Paige Bueckers, A'ja Wilson Headline 2025 WNBA AP Award Winners

While the WNBA will announce its official 2025 awards during the playoffs, the Associated Press awards could be a precursor of what is to come.

If that is the case, A'ja Wilson and Paige Bueckers are going to be adding trophies to their collection.

The AP announced its full list of WNBA award winners Friday, which are determined by a 14-member national media panel. Here is a look at the winners, which included Wilson taking home two of the biggest awards and Bueckers winning the Rookie of the Year:

• Player of the Year: A'ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces
• Rookie of the Year: Paige Bueckers, Dallas Wings
• Defensive Player of the Year: A'ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces
• Coach of the Year: Natalie Nakase, Golden State Valkyries
• Comeback Player of the Year: Shakira Austin, Washington Mystics
• Most Improved Player: Veronica Burton, Golden State Valkyries
• Sixth Woman of the Year: Naz Hillmon, Atlanta Dream

Natalie Nakase was recognized for her efforts guiding the Golden State Valkyries to the playoffs in their first season as an expansion franchise, while the team's primary facilitator and leader in assists, Veronica Burton, took home Most Improved Player honors.

Elsewhere, Shakira Austin was recognized for her ability to bounce back from the hip and ankle injuries that limited her to 12 games last season. Naz Hillmon also took home the Sixth Woman of the Year for her ability to anchor the second unit of the playoff-bound Atlanta Dream.

But it was Wilson and Bueckers who stood out the most for their excellent individual seasons.

Wilson has spearheaded the Las Vegas Aces' 16-game winning streak to finish the campaign, which helped them move all the way to the No. 2 seed in the playoffs. She is a double-double machine and defensive leader who averaged 23.4 points, 10.2 rebounds, 2.3 blocks and 1.6 steals per game while shooting 50.5 percent from the field.

While Napheesa Collier of the Minnesota Lynx and Alyssa Thomas of the Phoenix Mercury were both candidates for the Player of the Year award, Wilson captured it with her strong finish.

Her ability to impact the game on both ends also resulted in the Defensive Player of the Year.

"She's put in the work and she passes all the tests—the math tests, the optics tests — she's the most exciting player in the W," Aces coach Becky Hammon told the AP. "And here's the thing, she's also the most exciting player on the defensive end. She will do something once a game defensively that's going to get you out of your seat. She's the only player in this league that I've seen that has defensive highlights on a consistent basis."

It's the third time in the last four years Wilson won the AP Defensive Player of the Year and the second straight season she took home the overall Player of the Year.

As for Bueckers, she lived up to the hype as a rookie while averaging 19.2 points, 5.4 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game. She scored as many as 44 points in one contest and gives the Wings a foundational building block even though the 2025 season was a disappointing one record-wise.

"I am very grateful for everyone who voted and saw me fit for Rookie of the Year," Bueckers said. "I have always felt like individual awards are a way to acknowledge the team around you and that is exactly what this award means to me. My teammates, coaches, support staff and everyone from top to bottom in the entire Dallas Wings organization played a huge part in this."

It is the first of what will likely be a career of awards and recognition.