Sparks' Nneka Ogwumike wins 2016 WNBA MVP award


Los Angeles Sparks forward Nneka Ogwumike won the 2016 WNBA Most Valuable Player award, the league announced Tuesday.

Per the WNBA website:
"Los Angeles Sparks forward Nneka Ogwumike has been named the 2016 WNBA Most Valuable Player presented by Samsung, the league announced today.  The fifth-year forward earned her first MVP award and became the eighth different player in the last eight years to win the honor.  She is the third winner for the Sparks, joining teammate Candace Parker (2008, 2013) and Lisa Leslie (2001, 2004, 2006). 
Ogwumike (362 points) received 31 of 39 first-place votes from a national panel of sportswriters and broadcasters.  Tina Charles of the New York Liberty received the other eight first-place votes and finished second with 267 points, followed by Maya Moore of the Minnesota Lynx (197 points), Elena Delle Donne of the Chicago Sky (119 points) and Parker (30 points).  Players were awarded 10 points for a first-place vote, seven points for a second-place vote, five points for a third-place vote, three points for a fourth-place vote and one point for a fifth-place vote."
Ogwumike averaged 19.7 PPG and 9.1 RPG in the season, both career-highs. She shot 66.5 percent from the field, the best clip this season and the second-best of all-time. Ogwumike set the record for most consecutive field goals made at 23 and most made field goals in a game without a miss at 12.

Ogwumike also averaged 3.1 APG, 1.3 SPG, and 1.2 BPG. She tallied 18 double-doubles this season.

When it comes to advanced statistics, the Stanford product led the league in Player Efficiency Rating (PER) at 31.4. Chicago's Elena Delle Donne came in at a distant second place with 26.0. Ogwumike also led the league in True Shooting Percentage (73.7), Effective Field Goal Percentage (68.7), Total Win Shares (9.5) and Win Shares Per 48 (.435).

Comments

Post a Comment