Kiah Stokes deserves to win Finals MVP.
The WNBA Finals are bursting with star power. Angel Reese is one of the new faces of the league. She is joined on the Atlanta Dream by All-WNBA players in Rhyne Howard and Allisha Gray. The Golden State Valkyries have a pair of All-Stars themselves in Gabby Williams and Veronica Burton.
And yet it's Kiah Stokes, she of the 3.6 points per game this season, who has been the best player in the 2026 WNBA Finals. She was instrumental in the Valkyries taking control of the series with a 64-55 victory in Game 5. If Golden State can close out the series and win the title, Stokes should be awarded the Finals MVP.
Kiah Stokes has dominated
Through four games in the series, Stokes was positively dominant on the defensive end. She set the record for most blocks in a WNBA Finals after just four games, swatting at least three in each game. For as much as Angel Reese was taking over games in the Dream wins, she was largely ineffective when defended by Stokes.
Game 5 was more of the same for Stokes on the interior. She was swatting every shot in sight, ending the game with another 3 blocks. That brought her to 17 in the series, extending her own record into the stratosphere.
It wasn't merely the blocked shots, however, it was how she scared off everyone on the interior. Dream players threw up shots before they got to the time because of their fear of Stokes and her long arms. That forced Atlanta to take worse and worse shots over the course of the game, unable to keep up.
Kiah Stokes became Kiah Strokes
Stokes didn't just bring her trademark defense to Game 5, however. She unlocked the Golden State offense. All series long, the Valkyries have struggled to hit shots from outside -- a development that should have proven fatal given how much their offense relied on outside shots all season long.
Enter Kiah Stokes. The center only occasionally steps out beyond the arc to take 3-point shots; during the regular season, she made one every other game, hitting only 29 percent from deep. She was at the very bottom of the list of players who would break the 3-point curse and start hitting outside shots for Golden State.
And yet hit them she did. Spacing out to the 3-point line to open up room inside for her teammates to attack the rim, Stokes found herself on the receiving end of kickout passes. She did exactly what was expected of her in Natalie Nakase's offensive scheme: launch the shot.
What no one expected was for her to make them. Stokes shot 3-for-4 from the 3-point line in Game 5. She didn't make that many in any game all season, and against the elite defenders on the Atlanta Dream, she knocked down as many 3-pointers as the rest of her teammates combined.
Gabby Williams has had an up-and-down series. The same goes for Veronica Burton. The best player for the Valkyries has been Kiah Stokes, stroking it from deep and locking down the paint. And as Angel Reese is enveloped by the long arm of Stokes, the Finals MVP award has an obvious recipient.
Kiah Stokes deserves it.
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