The year-end award winners announced so far have been quite consistent. Paige Bueckers won the Rookie of the Year award, A’ja Wilson and Alana Smith were the Defensive Players of the Year, and now Naz Hillmon is the Sixth Player of the Year award winner.
The 25-year-old forward garnered 44 votes for the award and made history for the franchise by winning the title.
Naz Hillmon Became First Atlanta Dream Player To Win Sixth Player of The Year
The Atlanta Dream has been part of the league since 2008 and has had numerous superstars of the game. The franchise has had numerous winners, including two Rookie of the Year recipients (Angel McCoughtry and Rhyne Howard), two Coach of the Year winners (Nicki Collen and Marynell Meadors), and one Most Improved Player of the Year winner (Elizabeth Williams). They even made it to the WNBA finals three times in their history, but lost the title in all three instances.
While the team looked like a strong contender in 2025 behind its strong starting lineup and potent bench led by Hillmon, coming off the bench, the 2022 rookie averaged 8.6 points and 6.2 rebounds for the side and made 53 3-pointers in the season; ironically, she made just one three-pointer across her first three WNBA seasons. Veteran forward Brittney Griner was positive about the title in the 2025 season.
Although these are her career-high stats, she also took home Sixth Player of the Year for her effort, becoming the first Atlanta Dream player ever to receive the honor.
She was up against stiff competition from the Minnesota Lynx’s Natisha Hiedeman, who tallied 22 votes. Jessica Shepard, Dominique Malonga, and Sami Whitcomb were the other finalists for the award.
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Naz Hillmon With Another Atlanta Dream Record
The Big 10 player of the Year winner signed for the Atlanta team as the 15th overall pick in the 2022 WNBA draft. Although she had limited minutes during the early parts of her career, she appeared in 34 games for the Dream team and later appeared in all the games for the Dream side in the next three seasons. Though she played off the bench in 27 of the Dream’s 44 games, she established a franchise mark by playing in 150 consecutive games.
In 2025, the Michigan superstar assisted Atlanta in gaining the No. 3 seed and winning a franchise-high 30 games in its 17th year. She previously won the AP Sixth Woman of the Year award this month.