Aces' Alysha Clark named WNBA Sixth Player of the Year
Las Vegas Aces forward Alysha Clarkhas been named the 2023 Kia WNBA Sixth Player of the Year, the WNBAannounced today. She has earned the honor as the league’s topreserve for the first time. To be eligible for the award, a playerhad to play more games as a reserve than as a starter.
Clark received 35 of 60 votes from anational panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. Guard-forwardDiJonai Carrington of the Connecticut Sun finished second with 13votes, and guard Dana Evans of the Chicago Sky was thirdwithnine votes. Center Kalani Brown of the Dallas Wings, guard MarineJohannès of the New York Liberty and guard Sami Whitcomb of theSeattle Storm each received onevote.
In her 11thWNBAseason and first with the Aces, Clark played in all 39 of LasVegas’ regular-season games, coming off the bench 38 times andstarting once.
Overall, she averaged 6.7 points, 3.4rebounds and 1.1 assists in 22.5 minutes per game. Clark also made38.6 percent of her three-point shots, ranking17thin the WNBA in that category. She scored indouble figures in 10 games, including a season-high 16 points in a103-77 win over Seattle on Sept. 2, and recorded five or morerebounds 11 times.
Clark helped Las Vegas post a 34-6record and earn the No. 1 seed in the 2023 WNBA Playoffs presentedby Google. The Aces have since advanced to the WNBA Semifinals andwill host the winner of the series between Dallas and the AtlantaDream beginning on Sunday, Sept. 24 (5 p.m. ET, ESPN2).
The Aces finished with the mostvictories and the fifth-best winning percentage (.850) in a regularseason in league history. Las Vegas also posted the highestoffensive rating (113.0) and the most 100-point games (11) ever bya WNBA team.
Clark, a two-time WNBA All-DefensiveTeam selection, is the third player to win the Kia WNBA SixthPlayer of the Year Award as a member of the Aces, joining KelseyPlum (2021) and Dearica Hamby (2020 and 2019). In honor of heraccomplishment, Clark will receive $5,150 and a trophy designed tocommemorate the achievement.
Below are the voting results for the2023 Kia WNBA Sixth Player of the Year Award and the list ofrecipients since the award’s inception in 2007.
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