The Women's National Basketball Association Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) is an annual Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) award given since the league's inaugural season.

During the first four years of the league's existence, the Houston Comets reigned. With each Comets championship, Cynthia Cooper was named Finals MVP. As the team's leading scorer, Cooper, along with Tina Thompson and Sheryl Swoopes, led Houston to four consecutive WNBA championships.

In 2001, the Comets' dynasty ended by the hands of the Los Angeles Sparks. The Sparks won back-to-back, and dominant center Lisa Leslie was crowed as the Finals MVP both years.

From 2003 on to the present, there has been a different winner each season. This is mainly because the only team to win multiple championships in that timespan was the Detroit Shock. With the Shock, Ruth Riley, Deanna Nolan, and Katie Smith all won the Finals MVP award.

[edit] Winners

Year	Player	Nationality	Team
1997	Cynthia Cooper	United States	Houston Comets
1998	Cynthia Cooper (2)	United States	Houston Comets
1999	Cynthia Cooper (3)	United States	Houston Comets
2000	Cynthia Cooper (4)	United States	Houston Comets
2001	Lisa Leslie	United States	Los Angeles Sparks
2002	Lisa Leslie (2)	United States	Los Angeles Sparks
2003	Ruth Riley	United States	Detroit Shock
2004	Betty Lennox	United States	Seattle Storm
2005	Yolanda Griffith	United States	Sacramento Monarchs
2006	Deanna Nolan	United States	Detroit Shock
2007	Cappie Pondexter	United States	Phoenix Mercury
2008	Katie Smith	United States	Detroit Shock
2009	Diana Taurasi	United States	Phoenix Mercury

[edit] References

• "WNBA history". WNBA.com. WNBA. http://www.wnba.com/history/. Retrieved 2009-01-18.