Seattle forward Breanna Stewart named WNBA MVP

Seattle Storm forward Breanna Stewart has been announced as the WNBA MVP after a season in which she finished second in scoring and led Seattle to the best record in the league.

Stewart was given the award Sunday before Seattle opening its best-of-five semifinal playoff series against Phoenix. Stewart finished with 372 total points in the voting, easily outpacing Dallas’ Liz Cambage, who finished second with 231 points. Stewart received 33 of 39 first-place votes.

Washington’s Elena Delle Donne finished third in the voting and Los Angeles’ Candace Parker was fourth.

“I think each award I’ve won for its respective level means a lot, but to be the MVP of the WNBA, the best league in the world, it’s at the top,” Stewart said before Game 1. “And to do it with this franchise, this team, my teammates I couldn’t have imagined it any other way.”

Stewart was the league’s rookie of the year in 2016, but had her finest professional season this year. She averaged 21.8 points and 8.4 rebounds as Seattle went 26-8 in the regular season. She had 22 games of 20 or more points scoring.

Stewart, who earlier this month was announced as the AP Player of the Year, is the second Seattle player to win MVP. Lauren Jackson was named MVP three times in her career.