Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese join WNBA All-Star team


Rookie sensation Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever and Angel Reese of the Chicago Sky are part of the 12-player Team WNBA that will face the U.S. women's national team in the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game on July 20 in Phoenix, the league announced Tuesday night.

Clark and Reese, who are No. 1 and No. 7 picks, respectively, in the 2024 draft, are the only first-time All-Stars in this group.

Since their playing days at Iowa and LSU, this dynamic duo and their on-court rivalry have helped propel women's basketball into a new era of growth. Three of their contests through the first two months of the WNBA season were decided by a combined 10 points, and these soon-to-be All-Star teammates are clear frontrunners in the Rookie of the Year race, with Clark winning Rookie of the Month for May and Reese earning the honor for June.

The team's WNBA roster also includes nine-time All-Star Nneka Ogwumike and six-time All-Star DeWanna Bonner. Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell give Indiana — which has seen an explosion of interest in conjunction with Clark — the most selections of any team with three.

The group includes Breonna Jones of the Connecticut Sun, Allisha Gray of the Atlanta Dream, Dearica Hamby of the Los Angeles Sparks, Jonquel Jones of the New York Liberty, Kayla McBride of the Minnesota Lynx and Arike Ogunbowale of the Dallas Wings.

The top 10 All-Star vote-getters—determined by 50% fan voting, 25% current player voting, and 25% media voting—were automatically named to the All-Star Game, and those not previously named to the Olympic 5-on-5 team were assigned to Team WNBA.

Those 10 players were, in alphabetical order: Boston, Clark, Napheesa Collier, Kahleh Copper, Hamby, Sabrina Ionescu, Ogunbowale, Breanna Stewart, A'ja Wilson and Jackie Young. Clark and Boston received the most fan votes, followed by Wilson, Stewart and Reese.

Boston, Clark, Hamby, and Ogunbowale were automatically added to Team WNBA, with Collier, Copper, Ionescu, Stewart, Wilson, and Young being added to Team USA.

The league's coaches then selected the rest of the Team WNBA roster from the list of the next 36 top vote-getters, ultimately selecting Bonner, Gray, Brionna Jones, Jonquel Jones, McBride, Mitchell, Ogwumike and Reese. The U.S. national team — which will go for its eighth consecutive Olympic gold in Paris later this month — also includes Diana Taurasi, Chelsea Gray, Brittney Griner, Jewell Loyd, Kelsey Plum and Alyssa Thomas.

The starting players for both teams will be decided by their respective head coaches.

A group of WNBA All-Stars previously played alongside the US Olympic team in an All-Star Game in 2021, which Team WNBA won and was led by MVP Ogunbowale.


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