Rookie stars Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese will play together as members of Team WNBA against Team USA in the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game, the league announced Tuesday. Clark finished first in the fan voting portion, which accounts for 25% of the final roster, while 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 the overall All-Star voting and were not already on the active Team USA 5-on-5 roster. Reese is one of eight players named to Team WNBA after the coaches’ vote played a role in the decision.
The rest of the roster includes 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 in the lead-up to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris and takes place at the Footprint Center in Phoenix on Saturday, July 20 (8:30 p.m. ET, ABC). The skills challenge and 3-point contest take place on Friday (6 p.m. ET, ESPN).
All players on Team USA automatically earned 2024 WNBA All-Star honors when they were selected by USA Basketball last month. The team is made up 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 members of the 3×3 team, including Hamby, are not automatically All-Stars and do not participate in the All-Star Game on behalf of Team USA.
Clark and Boston lead fan vote
The initial selection of All-Stars was determined by a combination of fans (50%), current WNBA players voting (25%), and a national panel of sportswriters and broadcasters (25%). Voters’ ballots consisted of six frontcourt players and two backcourt players. Players from Team USA were eligible to receive votes.
The top 10 vote-earners automatically received All-Star nominations, 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 last year’s vote.
The WNBA did not release the overall top 10 rankings, nor the fan, player and media top 10s as it has in the past. It released only the 10 players who were not ranked, in alphabetical order. 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 roster and were named to Team WNBA.
The names of the next 36 highest-voting players (consisting 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 list. Coaches could not vote for their own players, nor could they vote for Team USA players, as they had already been assigned to an All-Star team.
It’s the first time the game has featured two rookies since 2014, when Chiney Ogwumike, the No. 1 overall pick, and Shoni Schimmel, the No. 8 pick, both made the game. Schimmel was named the starter, making it three consecutive seasons that a rookie has been named the starter (Maya Moore in 2011, Griner and Elena Delle Donne in 2012). She won MVP honors.
Taurasi and Griner lead All-Star nominations
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 being given an honorary title in 2022 while stranded in Russia.
Taurasi and Sue Bird are the only players with at least 11 All-Star nominations, with Griner coming in fourth with at least 10. The center shares third place all-time with Tamika Catchings.
Ionescu, Plum and Young are each making their third All-Star appearance. They are three of 11 former No. 1 picks playing in the summer’s marquee game.
Ogwumike is the veteran for Team WNBA playing in her ninth All-Star Game. Bonner is playing in her sixth. Boston and Mitchell are both playing their second after their initial nominations in 2023. It is the second time in Fever franchise 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 total All-Star appearances and 98 years of WNBA experience. Team WNBA has 42 total All-Star appearances and 78 seasons of WNBA experience.
Historically, the WNBA has skipped the All-Star Games during Olympic years due to the month-long break. But in 2021, the league introduced the Team USA vs. Team WNBA format as an official All-Star Game. It has historically been held as a separate exhibition. Ogunbowale led all scorers with 26 points to lift Team WNBA over Team USA in an upset in 2021. It is the 20th WNBA All-Star Game in the league’s 28-year history.
Fan voting broke records in line with rising trends in ratings and turnout. Wilson (217,773) and Clark (216,427) topped the ballots after one week of fan voting, each with double the number of votes Wilson won in 2023 (95,860) over the two-week period. Clark received seven times as many votes this year.
