NEW YORK – Stanford women’s basketball alumna and Minnesota Lynx forward Alanna Smith was named the 2025 WNBA Co-Defensive Player of the Year, the league announced on Thursday.
Smith and Las Vegas Aces center A’ja Wilson each received 29 votes from a national panel of 72 sportswriters and broadcasters. It’s the sixth time a Cardinal has captured a postseason award from the WNBA for on-court performance. Most recently, Nneka Ogwumike was MVP in 2016. Her sister, Chiney, was Rookie of the Year in 2014 and Nneka won the same award in 2012. Candice Wiggins was the Sixth Player of the Year in 2008, and Nicole Powell was WNBA Most Improved Player in 2005.
Smith, in her seventh WNBA season, started all 42 games she appeared in for Minnesota and averaged 26.6 minutes per game. A 2024 WNBA All-Defensive Second Team selection, Smith was instrumental in leading the Lynx to the No. 1 seed in the WNBA Playoffs.
Anchoring the league’s top-ranked defense, Smith powered Minnesota to a league-best 97.5 defensive rating. She finished second overall in combined steals and blocks (135), ranked third in both blocks per game (1.9) and total blocks (80), and tied for 10th in total steals (55). Smith’s 80 blocks established a new single-season franchise record for the Lynx and made her just the eighth player in WNBA history to record 80 or more blocks in a single season.
A 2019 All-American at Stanford, Smith had a superb senior season in which she shot 51.5 percent from the field, 39.7 percent from behind the arc and averaged a team-high 19.4 points per game to go with 8.6 rebounds and 2.2 blocks. She was one of two players in the country to average 19.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game that season and her numbers were even better in conference. She put up 20.2 points, 9.2 rebounds and 2.9 blocks in 18 Pac-12 games and was one of just two nationally to have those averages in league action.
Smith is currently 12th in school history in career scoring (1,703), third in blocks (225), and made 155 career 3-pointers. She remains one of just four DI players since 1999-2000 to put together a career of 1,700 points, 150 made triples and 200 blocks, along with Elena Delle Donne (3,039 points; 206 3-pointers; 273 blocks), Maya Moore (3,036 points; 311 3-pointers; 204 blocks) and Breanna Stewart (2,676 points; 152 3-pointers; 414 blocks).
Minnesota swept the Golden State Valkyries in the first round of the WNBA Playoffs and awaits the winner of New York and Phoenix in the semifinals beginning on Sunday.