Aces’ Tiffany Hayes named 2024 Kia WNBA Sixth Player of the Year

NEW YORK – Las Vegas Aces guard Tiffany Hayes has been named the 2024 Kia WNBA Sixth Player of the Year, the WNBA announced today. She has earned the honor as the league’s top reserve for the first time. To be eligible for the award, a player had to play more games as a reserve than as a starter.

Hayes received 38 of 67 votes from a national panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. Forward Leonie Fiebich of the New York Liberty finished second with 21 votes. Guard Shatori Walker-Kimbrough of the Washington Mystics received three votes and guard Marina Mabrey of the Connecticut Sun earned two votes. Forward Alysha Clark of the Aces, forward Jordan Horston of the Seattle Storm and guard Lexie Hull of the Indiana Fever each received one vote.

In her 12th WNBA season and first with the Aces, Hayes played in 33 of Las Vegas’ 40 regular-season games, coming off the bench a career-high 28 times and starting five games.

Overall, she averaged 9.5 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 21.5 minutes per game. Hayes also made 40.2 percent of her three-point shots, ranking 10th in the WNBA in that category, and shot 50.0 percent from the field overall.

Among all players who came off the bench in more games than they started – and using the league qualifier of at least 28 games played when ranking the league’s top scorers – Hayes finished first in total points (313) and points per game.

The 5-10 guard scored in double figures in 16 games and posted at least 20 points in three of the Aces’ final 10 games of the regular season, including a season-high 21 points in a 98-84 win over Seattle on Sept. 19. She also recorded four or more rebounds 10 times.

Hayes, an All-WNBA First Team and WNBA All-Defensive Second Team selection in 2018, helped the two-time defending WNBA champion Aces (27-13) earn the fourth seed in the 2024 WNBA Playoffs presented by Google.  Las Vegas will host the Liberty in Game 3 of a Semifinals playoff series tonight at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

Hayes is the fourth player to win the Kia WNBA Sixth Player of the Year Award as a member of the Aces, joining Clark (2023), Kelsey Plum (2021) and Dearica Hamby (2020 and 2019). In honor of her accomplishment, Hayes will receive $5,150 and a trophy designed to commemorate the achievement.

Below are the voting results for the 2024 Kia WNBA Sixth Player of the Year Award and the list of recipients since the award’s inception in 2007.

 

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