South Carolina product and Dallas Wings guard Allisha Gray is the 2017 WNBA rookie of the Year after receiving 75 percent of the votes from a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. The Atlanta Dream’s Brittney Sykes earned all of the remaining votes.
Gray and Sykes’s regular season statistics are remarkably similar. There was less than a point-per-game difference between them in major stat categories for guards including points, assists, steals and turnovers. The two were even drafted near each other with Sykes being taken three spots behind Gray.
With the numbers so close, some voters may have looked to how their teams performed to find a rationale to vote for one or the other. The Wings won four more games than the Dream and made the playoffs while Atlanta ended 10 games under 500 and missed the playoffs.
WNBA President Lisa Borders made the announcement today at the Inspiring Women Conference. Gray received the award with Borders aside teammates Skylar Diggins-Smith and Kaela Davis.
Gray, one of five Wings’ rookies this season, has an extra reason to be excited. The WNBA finals that begin this Sunday feature four former WNBA Rookies of the Year in Nneka Ogwumike, Maya Moore, Candace Parker and Seimone Augustus.
WATCH:
WNBA President Lisa Borders presents the Rookie of the Year Trophy.