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Best WNBA Players to Never Win a Ring

by Spencer Toth - 10/29/2026

Best WNBA players to never win a ring Alyssa Thomas

Individual MVP awards, All-Star appearances, and scoring titles are all fantastic accomplishments, but future WNBA stars don’t dream of those, but rather of lifting the championship trophy. Over the 30-year history of the WNBA, there have been several superstars who have dominated the league but never won the championship. Concluding even the most successful individual career always feels incomplete without a championship ring, and some of these stars still have the chance to change that in the twilight of their respective careers. As of now, these are the best WNBA players to never win the championship. 

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#1 Tina Charles

Tina Charles has the strongest statistical resume of any WNBA superstar on this list, and is considered by many to be a top-15 player all-time in the league. She was drafted first overall in 2010 by Connecticut, and immediately established herself as a force on both ends of the floor. She won Rookie of the Year, finished third in Defensive Player of the Year voting, and seventh in MVP voting during her debut campaign. She earned her first All-Star selection the following season, and won WNBA MVP during her third year in the league. By the time Charles had turned 30, she already had an MVP award, three runner-up MVP finishes, and seven All-Star appearances. She then missed the 2020 season, came back to play for Washington in 2021, earning an eighth All-Star appearance. She then bounced around the league for the next few seasons and eventually retired in May of 2026. 

Charles finished her career with 17.8 PPG to go along with 9.0 rebounds. Her 4,262 rebounds are the most all-time, but she never found playoff success in the WNBA. Charles never even made the WNBA Finals, let alone won a ring, but she did find some glory with three Olympic gold medals for Team USA during her career. No other player achieved so much in the WNBA, but has never won a championship. 

#2 Angel McCoughtry

Angel McCoughtry had a unique combination of scoring and defense rarely seen in the modern-day WNBA. Drafted by the Atlanta Dream in 2009, McCoughtry quickly became the face of the franchise during Atlanta’s second season in the league. She won Rookie of the Year with the third-most steals in the league at 2.2 per game, and quickly became the Dream’s best scorer once she started getting starts. She scored at least 21 PPG in four straight seasons from 2010 to 2013, all while consistently finishing in top three in steals on the other end of the court. She won two scoring titles and led the league in steals twice, and finished her career with six All-WNBA selections and seven All-Defensive selections. 

 

McCoughtry may never have won a championship, but she had no shortage of playoff success. She led the Dream to the WNBA Finals in 2010, 2011, and 2013, but got swept in all three series. McCoughtry averaged 21.3 PPG across her 41 postseason games, a steep uptick from her 18.6 PPG in her career. Injuries disrupted the second half of her career, but McCoughtry found herself back in the WNBA Finals with the Las Vegas Aces in 2020. She once again fell short of the ultimate prize, getting swept again by the Seattle Storm. McCoughtry is widely seen as one of the best two-way players the WNBA has ever seen, but she will have to settle for four Finals appearances without a championship. 

#3 Becky Hammon

Becky Hammon has one of the most inspirational stories in all of professional basketball. Hammon had a great college career at Colorado State, but went undrafted after graduating in 1999. She managed to fight for a contract with the New York Liberty, but only saw 6.7 minutes per game and scored 2.7 PPG during her rookie year. She came third in Most Improved Player voting the following season with 11.0 PPG, but then dipped back down to single digits across her next four seasons. At 26 years old, Hammon had only 19 career starts, but things were about to change. 

Hammon earned her first All-Star selection in 2003 despite only playing 11 games, but was undoubtedly a valuable member of the Liberty rotation. She averaged 14.0 PPG across her final four seasons with the Liberty, earned three All-Star nods, and was quickly coupling her scoring with consistent playmaking on offense. 

Hammon was traded to the San Antonio Silver Stars on draft night in 2007 for a pair of first round picks, and her career really took off in San Antonio. She led the league in assists during her first season with her new team, and earned the nickname ‘Big Shot Becky’ as she consistently came through in the clutch. She finished second in MVP voting with 18.8 PPG to go along with her 5.0 assists. The following year, Hammon led the Silver Stars to the WNBA Finals, but was swept by the Detroit Shock. 

Hammon would retire in 2014 at 37 years old, with six All-Stars and four All-WNBA selections to her name. However, she was far from finished with basketball. She became the first full-time, paid female assistant coach in NBA history with the San Antonio Spurs, and stepped in as acting head coach when the legendary Gregg Popovich was ejected from a game in 2020, making her the first female to direct an NBA team in the regular season. She then became the head coach of the Las Vegas Aces in 2022, and subsequently won three WNBA championships with the franchise. Hammon never won a championship as a player, but ultimately tasted glory as a coach. She was also inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2023, capping off an incredible career. 

#4 Alyssa Thomas

Alyssa Thomas still has time to get her name off this list, but time is running out for the 34-year-old. Thomas is one of the most versatile players in WNBA history, as she has elite rebounding, playmaking, scoring, and defensive skills. Thomas isn’t the traditional high-volume scorer, but her ability to influence nearly every aspect of the game has made her one of the league’s most valuable players. She spent the first 11 years of her career with the Connecticut Sun, before moving to Phoenix in 2025, where she currently plays. Thomas finished top-five in MVP voting in four consecutive seasons between 2022 and 2025, with her 2025 campaign being especially historic. Thomas recorded eight triple doubles and set a WNBA single-season record with 357 assists, leading the Mercury to the WNBA Finals. It was the third Finals appearance of her career, but Thomas has been unable to win the elusive championship. She has 30 triple doubles across her WNBA career, the most by a significant margin with the next closest player having seven. If Thomas doesn’t end up winning a championship before the end of her career, she will go down as one of the best to never achieve that feat. 

#5 Chamique Holdsclaw

Chamique Holdsclaw burst onto the WNBA scene as one of the most highly anticipated prospects the sport has ever seen. Holdsclaw won three consecutive National Championships with Tennessee during her college career, and was drafted first overall by the Washington Mystics in 1999. She immediately lived up to expectations, winning Rookie of the Year with 48 of the 51 first place votes after averaging 16.9 PPG with 7.9 rebounds. She finished sixth in MVP voting, and looked as though she would be the woman to lead Washington to a championship. 

Holdsclaw’s 2002 season was her most impressive, as she led the league in both points and rebounds, finishing fourth in MVP voting and sixth in Defensive Player of the Year voting. Her impressive 19.9 PPG and 11.6 rebounds proved to be no flash in the pan, as she led the league in rebounds again the following season with 10.9 per game. 

Holdsclaw went to Los Angeles in 2005 for the tail end of her career, but was never able to replicate her dominance in Washington. She played three seasons for the Sparks before retiring, then coming back to play one year with the Dream and Silver Stars. Holdsclaw never reached the WNBA Finals during her career, and eventually hung up her shoes in 2010 with 16.9 PPG and 7.6 rebounds during her 11-year career. 

#6 Teresa Weatherspoon

Teresa Weatherspoon was one of the defining players in the early years of the WNBA. She won the first two Defensive Player of the Year awards in 1997 and 1998 with 3.0 and 3.3 steals per game. She helped the New York Liberty emerge as an elite team during the inaugural years, and was able to make a real impact despite the WNBA being formed when she was 31 years old. She was never a dominant scorer with a career-high of 7.2 PPG in a single season, but made her living by facilitating and defending. Weatherspoon was incredible at predicting passes on the defensive end, and her ability to read the game is what really set her apart. 

Weatherspoon made the WNBA Finals four times in 1997, 1999, 2000, and 2002, but failed to lift the championship. Her defining moment came in Game 2 of the 1999 WNBA Finals, when she hit a desperation half-court shot to force a winner-take-all Game 3, where the Liberty fell short to Houston. Weatherspoon was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019, and will forever go down as one of the league’s original superstars, even without a ring. 

#7 Skylar Diggins

Skylar Diggins is a seven-time All-Star, with an impressive 11-year career with four different franchises. She currently plays for the Chicago Sky, and time is running out for her to win a championship at 36 years old.

Diggins had a slow rookie season in 2013 with just 8.5 PPG in 26.4 minutes of action, but became an All-Star in her sophomore season with 20.1 PPG to win Most Improved Player. She also had 5.0 assists that year, as Diggins was a threat to not only score, but also create on the offensive end. She has accumulated more than 5,700 points and 1,800 assists in her career up to this point, and is still showing no signs of slowing down with 14.9 PPG and 4.9 assists in 2026. What makes her longevity even more impressive is that Diggins didn’t play in 2019 or 2023 due to maternity leave, and would be even higher than ninth all-time in assists if she had two more seasons under her belt. 

Diggins spent time with the Tulsa Shock, Dallas Wings, Phoenix Mercury, and the Seattle Storm before joining Chicago, and has been able to elevate her teammates wherever she is. Her deepest playoff run came in 2021 with Phoenix, where she lost in the WNBA Finals 3-1 to the Chicago Sky. Diggins could theoretically still add a ring to her resume, but unless she does in the next couple of seasons, she will still be deserving of a place on this list. 

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