It’s official. After a rough start and a series of setbacks in the form of controversies and injuries, Caitlin Clark is the WNBA Rookie of the Year. However, it wasn’t a unanimous decision. Out of 67 votes for Rookie of the Year, Clark received 66, while Angel Reese received the other vote. The voting was conducted by two local journalists from the WNBA market and a collection of broadcasters, reporters, and writers. Still, an ESPN reporter is calling for a major change.

She wants the WNBA to follow the NBA’s Rookie of the Year voting process. On October 4th, Andraya Carter participated in ESPN’s WNBA debate and shared her take. During the discussion, she made an interesting request: “And this is why we would love the WNBA voting to not be anonymous.”

For her, if a person is voting, they should stand by their vote, and people “should know who you are.” Well, NBA voting is quite different from the WNBA. In the men’s league, Rookie of the Year (ROTY) voting is done by a panel of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters. Each player is awarded five points for a first-place vote, three for second, and one for a third-place vote.

That’s how 99 votes accumulated to 495 points for Victor Wembanyama of the Spurs. However, in the WNBA, it’s not unusual for the Rookie of the Year to be either nearly unanimous or unanimous. The Fever’s center, Aliyah Boston, was a unanimous choice for ROTY last year. Atlanta Dream’s forward, Rhyne Howard, was nearly unanimous, receiving 53 out of 56 votes in 2022. The same was the case for Michaela Onyenwere, who got 47 out of 49 votes in 2021. But the question is: If it hadn’t been unanimous, would the result have changed?

Well, a big no

As a historic class in terms of both talent and viewership, there has been much more discussion about the ROTY race between Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark. This is largely because both of them broke records throughout the year. While Clark shattered the scoring record, rookie 3-point record, and single-season assist record, Reese broke the league’s brief rebounds and consecutive double-double record.

In fact, the Indiana Fever rookie (Clark) led the league in assists per game, averaging 8.4, while Reese led in rebounds, averaging 13.1 per game. Still, Clark pulled away from the competition following the Olympic break. She played a significant role in Indiana Fever’s first playoff spot win in the last eight years.

Reese, at the same time, suffered a season-ending injury that cost her the final five games of the regular season. This occurred when she landed on her own left wrist, resulting in a hairline fracture that required surgery. Without her, the Sky struggled, losing 13 of their last 16 games and ultimately missing out on the playoff spot.

In both personal records and team achievements, Caitlin Clark is far ahead of Reese. This means even if the voting had been open, the outcome would have been the same for Clark.