NEW YORK, Sept. 20, 2020 – Las Vegas Aces General Manager of Basketball Operations Dan Padover has been named the 2020 WNBA Basketball Executive of the Year, the WNBA announced today.  Padover earned the honor as the league’s top basketball executive for the first time.

Padover received six of 11 first-place votes, two second-place votes and one third-place votes (37 points) from a panel composed of one basketball executive from each WNBA team.  Phoenix Mercury Executive Vice President/General Manager Jim Pitman finished in second place with 32 points, receiving four first-place votes and four second-place votes.

Executives were awarded five points for a first-place vote, three points for a second-place vote and one point for a third-place vote.

Under the direction of Padover and Aces’ President of Basketball Operations & Head Coach Bill Laimbeer, and behind the play of 2020 WNBA Most Valuable Player A’ja Wilson and Sixth Woman of the Year Dearica Hamby, Las Vegas tied for the best record in the WNBA (18-4) during the regular season. The Aces earned the top seed and a double-bye in WNBA Playoffs 2020 presented by AT&T and will begin their best-of-five WNBA Semifinals series vs. the Connecticut Sun today at 1 p.m. ET (ESPN).

Padover, who joined Las Vegas in his current role in December 2018, reconfigured the Aces’ roster in February of this year with the signing of unrestricted veteran free agents Angel McCoughtry, a five-time All-Star and two-time league scoring leader, and three-time All-Star Danielle Robinson.  In May, Padover and the Aces re-signed center Carolyn Swords, who had retired and moved into a position with the team’s front office. The moves would pay dividends for Las Vegas, which subsequently entered the season without centers JiSu Park and Liz Cambage, and injured guard Kelsey Plum.

McCoughtry, the team’s second-leading scorer in 2020, averaged 14.4 points per game and Swords contributed 4.6 rebounds per game as both players started all 22 regular-season games for Las Vegas. Robinson played in all 22 games, seeing action off the bench in 21, and averaged 7.4 points per game, 3.3 assists, and 2.4 rebounds.

Below are the voting results for the 2020 WNBA Basketball Executive of the Year Award and a list of past recipients.

WNBA BASKETBALL EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR WINNERS

2020, Dan Padover, Las Vegas Aces
2019, Cheryl Reeve, Minnesota Lynx
2018, Chris Sienko, Atlanta Dream
2017, Curt Miller, Connecticut Sun