TASMANIAN native Alanna Smith has claimed one of the world’s top basketball gongs, being named a co-winner of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) Defensive Player of the Year Award earlier this week.

Smith has been playing for the Minnesota Lynx throughout the 2025 season, and the forward has put together an extremely strong campaign, building on her last outing with the team and elevating herself into the elite status of the game.

Following her selection into the All-WNBA Defensive Second Team last year, Smith took things to the next level with a tremendous 2025 campaign, averaging 9.6 points on 48 per cent shooting from the field, 5.1 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 1.9 blocks and 1.3 steals per game in a balanced display that showed her well-rounded skillset.

Smith’s name will also go down in history books after she recorded the most blocks in a single season in Lynx history with 80, protecting the paint and helping Minnesota become one of the best defensive teams in the WNBA.

The Lynx led the league in defensive rating, putting an emphasis in slowing down the opponent in transition and pressuring other teams into bad shots, which also resulted in Minnesota averaging the second best in opposition field goal percentage and opposition points per game.

Smith has settled into the WNBA nicely since being drafted by the Phoenix Mercury back in 2019, and seems to have found a home in Minnesota, where she can use her defensive traits to help the team on a nightly basis.

She has become the first Australian since Lauren Jackson to win the award back in 2007, and shared the honour with A’ja Wilson, which is the first time a major award has been split by two players after finishing on the same number of votes in the WNBA.

The 29-year-old played a key role as the Lynx finished atop the standings in the Western Conference with a record of 34 wins and 10 losses, and they are now locked in a first-round battle with the team that drafted Smith in the Mercury.

In her most recent outing, the Aussie was productive once again, dropping 13 points, nine rebounds and five assists in a stat-stuffing performance, although Minnesota did lose the match in overtime. Smith will need to bring her defensive best if the Lynx are to advance through to the next stage of the postseason in the coming days.