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This year there were three rookies who unanimously were voted to the WNBA’s All-Rookie Team: Rookie of the Year Allisha Gray (Dallas), Brittney Sykes (Atlanta) and Kelsey Plum (San Antonio). All three players received the max vote of 11 apiece.
The last two spots on the team were Kaela Davis also from Dallas and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough from Washington.
As stated a couple weeks ago, Gray finished as the second top scorer among all rookies in scoring at 13.0 points per game and in rebounding at 3.9 rebounds per game. The Wings standout also finished first in steals per game with 1.53 – seventh overall in the league.
The No. 1 overall draft pick of 2017 Plum, started the season off a little bumpy after dealing with an ankle injury in the preseason which slowed her down. However, once on the court – and healthy – Plum adjusted to the pro level and started to make strides, showing her abilities at this level. By the end of the year, she led all rookies in two categories: most assists at 3.4 per game and the best free-throw percentage at 87%.
After a monster second half of the season, the Dream’s Sykes boosted her scoring average up to 13.9 points per game making her the rookie scoring leader for 2017. Sykes also claimed the top spot in rebounds per game (4.1) and three-pointers made with 37 on the year. Another huge moment in her career came when Sykes scored 33 points against Phoenix – the most points scored by a rookie this season.
While Sykes led the rookies in made three-pointers, Davis was the leader for field goal percentage from deep at 42.9%. Dallas’ guard finished fourth in scoring among all first-year players with 6.1 points per game. She started 2017 off with a bang as she exploded for 20 points in her WNBA debut game back in May.
As the season inched closer to playoffs, Walker-Kimbrough had a high level of confidence as she played helping Washington secure the sixth seed in the postseason. She shot 85.4% from the charity stripe (third among rookies) and scored at least 13 points in three consecutive games for the Mystics – all which were starts for the rookie.