WNBA All-Star Video Game 2023: Lineup snubs, surprises, forecasts

The WNBA’s 12 All-Star Video game reserves were revealed Saturday, providing the Las Vegas Aces a league-best 4 gamers in the July 15 midseason display in Las Vegas (8:30 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN App).

All-Star captains A’ja Wilson of the Aces and Breanna Stewart of the New York City Liberty will prepare their groups initially from the swimming pool of 8 staying beginners and after that from 12 reserves on a choice program next Saturday (1 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN App). Fan vote leader Wilson will make the very first choice, and trades in between the captains are permitted.

With Las Vegas’ Becky Hammon training Wilson’s group, the regional crowd at Michelob Ultra Arena figures to have a strong rooting interest in Group Wilson. Nevertheless, there’s no assurance all 4 Aces all-stars will be on the very same group.

Fans (50%), existing gamers (25%) and media (25%) picked the beginners, while WNBA head coaches chose the reserves. If anybody is not able to play, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert will pick replacement gamers. The Connecticut Sun‘s Stephanie White will coach Group Stewart.

We break down the All-Star lineups and make forecasts for July 15.

Did fans, gamers and media get the All-Star Video game beginners right? If not, who should have gotten approval?

Voepel: The Sun’s Alyssa Thomas has 3 triple-doubles this season, is the league’s profession leader with 5 (plus 2 in the playoffs) and may be MVP if the vote were taken now. She is among the 2 most apparent misses out on as a starter (Alexa information the other listed below).

However as any long time fan of sports understands, All-Star Games are eventually a fans’ display; they elect who they wish to see the most, and they have 50% of the vote. Plus, you need to consider which fan bases may be the most participated in ballot.

Likewise include that it needs to be 6 frontcourt gamers and 4 backcourt. This year, it was difficult to miss on the 4 beginning guards: Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young (Aces), Jewell Loyd ( Seattle Storm) and Arike Ogunbowale ( Dallas Wings) plainly got that nod.

The 6 front-court gamers were a little more difficult. There were 4 areas left after seasonal MVP prospects Wilson and Stewart were automated options. Brittney Griner ( Phoenix Mercury), Nneka Ogwumike ( Los Angeles Triggers), Satou Sabally (Dallas Wings) and Aliyah Boston ( Indiana Fever) were the other beginners chose.

The media vote due date was the afternoon of June 20; Thomas had the very first of her 2023 triple-doubles that night. That’s not to state she wasn’t All-Star starter-worthy prior to then, since she was. However the timing worked versus her.

Ogwumike ranks in the leading 5 and Sabally the leading 10 in the league in both scoring and rebounding. Griner remains in the leading 10 in scoring and obstructed shots. Boston remains in the leading 10 in rebounding and leads the league in basket portion. Include the substantial fan belief for Griner after her experience in Russia in 2015, and for Boston as a novice who has actually assisted restore the Fever.

Thomas and the Sun constantly appear to choose and flourish on the concept that they are ignored, so this is more fuel for that fire. At this moment, it would not be a surprise to see Thomas wind up with a double-digit overall of triple-doubles, as she and fellow All-Star reserve DeWanna Bonner blaze a trail in keeping the Sun near the top of the standings.

Philippou: Thomas, who is securely in the MVP discussion, was deserving of being called an All-Star Video game starter. Napheesa Collier— in her very first complete season back after maternity leave– likewise should have such acknowledgment. After their ghastly 0-6 start, the Lynx went 6-4 in June behind Collier’s 25.3 points per video game because stretch and are simply a half video game out of a playoff area.

The frontcourt depth in this league is unreasonable, however when you take into consideration Collier’s effectiveness, how she affects the video game in a lot of various methods and just how much less aid she has around her, there are couple of gamers doing what she has actually done so far this season, specifically since late.

Who got snubbed? Who should have been an All-Star however wasn’t called a starter/reserve?

Philippou: There aren’t actually any apparent, glaring snubs, a minimum of compared to in 2015. You might make cases for gamers like the Los Angeles Triggers’ Jordin Canada, who’s having a profession year with a bigger function on the Triggers, or the Atlanta Dream‘s Rhyne Howard, who is still revealing why she went No. 1 in in 2015’s draft.

There are just 4 groups above.500, and yet the Washington Mystics are the only team amongst them without numerous All-Stars– maybe their balance beyond Elena Delle Donne works versus them (along with not entirely satisfying lofty preseason expectations). However the similarity Brittney Sykes and Shakira Austin have actually been such significant additions considering that their 2019 champion run.

And while she wasn’t snubbed by citizens however rather the basketball gods, the Sun’s Brionna Jones was deserving of being called an All-Star for the 3rd successive season prior to going down with a season-ending Achilles tear recently.

Voepel: Agree with Alexa: There is no one who makes you shout, “SNUB!” Nevertheless, Natasha Howard, who belongs to Dallas’ “Big 3” now with Ogunbowale and Sabally, and NaLyssa Smith (Fever), who is doing the very same for Indiana with Boston and Kelsey Mitchell, are the 2 gamers who stick out most to me.

Which novice All-Star are you most thrilled to see in action?

Philippou: Kelsey Mitchell and Allisha Gray might have been All-Stars in 2015, so seeing them lastly get that acknowledgment is a delight for fans. Gray, in specific, has actually entered into her own throughout her very first season in Atlanta following an offseason trade from Dallas. Her 18.3 points per video game (on 48.1% shooting) are group and profession highs, and she has an excellent feel for stepping up down the stretch when her group requires it. She might be in for a huge minute in La Vegas, and a huge 2nd half of the season for the playoff-minded Dream.

Voepel: Mitchell. In regards to losses accumulating and trouble seeing light at the end of the tunnel, no gamer has actually needed to handle that more than Mitchell in the last 5 years with the Fever. The 2022 season, when Indiana lost its last 18 video games in a row, was specifically discouraging.

However the addition of draft selects Smith (No. 2 in 2022) and Boston (No. 1 in 2023) and brand-new coach Christie Sides has actually offered the Fever and Mitchell a lift. Now in her 6th WNBA season, Mitchell has a well-deserved All-Star nod and may even get her very first playoff experience.

It will likewise be great to see Seattle forward Ezi Magbegor as an All-Star. In her 4th WNBA season, she’s simply 23 and has actually entered the larger function the Storm required with the departure of Stewart. We are simply beginning to see Magbegor enter her own.

Who’s your forecast for All-Star Video game MVP?

Philippou: As she leads a new-look Storm into a post-Sue Bird and Stewart period, Loyd currently has a 40-point video game this season and might be primed for a breakout revealing on the All-Star phase a la Ogunbowale and Kelsey Plum from the 2021 and 2022 occasion, respectively. Or perhaps Alyssa Thomas will make the award after tape-recording yet another triple-double this summertime.

Voepel: If the captains conspire to permit each other to pick all their WNBA colleagues– Gray, Young, Plum to Group Wilson, and Sabrina Ionescu and Courtney Vandersloot to Group Stewart– the “superteam” story will rollover to All-Star, not surprisingly aggravating the remainder of the gamers. However likewise maybe making one of them a lot more identified to be MVP.

8 WNBA All-Star Games have actually been played in the last years– 2016 (Olympics) and 2020 (pandemic) were the exceptions– and Candace Parker (2013) was the last real post gamer to win ASG MVP. The previous 3 winners were guards (Plum, Ogunbowale, Erica Wheeler); wing Maya Moore won 3 in a row prior to that, and guard Shoni Schimmel won in 2014. So perhaps it’s time for a post gamer to win once again? If so, Thomas might be the one, or perhaps the novice Boston takes the program.