{"id":148517,"date":"2025-09-16T17:32:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T17:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/148517\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T17:32:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T17:32:11","slug":"ranking-caitlin-clark-paige-bueckers-and-the-greatest-wnba-rookie-seasons-of-all-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/148517\/","title":{"rendered":"Ranking Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers and the Greatest WNBA Rookie Seasons of All Time"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium has-medium-font-size css-1vqr2el\">Angel Reese, 2024, Chicago Sky, F: While her offensive game is still evolving and some of the overall numbers leave her short of our top 10, it&#8217;s impossible not to mention Reese. She broke the league record for total rebounds by 40 with 446 and set the all-time mark for consecutive double-doubles with 15, all despite missing the Sky&#8217;s final six games with a wrist injury. A&#8217;ja Wilson then topped her rebounds mark during that absence, but there&#8217;s no reason Reese can&#8217;t challenge the record again in 2025.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">Nneka Ogwumike, 2012, Los Angeles Sparks, F: The older of the Ogwumike sisters was an advanced-metrics darling coming out of Stanford, finishing in the top 10 in all-time <a class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-inherit MuiLink-root MuiLink-underlineAlways MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__ui__link__medium_strong css-lu48cp\" href=\"https:\/\/stathead.com\/basketball\/player-season-finder.cgi?request=1&amp;order_by=per&amp;comp_id=WNBA&amp;year_min=1998&amp;qual=mp_per_g_req&amp;display_type=per_poss_100&amp;ccomp%5B1%5D=gt&amp;cval%5B1%5D=18&amp;cstat%5B1%5D=per&amp;age_max=26&amp;season_end=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">true rookie PER<\/a> (seventh, 23.8) and <a class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-inherit MuiLink-root MuiLink-underlineAlways MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__ui__link__medium_strong css-lu48cp\" href=\"https:\/\/stathead.com\/basketball\/player-season-finder.cgi?request=1&amp;comp_id=WNBA&amp;year_min=1998&amp;ccomp%5B1%5D=gt&amp;cval%5B1%5D=2&amp;cstat%5B1%5D=ws&amp;age_max=26&amp;season_end=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">win shares (5.9, fifth)<\/a>. She won Rookie of the Year, but her lack of other accolades kept her on the outside looking in. <\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium has-medium-font-size css-1vqr2el\">Aliyah Boston, 2023, Indiana Fever, F\/C: Another prolific rebounder, the 2023 No. 1 pick from South Carolina grabbed the third-most rookie boards at 335. The 2023 ROY also comes in at No. 10 in total points and fourth in true rookie win shares at 6.0. Another first-year player to garner down-ballot MVP votes, she put up 1.3 blocks per game, even if her defensive metrics left her short of the top 10. <\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium has-medium-font-size css-1vqr2el\">Napheesa Collier, 2019, Minnesota Lynx, F: Queen Phee was a problem from the jump, posting 5.2 win shares, the eighth-best rookie mark ever, on her way to ROY honors. The No. 6 pick out of UConn was only the <a class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-inherit MuiLink-root MuiLink-underlineAlways MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__ui__link__medium_strong css-lu48cp\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wnba.com\/news\/minnesotas-napheesa-collier-named-2019-wnba-rookie-of-the-year\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">second rookie<\/a> to post <a class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-inherit MuiLink-root MuiLink-underlineAlways MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__ui__link__medium_strong css-lu48cp\" href=\"https:\/\/stathead.com\/basketball\/player-season-finder.cgi?request=1&amp;comp_id=WNBA&amp;year_min=1998&amp;qual=mp_per_g_req&amp;ccomp%5B1%5D=gt&amp;cval%5B1%5D=400&amp;cstat%5B1%5D=pts&amp;ccomp%5B2%5D=gt&amp;cval%5B2%5D=200&amp;cstat%5B2%5D=trb&amp;ccomp%5B3%5D=gt&amp;cval%5B3%5D=75&amp;cstat%5B3%5D=ast&amp;ccomp%5B4%5D=gt&amp;cval%5B4%5D=50&amp;cstat%5B4%5D=stl&amp;ccomp%5B5%5D=gt&amp;cval%5B5%5D=25&amp;cstat%5B5%5D=blk&amp;ccomp%5B6%5D=gt&amp;cval%5B6%5D=25&amp;cstat%5B6%5D=fg3&amp;season_end=1\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">at least<\/a> 400 points, 200 rebounds, 75 assists, 50 steals, 25 blocks and 25 three-pointers made in a single season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium has-medium-font-size css-1vqr2el\">Seimone Augustus, 2006, Minnesota Lynx, G\/F: The <a class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-inherit MuiLink-root MuiLink-underlineAlways MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__ui__link__medium_strong css-lu48cp\" href=\"https:\/\/lynx.wnba.com\/news\/four-time-wnba-champion-seimone-augustus-to-be-inducted-into-naismith-memorial-hall-of-fame\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">newly minted<\/a> Naismith Hall of Famer posted the <a class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-inherit MuiLink-root MuiLink-underlineAlways MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__ui__link__medium_strong css-lu48cp\" href=\"https:\/\/stathead.com\/basketball\/player-season-finder.cgi?request=1&amp;order_by=pts_per_g&amp;comp_id=WNBA&amp;year_min=1998&amp;qual=pts_per_g_req&amp;display_type=advanced&amp;season_end=1\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">highest<\/a> rookie scoring rate ever with 21.9 points per game to take WNBA second-team honors, down-ballot MVP votes and the ROY award. Still, her defensive game was just lacking enough to keep her off the proper ranking.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium has-medium-font-size css-1vqr2el\">Chamique Holdsclaw, 1999, Washington Mystics, F: All the 1999 No. 1 pick did was finish sixth in MVP voting and nab a second-team All-WNBA nod on her way to winning Rookie of the Year. The advanced metrics left her short of our top 10 (39th in rookie WS), but that&#8217;s no real knock on one of the league&#8217;s first phenoms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Angel Reese, 2024, Chicago Sky, F: While her offensive game is still evolving and some of the overall&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":148518,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":{"0":"post-148517","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148517\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}