Two years ago, A’ja Wilson did what had seemed impossible for the longest time. She became the first WNBA player to score 1000 points in a season, totaling 1021 points over 38 regular-season games. Kelsey Mitchell broke that record in a 103-85 win over the Toronto Tempo. She scored 1034 points over 41 games and still has three more to add to her new record.
Wilson is just nine points away from reaching the thousand-point mark as well with three games left in the regular season. She could get there in just one quarter. So, it’s very likely that we will wrap up the season with not just one thousand-point scorer but two.
Wilson set herself apart from the rest of the WNBA years ago. Mitchell has now also firmly established herself as a leader in the WNBA’s offensive evolution. Wilson is not a traditional center—she’s shooting 40.4% from three for the season and averages 3.2 assists per game—but, as a forward, she fits into the archetype of player that has traditionally led the W in scoring.
Mitchell, on the other hand, is only the third guard to lead the league in scoring since 2016, and she is taking perimeter scoring to a whole other level. She is single-handedly raising the bar for what being an elite scorer as a guard means.
Kelsey Mitchell is setting a new scoring standard for guards
What’s so impressive about Wilson and Mitchell isn’t just that they’re scoring a lot. It’s also how efficiently they’re getting their points. Both are flirting with 50-40-90 seasons, only lacking a bit in the free-throw department.
Wilson’s efficiency is beyond impressive considering how much defensive attention she draws and how much the Aces rely on her to create her own shot in any situation. However, she does have an advantage over Mitchell. For one, she is a lot bigger and can shoot over many players in the W. Secondly, she generally gets to take most of her shots closer to the basket.
Mitchell is one of the shorter guards in the W. At 5’8”, only ten active players are shorter than her, including a few development players. Mitchell also takes 6.8 of her 17.1 shots per game from behind the arc. Nevertheless, she has been very efficient, shooting 51.8% from the field and 46.2% from deep.
The WNBA has recently experienced an influx of guard talent, and many more are waiting to go pro soon enough with the likes of JuJu Watkins and Hannah Hidalgo. Mitchell is setting a high standard for all of these younger guards.
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