The Connecticut Sun's DiJonai Carrington was honored Wednesday as the WNBA's Most Improved Player for the 2024 season.

She received 28 first-place votes, far outpacing runner-up Dearica Hamby. The Los Angeles Sparks star got 18 votes.

In her first year as a full-time starter, Carrington averaged 12.7 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.6 steals.

Her impact on defense was what catapulted her into the Most Improved Player conversation and eventually brought her the trophy. The Sun finished with the league's best defensive rating (94.1) and highest opponent turnover rate (20.9 percent), per WNBA.com.

Carrington's defensive effort occasionally led to easy scores on the other end of the floor. According to WNBA.com, she averaged 3.7 points off turnovers and 3.4 fast-break points per game. Those ranked eighth and third respectively.

Concerns over Carrington's shooting helped drop her into the second round of the 2021 WNBA draft. Only once in her five college seasons did she knock down more than 30 percent of her three-pointers. The dearth of roster spots available in the league makes it tough for defensive stoppers to stick around if they can't help to space the floor.

The uphill climb is the same for second-rounders more broadly. Carrington is the only one from 2021 who's still on the same team that picked her, and five of the 12 players have yet to make a WNBA appearance.

"DiJonai is a prime example of what a typical progression in this league is, and of someone that when the opportunity is there for them they take full advantage of it," Sun head coach Stephanie White said in July. "She's been incredibly consistent for us all season long on the defensive end of the floor. I think over the last three or four weeks she has finally found a comfort in her offensive game as well."

Carrington has evolved from a Sun reserve who averaged fewer than 10 minutes per game to become a critical piece for a team that won 28 games and claimed the third seed. The Most Improved Player award was richly deserved.