September 30, 2021
Las Vegas Aces guard Kelsey Plum was named the WNBA Sixth Player of the Year on Thursday.
The award, given to the top reserve, is a first for Plum, 27. Her teammate, forward Dearica Hamby, won it in 2019 and ’20 and was second in voting this season.
Plum received 41 of 49 votes, with Hamby receiving five.
Guard Marina Mabrey of the Dallas Wings gained two votes, and guard Natisha Hiedeman of the Connecticut Sun got one.
Plum played in 26 games, all in reserve. She scored 20 points or more in eight games — the most by a reserve in league history.
Plum, in her fourth season, averaged a career-high 14.8 points per game to go along with 3.6 assists and 2.5 rebounds over an average of 28.3 minutes per game. She played 663 minutes — second only to Hamby (710) among reserves.
The Aces, who finished the season at 24-8, are the No. 2 seed in the WNBA playoffs. They hold a 1-0 lead over the fifth-seeded Phoenix Mercury heading into Thursday night’s Game 2 of the best-of-five semifinals series.
Plum also won the gold medal for the United States this summer in women’s 3×3 basketball in the Tokyo Olympics.
–Field Level Media
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