Rookie stars Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese will pair up in the 2024 WNBA All-Star game as members of Team WNBA taking on Team USA, the league announced Tuesday. Clark finished first in the fan voting portion that counts 25% toward 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 of overall All-Star voting and who were not already on the active Team USA 5-on-5 roster. Reese is one of eight players who were named to Team WNBA after a coaches vote 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 is Team WNBA vs. Team USA as a lead-up to the 2024 Paris Olympics and will take place at 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 players on Team USA automatically earned 2024 WNBA All-Star honors upon their selection 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).
The 3×3 team members, which includes Hamby, are not automatic 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 submit ballots (25%) and a national panel of sportswriters and broadcasters (25%). Voters’ ballots consisted of six frontcourt players and two backcourt players. Team USA players could receive votes.
The top 10 vote earners automatically received All-Star nods and those not on Team USA were assigned to Team WNBA. Clark (700,735) and Boston (618,680) finished first and second, respectively, in fan voting 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 top-10 rankings, nor the fan, player and media top-10 as it has in the past. It only released the 10 players. Collier, Copper, Ionescu, Stewart, Wilson and Young all finished in the top 10, but are already playing for Team USA. Boston, Clark, Hamby and Ogunbowale rounded out the bunch and were named to Team WNBA.
The names of the next 36 highest vote-getters (composed of at least nine guards and 15 frontcourt players) were provided to the 12 WNBA coaches to fill the remaining spots on the 12-player roster. Coaches could vote for their own players, nor could they vote for Team USA players as they were already assigned an All-Star team.
Taurasi, Griner lead All-Star nods
Taurasi will make her 11th All-Star appearance and teammate Griner will make her 10th as they go for a record eighth consecutive gold medal with Team USA. Griner returned to the All-Star game last summer after receiving an honorary nod 2022 while detained in Russia.
Ionescu, Plum and Young are each making their third All-Star appearances. They are three of 11 former No. 1 picks playing in the summer’s All-Star game.
Ogwumike is the veteran for Team WNBA playing in her ninth All-Star game. Bonner is in her sixth game. Boston and Mitchell are each playing in their second after their first nods in 2023.
Team USA has a combined 67 All-Star appearances and 98 years of WNBA experience. Team WNBA has 42 All-Star appearances combined and 78 seasons of WNBA experience.
Historically, the WNBA skipped All-Star games during Olympic years because of the month-long break. But in 2021, the league introduced the Team USA vs. Team WNBA format as an official All-Star game. It had been held as a separate exhibition in the past. Ogunbowale led all scorers with 26 points to send Team WNBA over Team USA in the 2021 upset. It is the 20th WNBA All-Star game in the league’s 28-year history.
Fan voting returns broke records in line with upward trends in viewership and attendance. Wilson (217,773) and Clark (216,427) led the ballots after one week of fan voting, each with double the votes Wilson won with in 2023 (95,860) over the two-week span. Clark received seven times the vote this year.
Source Agencies
