As they face off head-to-head in the WNBA finals, UConn superstar Nafisa Collier and Brianna Stewart On Wednesday, Connecticut Sun forward Alyssa Thomas was selected to the 2024 All-WNBA first team for the second straight season.
Collier and A’ja Wilson, this year’s league MVP for the Las Vegas Aces, were both unanimous first-team selections, with Stewart receiving 65 of 67 first-team votes. Indiana Fever freshman Caitlin Clark was the only guard selected to make the first team.
Thomas and Collier were both first-team selections in 2023, while Stewart has earned the honor each year since missing the 2019 season with a torn Achilles tendon. She was also selected to the second team as a rookie in 2016, and was named to the first team for the first time in 2018. Collier was first selected to the second team in 2020, and Thomas was first selected to the second team in 2022. At least one former UConn player Since 2001, she has been selected to the All-WNBA First Team every season except 2019.
Thomas’ season with the Sun ended with a 3-2 semifinal series loss to Collier’s Minnesota Lynx, but the veteran star had his best performance during the playoffs. She led the team by averaging 10.6 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 7.9 assists during the regular season, and came even closer to a triple-double in the postseason, averaging 14.9 points, 9.4 assists, and 7.9 rebounds. She recorded two triple-doubles in the regular season and one in the playoffs, extending her lead as the WNBA career record holder in both categories. Thomas was also the highest rated player on the Sun’s league-leading defense and was named to the WNBA’s All-Defensive second team.
Thomas joins former UConn star Tina Charles (2011-12) as the only players in Sun history to earn two All-WNBA First Team selections in their franchise career.
Collier is having a career season that she hopes will culminate in her first WNBA championship. The former Huskies star averaged 20.4 points and 9.7 rebounds during the regular season and is averaging 25.2 points per game since the playoffs began. Collier dominated the postseason, averaging 9.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.6 blocks, helping lead Minnesota to the biggest upset in WNBA playoff history in Game 1 of the Finals. In addition to first-team honors, Collier was named the 2024 Defensive Player of the Year.
Stewart, the 2023 league MVP, averaged 20.4 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists to lead the New York Liberty to the No. 1 seed in the WNBA playoffs. The UConn legend set a WNBA Finals record with seven steals in the Liberty’s Game 2 win over the Lynx and is averaging 19.9 points, 8.3 rebounds and 3.9 assists since the start of the postseason. Stewart is already a two-time WNBA champion after seven seasons with the Seattle Storm, but the two-time Finals MVP is looking to secure her first title since signing with New York as a free agent in 2023.
