New recruits Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese will be part of a team for the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game as members of Team WNBA that will face Team USA, the league announced Tuesday. Clark finished first in the fan vote portion that counts for 25% of the final roster, and Reese finished fifth.
Clark (Fever), Aliyah Boston (Fever), Dearica Hamby (Sparks) and Arike Ogunbowale (Wings) were automatically named All-Stars as players who finished in the top 10 in All-Star voting and were not already on the active roster of the 5-on-5 Team USA. Reese is one of eight players who were named to the WNBA team after the coaches’ vote was factored into the decision.
The rest of the roster consists of DeWanna Bonner (Sun), Allisha Gray (Dream), Brionna Jones (Sun), Jonquel Jones (Liberty), Kayla McBride (Lynx), Kelsey Mitchell (Fever) and Nneka Ogwumike (Storm).
The All-Star Game format will pit Team WNBA against Team USA in preparation for the 2024 Paris Olympics and will take place at the Footprint Center in Phoenix on Saturday, July 20 (8:30 p.m. ET, ABC). The skills challenge and 3-point contest will take place on Friday (6 p.m. ET, ESPN).
All of Team USA’s players automatically earned 2024 WNBA All-Star honors when they were selected by USA Basketball last month. The team consists of Napheesa Collier (Lynx), Kahleah Copper (Mercury), Chelsea Gray (Aces), Brittney Griner (Mercury), Sabrina Ionescu (Liberty), Jewell Loyd (Storm), Kelsey Plum (Aces), Breanna Stewart (Liberty), Diana Taurasi (Mercury), Alyssa Thomas (Sun), A’ja Wilson (Aces) and Jackie Young (Aces).
Members of the 3×3 team, including Hamby, are not automatically All-Stars and do not compete for Team USA in the All-Star game.
Clark, Boston lead fan vote
The initial selection of All-Stars was decided by a combination of fans (50%), current WNBA players who submitted ballots (25%), and a national panel of sportswriters and commentators (25%). Voters’ ballots included six frontcourt players and two backcourt players. Team USA players were eligible to receive votes.
The top 10 players with the most votes were automatically nominated for the All-Star Game, and those who weren’t on Team USA were assigned to Team WNBA. Clark (700,735) and Boston (618,680) finished first and second, respectively, followed by Wilson (607,300), Stewart (424,135) and Reese (381,518). Wilson and Stewart won the vote last year.
The WNBA did not release the overall rankings of the top 10 players, nor did it release the rankings of fans, players and media as it has in the past. It only released the 10 unranked players, listed alphabetically. Collier, Copper, Ionescu, Stewart, Wilson and Young all finished in the top 10 but already play for Team USA. Boston, Clark, Hamby and Ogunbowale rounded out the group and were named to the WNBA team.
The names of the 36 players with the most votes (consisting of at least nine guards and 15 frontcourt players) were shared with the 12 WNBA coaches to fill the remaining spots on the 12-player roster. Coaches could not vote for their own players, nor for Team USA players, as they were already assigned to an All-Star team.
It’s the first time the game will feature two rookies since 2014, when No. 1 overall pick Chiney Ogwumike and No. 8 overall pick Shoni Schimmel each played in the game. Schimmel was named a starter, making it the third straight season a rookie has been named a starter (Maya Moore in 2011, Griner and Elena Delle Donne in 2012). She won MVP honors.
Taurasi, Griner lead All-Star nominations
Taurasi will make her 11th All-Star appearance and teammate Griner will make her 10th appearance as they chase a record eighth straight gold medal with Team USA. Griner returned to the All-Star Game last summer after receiving an honorary nomination in 2022 while detained in Russia.
Taurasi and Sue Bird are the only players with at least 11 All-Star nominations, and Griner became the fourth player with at least 10. The center is tied with Tamika Catchings for third all-time.
Ionescu, Plum and Young are each playing in their third All-Star Game. They are among 11 former No. 1 picks to play in the summer’s marquee game.
Ogwumike is the veteran WNBA player making her ninth All-Star appearance. Bonner is making her sixth. Boston and Mitchell are each making their second appearance after first being named in 2023. This is the second time in Fever history that three players have been named All-Stars in a single season (2007, with Catchings, Tammy Sutton-Brown and Anna DeForge).
Team USA has 67 All-Star Game appearances and 98 years of WNBA experience. Team WNBA has 42 All-Star Game appearances and 78 seasons of WNBA experience.
Historically, the WNBA did not hold an All-Star Game during Olympic years due to the month-long break. But in 2021, the league introduced the Team USA vs. Team WNBA format as the official All-Star Game. It had previously been held as a separate exhibition in the past. Ogunbowale led all scorers with 26 points to propel Team WNBA over Team USA in an upset in 2021. This is the 20th WNBA All-Star Game in the league’s 28-year history.
Fan votes broke records, in line with the upward trends in viewership and attendance. Wilson (217,773) and Clark (216,427) led the vote after a week of fan voting, each with double the votes Wilson received in 2023 (95,860) over a two-week period. Clark received seven times as many votes this year.
News Source : sports.yahoo.com
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