WNBA single season scoring record holder named to all-league team for third time
SEATTLE — Seattle Storm guard Jewell Loyd has been named to the 2023 All-WNBA Second Team, earning the honor for the third time in her career including the second time earning second-team honors.
Loyd, who earned All-WNBA second-team honors in 2016 and first-team recognition in 2021, had a banner offensive season, setting a WNBA single-season record for points scored with 939 points, doing so despite playing in just 38 of the team’s 40 games this season. Her 24.7 points per game average was the second-highest in league history and was the highest average since Maya Moore averaged 23.9 ppg in 2014. Loyd set a league record this season with 21 games scoring 25 or more points and led the WNBA with 12 games with 30 or more points. She scored in double-figures in all 38 games this season and holds the longest active streak with 41-consecutive games with 10 or more points.
Loyd set and then broke her career-high for scoring three times during the season, capped by a 41-point outburst against Minnesota on June 29. She finished the season strong, scoring at least 19 points in each of the final nine games of the season, averaging 27.6 ppg down the stretch. Loyd finished the season with a Storm-record 115 three-pointers—the fourth-most in a single season in WNBA history—and 31 more than her previous franchise record of 84 set last year. She became the only player in league history to make at least eight three-pointers in a game twice in one season.
Loyd was fouled more than any other player in the league in 2023, drawing 6.8 fouls per game. That’s the highest since Diana Taurasi drew 7.0 fouls per game in 2013. As a result, she attempted 286 free throws (7.5 FTA/gm), one shy of the WNBA record, and made a WNBA single-season record 254 free throws (6.7 FGM/gm). Loyd, who has the WNBA’s sixth-best career FT% at 88.5% (min. 500 FTA), connected on 88.1% this season, including a streak 41-consecutive made free throws made at one point, tied for the second-longest in Storm history.
Loyd, who signed a multi-year contract extension just before the season ended, finished the 2023 campaign with 4,807 points, 1,023 rebounds, 917 assists, and 508 three-pointers. She is just the eighth player in WNBA history to amass 4,500+ points, 1,000+ rebounds, 900+ assists, and 500+ three-pointers made in a career. Loyd, who reached those marks in her penultimate game of the season, became the second-youngest player to hit that milestone and did it in the second-fewest games, just behind Diana Taurasi in both categories.
—— StormBasketball.com ——