The final buzzer of the 2025 WNBA season is still 33 games away for Dallas, yet the Rookie of the Year debate is already heating up. Caitlin Clark fans, never ones to sit quietly, are pointing out an old argument with renewed energy. The standard? A 2024 take from ESPN’s Monica McNutt that made headlines during last year’s ROTY debate. Now that Paige Bueckers is the front-runner, they’re simply asking: If the standard worked for Caitlin, why not for Paige?
The Dallas Wings are 1–10, sitting at the bottom of the WNBA standings. But rookie Paige Bueckers has been lights out. She leads all rookies with 17.6 points, 6.3 assists, and 1.9 steals per game (as per wnba stats.com). She ranks third in rebounds and has the highest efficiency rating of 21.9 among the rookies. By nearly every metric, she’s dominating the rookie class. Yet some fans are pointing to Dallas’ record, not her stat sheet, as a disqualifier.
That’s exactly the argument Monica McNutt used last year to back Angel Reese over Caitlin Clark.
“My rookie of the year is gonna go based on the standing. Because I think that is how you have the opportunity to measure impact,” McNutt said on air. “The Sky right now are in the playoffs, so you’d have to give the nod, in my mind, to Angel Reese.”
Ironically, the Sky missed the playoffs, finishing 10th at 13–27. Clark’s Indiana Fever, on the other hand, surged after the Olympic break, finishing 20–20 and clinching a playoff berth for the first time since 2016. Clark also became the first true rookie in WNBA history to lead the league in assists, averaging 19.2 points, 8.4 assists, and 5.7 rebounds.
McNutt, to her credit, at the end of the season later clarified that her take was based on her personal criteria, and even added on a podcast that if Reese broke the rookie double-double record but Clark had the higher seed, “the award should go to Clark.” Now, in 2025, fans are using her logic to question whether Bueckers can win ROTY if her team is tanking.
One viral X post summed it up:
“Last year Monica McNutt said ROTY depends on team’s standings. So even if Paige outplays CC’s rookie season, she shouldn’t win ROTY if Dallas is bad? Is that rule valid now?”
Last year Monica McNutt said ROTY depends on team’s standings. So even if Paige outplays CC’s rookie season, she shouldn’t win ROTY if Dallas is bad? Is that rule valid now pic.twitter.com/Y1LSa1imf6
— sandeep rallapalli (@sandeep02444) June 12, 2025
But here’s the truth: the ROTY process has never officially required team success. A national panel of 56 writers and broadcasters votes on a 5-3-1 point scale. The award, introduced in 1998, emphasizes individual regular-season performance, with voters focusing on stat leaders, milestones, and overall impact, not win-loss records.
So far, Bueckers is checking every box. The only thing not in her favor is team success, which shouldn’t matter. Yet the debate has ignited because fans haven’t forgotten how Clark was judged.
Clark fans question Paige’s ROTY chances using last year’s standards.
In fact, one fan said, “Dallas may not win 10 games this year … absolutely not.”
And right now, it sure feels that way. The Wings are 1–10 through their first 11 games. Only 33 remain, and the rest of the league is surging. Dallas? They’re bruised, battered, and limping. T’yasha Harris is out for the season, Teaira McCowan is overseas for EuroBasket, and Myisha Hines-Allen and DiJonai Carrington are both day-to-day. Their lone win came against Connecticut, and even that looked like a fluke.
So yes, team success looks bleak for Bueckers. But does that alone disqualify her?
Jun 7, 2025; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22)reacts to a basket scored by a teammate against the Chicago Sky during the first half of a WNBA game at United Center. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images
Another fan weighed in: “If McNutt is the president of ROTY, then yes.”
Well, Monica McNutt isn’t the president, but she is one of the 56 official voters for the award. And in 2024, her self-declared metric for Rookie of the Year was clear:
“My rookie of the year is gonna go based on the standing… because I think that is how you have the opportunity to measure impact.”
That line helped tilt the conversation toward Angel Reese, even though the Chicago Sky missed the playoffs after a late-season collapse. Meanwhile, Caitlin Clark led the Indiana Fever to a 20–20 record and their first postseason berth since 2016, while also becoming the first true rookie to lead the WNBA in assists.
Clark fans now argue: if standings mattered last year, why not this year?
That’s not a far-fetched question. It’s also worth remembering that Aliyah Boston’s 2023 ROTY win was linked to team progress, too—Indiana jumped from 5 wins in 2022 to 13 in 2023.
By 2024, with Clark added, they climbed to 20 wins. So yes, the expectation that a top rookie boosts their team has been quietly—but consistently—part of the standard.
Yet some are still trying to drag Clark into the conversation. One user said, “She won’t come close to CC season. 65 records broken by CC.”
But this isn’t about Clark. ROTY 2025 is about Paige Bueckers and her class: Saniya Rivers, Sonia Citron, Janelle Salaün, Kiki Iriafen, and others. Whether Bueckers breaks records or not can only be judged after all 44 games.
Then came the blunt jab: “Monica is nuts.”
Vitriol aside, fans are questioning the logic. It’s like applying MVP standards, which often favor team success, to ROTY, which should be about how quickly a player adjusts to the league and impacts her team. That impact is best seen in wins and losses, sure—but it’s not the whole story.
Take Dallas’ recent loss to Phoenix. The Wings fell 93–80, but Bueckers dropped 35 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1 steal—one of the best rookie performances of the season. Dallas lost because of poor shooting from Arike Ogunbowale and a flat effort from the supporting cast, not because Bueckers didn’t show up.
Another fan quipped: “That rule is only for CC…”
And that’s the root of the tension. It felt like that in 2024, when Clark was held to a team-standard bar others hadn’t been. But now, fans are holding that same logic up to the mirror.
The Rookie of the Year vote will again come down to 56 sportswriters and broadcasters using a 5–3–1 point system. Individual performance is the priority. Some may still favor team success, but that isn’t the rule.
It never was.
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