Not many claimed at the end of this season that Caitlin Clark was the clear-cut 2026 MVP. As many expected, A’ja Wilson won her 5th MVP, extending her lead in WNBA history. However, the list was surprising considering that Clark was fourth among the vote-getters, behind Olivia Miles and Clark’s Fever teammate Kelsey Mitchell.
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However, on closer inspection, you would find that Clark received only 55 votes out of the 74-member team featuring national sportswriters and broadcasters. Awkwardly, 19 of them completely left Clark off their ballots. This prompted Fox’s Outkick analyst John Root to make a bold appeal about the 19 members.
“Any WNBA MVP voter who left Caitlin Clark off their ballot should not be allowed to vote ever again,” Root wrote in the caption of a video on X.
In her 40 appearances this season, Clark played the best basketball of her career. She was the primary decision-maker on the best offensive team in the league with historic offensive numbers. She ranked third in the league in points (22.3 PPG) and second in assists (8.3 APG).
For most of the season, she was one of the top three frontrunners in the MVP race with Olivia Miles and A’ja Wilson. It was one of the reasons that Root thought the voters had disrespected Clark.
“Caitlin Clark got completely disrespected in MVP voting…I can understand people making arguments for [Olivia] Miles and [Kelsey] Mitchell when we round out the top three, but if you’re going to completely leave Caitlin Clark off the ballot after the season she had, you should no longer be able to vote,” he said in the video.
Miles had a case for herself as one of the frontrunners. She was the best player on the best team. In her rookie season, she led her team in points (19.8 PPG) and assists (6.0 APG). Miles also showed great defensive touch. Mitchell was second to Wilson in scoring and averaged 24.7 points per game. But voting for Mitchell and leaving Clark out of their ballots, especially in light of their numbers, did seem harsh.
“Quite frankly, WNBA media and MVP voters are some of the biggest buffoons in sports media. They clearly don’t understand basketball, and they would much rather push a political agenda than actually look at this through a basketball lens,” Root added.
Not just her numbers on the board, but a closer look at Clark’s season gives a clearer look at why it seems unfair. Former ESPN host Linda Cohn had a similar reaction to the voting. She demanded that the 19 voters explain the reasoning for their votes.
“If you’re going to leave a player like Caitlin Clark or Kelsey Mitchell off your ballot entirely. I think fans deserve to understand your reasoning. Come clean, voters,” Cohn said on her YouTube podcast. “Come clean. Not because you have to vote for them. You don’t have to vote for them. I just want to know what you’ve been watching. I’d like to know.”
In a game against the Seattle Storm on July, 17, Clark recorded 45 points and 10 assists, becoming the only player in league history to have a 40-point double-double. She had 13 games with 20+ points and 10+ assists, which is more than double any player who has achieved this feat. Moreover, she had five games with 30+ points and 10+ assists, more than all other players combined.
Clark also became the first player in WNBA history to record 800 points and 300 assists in a single season. With 891 points this season, the Indiana Fever star now holds the record for the most points scored by a point guard in a WNBA season.