Why Jackie Young, the "Silent Assassin," is Making a Loud Case for WNBA MVP

As the opening month closes on the most-watched season in WNBA history, all eyes are on a handful of key stars driving the league's surge in popularity.

A'ja Wilson, the two-time MVP winner and runaway leader in this year's WNBA MVP odds, is off to another record-setting start for the two-time defending champion Las Vegas Aces, who remain the clear favorites in the WNBA championship odds.

Wilson is the early favorite, standing out even against Breanna Stewart, the reigning MVP and prominent face of women's basketball in New York City. And let’s not forget Caitlin Clark, the No. 1 pick for the Indiana Fever, who has the potential to become the WNBA's greatest of all time.

Amid all the excitement surrounding the 2024 season, it's easy to overlook Aces star Jackie Young, the soft-spoken guard affectionately dubbed the "silent assassin" by fans and teammates. She prefers to let her game do the talking - and this season, it’s been louder than ever.

Here's a look at Jackie Young's WNBA MVP odds and why the Las Vegas star has a case to compete with her superstar teammate (WNBA odds via our best sports betting sites; pick confidence based on a 1-to-5-star scale).

Jackie Young odds to win WNBA MVP 2024

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Why Young can win 2024 WNBA MVP

Quiet as she may be, Young is no stranger to the spotlight as a former No. 1 pick.

In high school, she was the Naismith National Player of the Year and finished as the all-time leading scorer (girls or boys) in Indiana state history, winning 53 consecutive games and a state title in 2015. At Notre Dame, she helped lead the Fighting Irish to a national title in 2017-18 and was named an All-American a year later before Las Vegas selected her first overall in 2019.

She blossomed into an All-Star the past two seasons, helping the Aces become the first back-to-back WNBA champions in two decades. And she's taken her game to historic heights in 2024.

With five-time All-Star point guard Chelsea Gray (foot) still on the mend, Young - a natural shooting guard - has stepped up as the table-setter for the Aces (4-1) through the first two weeks of the season.

Entering Friday, she ranks fifth in scoring (21.8 PPG) and first in assists (8.2) while turning it over just 1.6 times per game, tied for 48th. She leads all players in offensive win shares (1.1) and has been the catalyst for the Aces' top-ranked offense by efficiency (108.0) through five games.

It's been a truly unmatched start for Young, whose assist-to-turnover ratio (5.14) would be the best in WNBA history across a full season. She opened the year with at least 20 points and six assists in each of her first four starts, becoming just the second player in league history to do that in any four-game stretch.

Young came one point shy of extending that streak Wednesday, when she dropped 19 points and 10 assists in an 80-66 win over the Minnesota Lynx (4-2) - the No. 3 team in my WNBA power rankings - while adding to her already ridiculous highlight reel this season:

Of course, Young isn't the only Las Vegas star making history with Wilson (26.2 PPG, 13.2 RPG) posting the best numbers of her already decorated career.

Fittingly, those two have contributed an identical 1.4 win shares through five games, tied for third league-wide. Young actually ranks higher in plus-minus (plus-10.2) and individual net rating (plus-14.3) than her much-celebrated teammate while pacing the Aces in minutes per game (36.6), tied for the second-most in the entire league.

When this team needs a bucket late in games, Young has been the one to deliver. She's tied for fifth in the WNBA in fourth-quarter scoring (5.8 PPG), well above Wilson (4.2), and she leads all Aces starters in shooting percentage from the field (44.4%) and 3-point range (50%) in the final 10 minutes.

Incredibly, she's done it all while locking up the top opposing guard on a nightly basis. Young enters Friday ranked in the top 20 in steals per game (1.8), one of just four players to do so with fewer than two fouls per contest.

She's also defended more shots between 16 and 24 feet than anyone else in the WNBA on a per-game basis (10 FGA). Opponents are shooting just 26% on those attempts, tied for the third-lowest mark in that range of anyone with at least six such shots defended per game.

Wilson has repeatedly called Young "the best two-way player in the league" - high praise from the two-time reigning Defensive Player of the Year - and the sixth-year guard has already shut down some of the top names in the sport this season.

That includes Clark, who scored a career-worst eight points on 2-for-8 shooting with six turnovers in a 99-80 loss in Las Vegas last Saturday. Young finished that game with 22 points, two steals, and the highest plus-minus (plus-24) of anyone on the court.

Young vs. Wilson for WNBA MVP?

This isn't the first time Young has flirted with MVP consideration this early in the season. In 2022, ESPN wrote an article entitled "Why Jackie Young is the Las Vegas Aces' top MVP candidate," which came as Young led the league in points per game (19.3) and win shares (2.2) amid the Aces' 7-1 start.

Ultimately (and ironically), Wilson went on to win that year's MVP award for the Aces, her second in three seasons. Young settled for the WNBA's Most Improved Player Award, while teammate Kelsey Plum - who finished as Las Vegas' leading scorer (20.2 PPG) - ranked third on MVP ballots.

Over the last 15 seasons, all but one MVP winner has played for a top-two team by overall record with 10 straight winners ranking first or second in win shares. That bodes well for Young, who has quietly ranked in the top 10 in win shares each of the last three seasons, including third last year (7.5) for the league-leading Aces.

Wilson ranked first (10.4) as she and Young both finished in the top 10 in MVP voting in 2023. The former is the clear choice for the award this year across our best sportsbooks with odds as short as -145 to win it, implying a 59.18% chance that she claims her third MVP award, per our odds converter.

Meanwhile, Young is dealing as high as +3500 via Caesars despite having a similar - if not larger - impact on her team's early success this season ahead of tonight's contest against the Atlanta Dream, which tips off at 7:30 p.m. ET (ION).

And so the silent assassin remains in the shadows as her teammate soaks up the spotlight in the highest-profile season in league history. Young prefers it this way. If she keeps up this level of play through September, though, her MVP credentials will grow too loud to ignore.

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