Template:USA	Sacramento Monarchs	17 out of 51
2000	Sheryl Swoopes	Guard / Forward	Template:USA	Houston Comets	33 out of 62
2001	Debbie Black	Guard	Template:USA	Miami Sol	22 out of 60
2002	Sheryl Swoopes (2)	Guard / Forward	Template:USA	Houston Comets (2)	22 out of 60
2003	Sheryl Swoopes (3)	Guard / Forward	Template:USA	Houston Comets (3)	35 out of 54
2004	Lisa Leslie	Center	Template:USA	Los Angeles Sparks	27 out of 46
2005	Tamika Catchings	Forward	Template:USA	Indiana Fever	35 out of 50
2006	Tamika Catchings (2)	Forward	Template:USA	Indiana Fever (2)	43 out of 56
2007	Lauren Jackson	Forward / Center	Template:AUS	Seattle Storm	20 out of 48
2008	Lisa Leslie (2)	Center	Template:USA	Los Angeles Sparks (2)	20 out of 43	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2009	Tamika Catchings (3)	Forward	Template:USA	Indiana Fever (3)	34 out of 40
2010	Tamika Catchings (4)	Forward	Template:USA	Indiana Fever (4)	30 out of 39
2011	Sylvia Fowles	Center	Template:USA	Chicago Sky	19 out of 40	<ref name=":0">Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead link</ref>
2012	Tamika Catchings (5)	Forward	Template:USA	Indiana Fever (5)	19 out of 41
2013	Sylvia Fowles (2)	Center	Template:USA	Chicago Sky (2)	21 out of 39	<ref name=":0" />
2014	Brittney Griner	Center	Template:USA	Phoenix Mercury	31 out of 38
2015	Brittney Griner (2)	Center	Template:USA	Phoenix Mercury (2)	33 out of 39
2016	Sylvia Fowles (3)	Center	Template:USA	Minnesota Lynx	19 out of 39	<ref name=":0" />
2017	Alana Beard	Guard / Forward	Template:USA	Los Angeles Sparks (3)	28 out of 40	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2018	Alana Beard (2)	Guard / Forward	Template:USA	Los Angeles Sparks (4)	16 out of 39	<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref>
2019	Natasha Howard	Guard / Forward	Template:USA	Seattle Storm (2)	33 out of 43	<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref>
2020	Candace Parker	Forward / Center	Template:USA	Los Angeles Sparks (5)	16 out of 47	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2021	Sylvia Fowles (4)	Center	Template:USA	Minnesota Lynx (2)	31 out of 49	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2022	A'ja Wilson	Forward	Template:USA	Las Vegas Aces	20 out of 56	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2023	A'ja Wilson (2)		Template:USA	Las Vegas Aces (2)	32 out of 60	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2024	Napheesa Collier		Template:USA	Minnesota Lynx (3)	36 out of 60	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2025	Alanna Smith		Template:AUS	Minnesota Lynx (4)	29 out of 72	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
	A'ja Wilson (3)	Center	Template:USA	Las Vegas Aces (3)

Multi-time winners

Awards	Player	Team(s)	Years
5	Tamika Catchings	Indiana Fever	2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2012
4	Sylvia Fowles	Chicago Sky / Minnesota Lynx	2011, 2013, 2016, 2021
3	Sheryl Swoopes	Houston Comets	2000, 2002, 2003
	A'ja Wilson	Las Vegas Aces	2022, 2023, 2025
2	Teresa Weatherspoon	New York Liberty	1997, 1998
	Lisa Leslie	Los Angeles Sparks	2004, 2008
	Brittney Griner	Phoenix Mercury	2014, 2015
	Alana Beard	Los Angeles Sparks	2017, 2018

See also

• List of sports awards honoring women

References

• Template:Cite web