Paige Bueckers Headlines WNBA All-Star Game
Paige Bueckers, the No. 1 draft pick by the Dallas Wings, leads the starters for the WNBA All-Star Game, announced this Monday. This group will join captains Caitlin Clark and Napheesa Collier in Indianapolis on July 19.
Bueckers will become the sixth No. 1 pick to start the All-Star Game as a rookie, joining Caitlin Clark (2024), Aliyah Boston (2023), Maya Moore (2011), Sue Bird (2002), and Chamique Holdsclaw (1999).
The starters were selected from across the WNBA, regardless of conference affiliation. Players and a media panel joined fans in selecting the starters. Fan voting accounted for 50%, while player and media voting each accounted for 25%.
Bueckers received the sixth-highest number of fan votes and was second in the guard voting, only behind Clark.
Bueckers, the only rookie All-Star in the starting group, ranks 11th in the league in scoring (18.4 points) and sixth in assists (5.8), leading rookies in both categories. She will be the first rookie to start the All-Star Game in the history of the Dallas Wings. The only other rookies in franchise history selected for the game were Cheryl Ford in 2003 (as Detroit Shock) and Liz Cambage in 2011 (as Tulsa Shock).
Also announced as headliners this Monday were the usual All-Star Game selections: A’ja Wilson of the Aces, Breanna Stewart of the Liberty, and Nneka Ogwumike of Seattle. With her tenth All-Star selection, Ogwumike is tied for third place in All-Star appearances with Tamika Catchings and Brittney Griner. Bird leads all players with 13 selections, followed by Diana Taurasi’s 11.
Stewart and Wilson appear in their seventh All-Star Game. Wilson currently ranks second in the league in scoring average (21.6) and Stewart third (20). Collier, who along with Clark was named captain on Sunday for receiving the most fan votes, leads the league with 24.4 points per game.
Allisha Gray of the Atlanta Dream and Sabrina Ionescu of the Liberty complete the selections for the backcourt, along with Clark and Bueckers. Boston of Indiana and Satou Sabally of Phoenix complete the starters for the frontcourt.
Boston finished with less than 1,400 votes behind Minnesota’s star, Collier, in the fan voting. Although Clark finished first in the fan voting, she was ninth in the players’ voting and third in the media voting for guards.
Wilson led all the forward line players in the media and player voting.
Indiana’s Kelsey Mitchell and Chicago’s Angel Reese were left off the All-Star starting lineup, finishing fifth and seventh, respectively, in their positions.
Coming soon, 12 reserves will be announced on Sunday on the WNBA’s social and digital platforms. These players are selected by the league’s head coaches, who will vote for three guards, five frontcourt players, and four players of any position. Coaches cannot select players from their own team.
Once the reservations are announced and the full group of players is decided, Clark and Collier will choose their rosters on July 8 at 7 p.m. ET during “WNBA Countdown” before the Liberty face the Aces.
