ESPN Ranks WNBA's Top Rookies of After First Month of 2024 Season

With the first month of the WNBA season in the books, ESPN has released its 2024 rookie rankings. It's Cameron Brink, not Caitlin Clark, who takes the top spot for the month of May.

Los Angeles Sparks forward Cameron Brink / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

With the first month of the WNBA season in the books, ESPN has released its rookie rankings after May. You might be surprised — or perhaps not so surprised — to learn that Indiana Fever guard and No. 1 overall pick Caitlin Clark is not in the top spot.

Instead, it's Los Angeles Sparks rookie and former Stanford star Cameron Brink who has earned the top spot on ESPN's list. Angel Reese came in at No. 2 and Clark's former Iowa teammate, Kate Martin, was No. 3.

Clark was listed at No. 6.

ESPN WNBA writer Neil Paine explained how the list was created, which ranked the top-nine rookies through the first month of the season. There are various statistics and metrics used to create the rankings.

The rankings primarily uses three metrics: Win Shares, Estimated Wins Added and Player Efficiency Rating. All of that information comes from Basketball-Reference.

"Each estimate of wins created is then averaged into a single metric, called Consensus Wins, which can be used to rank qualified rookies on a per-minute basis. (We're ranking this way to keep things fair, because some teams have played nearly twice as many games as others)," Paine writes.

"As an added wrinkle, we'll be grading each rookie on a percentile scale (0 to 100) relative to all WNBA players this season in their scoring (based on points per 100 possessions), true shooting percentage, passing (based on assist rate), rebounding rate and defensive impact (based on both SPR and defensive rating). That way, we can see why players rank where they do -- and what they might do to improve over the rest of their debut season."

ESPN's WNBA rookie rankings

1. Cameron Brink, Los Angeles Sparks
2. Angel Reese, Chicago Sky
3. Kate Martin, Las Vegas Aces
4. Rickea Jackson, Los Angeles Sparks
5. Julie Vanloo, Washington Mystics
6. Caitlin Clark, Indiana Fever
7. Aaliyah Edwards, Washington Mystics
8. Sevgi Uzun, Dallas Wings
9. Leonie Fiebich, New York Liberty