Women's Naismith Player of the Year Odds 2025: Latest Favorites, Odds, and Betting Insights

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The Naismith Player of the Year award is given every year to the player who is deemed to be the most outstanding player of the season. The ceremony is scheduled for Wednesday.

A couple of players have emerged as the most likely candidates to win the award.

Naismith Player of the Year odds 2025

With March Madness underway, the odds for the Naismith Award are likely to change. However, the odds according to BetMGM are as follows for the top five players:

UCLA C Lauren Betts (+100)
Notre Dame G Hannah Hidalgo (+160)
USC G JuJu Watkins (+225)
UConn G Paige Bueckers (+10000)
LSU F Aneesah Morrow (+12500)

Who is the favorite to win the Women's Naismith Player of the Year award?

Center Lauren Betts is the favorite to win the Naismith Award. As a member of the UCLA Bruins, she has led her team to an Elite Eight appearance in March Madness. The Bruins are scheduled to take on the LSU Tigers on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET. She has averaged 20.1 points, 9.7 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 2.9 blocks per game this season.

The other two realistic contenders for the award are Notre Dame's Hannah Hidalgo and USC's JuJu Watkins. USC is in the Elite Eight, but Notre Dame was eliminated in the Sweet 16 of March Madness. Hidalgo averaged 23.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 3.7 steals per game this season. Watkins is averaging 23.9 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 2.2 steals and 1.8 blocks per game.

Betting insights for the 2025 women's Naismith Player of the Year

Fans interested in betting on this award should only consider the top three contenders, Lauren Betts, Hannah Hidalgo and JuJu Watkins. They are far and away the most likely players to win the award. Additionally, it is important to keep an eye on the results of March Madness.

Hidalgo is someone fans might look to avoid wagering on. Since her Notre Dame squad was eliminated from the tournament early, voters might be less likely to vote for her. Whoever makes it further between Watkins and Betts will have an edge for the award.

Naismith Player of the Year Award winners last 5 years

After two straight seasons where the Naismith Award was given to Caitlin Clark, there will be a new award winner this season. These are the five most recent winners of the award.

2024: Caitlin Clark, Iowa
2023: Caitlin Clark, Iowa
2022: Aliyah Boston, South Carolina
2021: Paige Bueckers, UConn
2020: Sabrina Ionescu, Oregon

About the author

Alexander O'Reilly is a journalist at Sportskeeda from Kingston, Ontario with over seven years in the field at companies including SenShot, RVBlogger, Monarch Media, WordAgents, GSeC LLC, and IGC.

His favorite college team is Duke, and his favorite sporting memory was Duke winning March Madness in 2010. JJ Redick was Alex's favorite college player when he was young but more recently, Caleb Williams gets the nod. As the Chicago Bears are Alex's favorite NFL team, this was a perfect match.

Alex's proudest moment came when he was interviewed by a radio station in Ottawa on his opinion on recent moves by the Ottawa Senators, which gave him a confidence boost and the knowledge that he could succeed as a writer.

Aside from sports, Alex likes to spend his time playing games. He is also very passionate about running and strives to improve at the half and full marathon distances.

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Edited by Nicolaas Ackermann