Mercury C Brittney Griner finishes 2nd in WNBA MVP voting
Sep 28, 2021, 7:48 AM
Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner finished second in voting for the WNBA’s 2021 MVP award. It was announced Tuesday that the Connecticut Sun’s Jonquel Jones won the award with 48 of 49 possible first-place votes.
Jones tallied 487 total points, while Griner was second with 224 and the only other first-place vote.
Seattle Storm forward Breanna Stewart finished in third with 156 points. Minnesota Lynx center Sylvia Fowles (137 points) and Washington Mystics center Tina Charles (127 points) rounded out the top-five vote-getters.
Jones led the Sun to a 26-6 mark in the regular season to finish with the first seed in the playoffs. She averaged 19.4 points, 11.2 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game.
The MVP award is the first such honor in the fifth-year pro’s career.
Griner averaged 20.5 points, 9.5 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.9 blocks per game during the regular season. She earned five WNBA Player of the Week nods over the course of the year.
The Mercury have advanced to the league semifinals with wins in single-elimination playoff games against the New York Liberty and Seattle Storm. They begin a best-of-five series against the Las Vegas Aces on Tuesday at 7 p.m.