Griner, Stewart, Wilson, Boston Top ’23 All-Stars, WNBA Names Coaches, Reserves
Sunday, June 25, 2023 at 10:00PM By Barry Janoff
UPDATED July 10, 2023: ESPN said it would support its coverage of the 2023 AT&T WNBA All-Star Game (July 15, ABC) with three billboards on the Las Vegas Strip featuring All-Star captains Breanna Stewart and A’Ja Wilson.
ESPN will also have a “WNBA arena walk-in experience” at WNBA Live presented by U.S. Bank in the Mandalay Bay Convention Center throughout All-Star weekend.
"The immersive activation recreates the experience of player arena arrivals and allows fans to create their own signature walk-in, complete with a photo memory to share on social," according to ESPN.
ESPN social will extensively cover 2023 All-Star Weekend with on-site executions and specialized content from Las Vegas across various ESPN handles on Instagram, Tik Tok, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Threads.
UPDATED July 8, 2023: The team rosters for the 2023 AT&T WNBA All-Star Game, as selected by All-Star captains A’ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces and Breanna Stewart of the New York Liberty, were revealed today during the WNBA All-Star Team Selection Special on ESPN.
Team Wilson
Starters
Aliyah Boston
Chelsea Gray
Arike Ogunbowale
A’Ja Wilson
Jackie Young
Reserves
DeWanna Bonner
Elena Delle Donne
Allisha Gray
Cheyenne Parker
Kelsey Plum
Alyssa Thomas
Team Stewart
Starters
Brittney Griner
Jewel Loyd
Nneka Ogwumike
Satou Sabally
Breanna Stewart
Reserves
Napheesa Collier
Kahleah Copper
Sabrina Ionescu
Ezi Magbegor
Kelsey Mitchell
Courtney Vandersloot
UPDATED July 2, 2023: The WNBA named its full roster for the 2023 AT&T WNBA All-Star Game, July 15 in the Michelob Ultra Arena, Las Vegas (ABC)l hosted by the Aces.
Reserves were selected by WNBA head coaches, who voted for three guards, five frontcourt players and four players at either position regardless of conference. The coaches were not able to vote for their own players.
The starters were named this past Sunday.
Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon and Connecticut head coach Stephanie White have earned spots as the head coaches for the 2023 AT&T WNBA All-Star Game.
Hammon and the Aces’ staff will coach Team A’ja Wilson. White and the Connecticut staff will coach Team Breanna Stewart.
The list of 12 players who will serve as reserves:
DeWanna Bonner, Sun
Napheesa Collier, Lynx
Kahleah Copper, Sky
Elena Delle Donne, Mystics
Allisha Gray, Dream
Sabrina Ionescu, Liberty
Ezi Magbegor, Storm
Kelsey Mitchell, Fever
Cheyenne Parker, Dream
Kelsey Plum, Aces
Alyssa Thomas, Sun
June 25, 2023: A’ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart, Brittney Griner, and Aliyah Boston top the list of All-Stars as voted by fans, current WNBA players and media to start in the 2023 AT&T WNBA All-Star Game, July 15 in the Michelob Ultra Arena, Las Vegas (ABC)l hosted by the Aces.
Griner’s nine All-Star selections are the most of any 2023 starter.
When she was detained in Russia, Griner was named an honorary All-Star and starter last year by WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert. During the second half of that game, both teams wore jerseys with Griner’s No. 42.
This is Stewart’s 5th All-Star selection but first with New York Liberty after leaving Seattle Storm as a free agent during the off-season.
Boston (Indiana Fever) will be the sixth rookie to start in the All-Star Game and the first since 2014 (Chamique Holdsclaw, 1999; Sue Bird and Tamika Catchings, 2002; Maya Moore, 2011; Shoni Schimmel, 2014).
Fans accounted for 50% of the vote to determine the starters for the AT&T WNBA All-Star Game, while current WNBA players and a media panel accounted for 25% each.
Wilson (Las Vegas Aces) finished with a WNBA-high 95,860 fan votes, followed by Stewart (87,586).
Wilson, selected as an All-Star for the fifth time and Stewart each will serve as official team captains by virtue of being the two All-Star starters who finished with the most fan votes.
This marks the second consecutive year that Wilson and Stewart finished No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in fan voting.
Last year, Team Wilson defeated Team Stewart, 134-112, at the 2022 AT&T WNBA All-Star Game in Chicago.
Joining Wilson, Stewart, Griner (Phoenix Mercury) and Boston as starters in the frontcourt are Nneka Ogwumike (Los Angeles Sparks) and Satou Sabally (Dallas Wings).
The starting backcourt Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young (Las Vegas), Jewell Loyd (Seattle) and Arike Ogunbowale (Dallas).
The 12 AT&T WNBA All-Star reserves will be selected by the league’s head coaches July 1.
The head coaches will vote for three guards, five frontcourt players and four players at either position regardless of conference. (They may not vote for their own players.)
If a player is unable to play in AT&T WNBA All-Star, a replacement will be named by WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert.
The captains will draft their rosters by selecting first from the pool of eight remaining starters and then from the pool of 12 reserves.
ESPN will broadcast the WNBA All-Star Team Selection Special on Saturday, July 8.
The WNBA plays games on July 12 and then resumes July 18.
After all votes were tallied, players were ranked by position (guard and frontcourt) within each of the three voting groups: fan votes, player votes and media votes.
Each player’s score was calculated by averaging their weighted rank from the fan votes, the player votes, and the media votes.
The four guards and six frontcourt players across the WNBA with the best scores were named All-Star Game starters. Fan voting served as the tie-breaker for players in a position group with the same score.
In addition to the AT&T WNBA All-Star Game, the WNBA will host its “WNBA Live” interactive event fan festival, now in its second year, open to the public.
On July 14, players will display their talents at the WNBA Starry 3-Point Contest and Kia WNBA Skills Challenge.
“We’re excited to once again host the league’s signature showcase event in the sports and entertainment capital of the world,” Aces president Nikki Fargas said via the team.
“Las Vegas has showed up and showed out for the Aces and the WNBA since our first season, and we are looking forward to welcoming fans from around the world back to Michelob Ultra Arena for another incredible celebration of the best that women’s basketball has to offer.”
The Top 30 finishers in the fan portion of voting:
1. A’ja Wilson, Frontcourt (LVA) 95,860
2. Breanna Stewart, Frontcourt (NYL) 87,586
3. Brittney Griner, Frontcourt (PHO) 72,637
4. Aliyah Boston, Frontcourt (IND) 72,294
5. Jackie Young, Guard (LVA) 63,262
6. Satou Sabally, Frontcourt (DAL) 60,738
7. Jewell Loyd, Guard (SEA) 59,312
8. Nneka Ogwumike, Frontcourt (LAS) 50,753
9. Elena Delle Donne, Frontcourt (WAS) 49,137
10. Arike Ogunbowale, Guard (DAL) 46,609
11. Kelsey Plum, Guard (LVA) 44,014
12. Chelsea Gray, Guard (LVA) 43,165
13. Candace Parker, Frontcourt (LVA) 42,617
14. Sabrina Ionescu, Guard (NYL) 36,709
15. Napheesa Collier, Frontcourt (MIN) 30,680
16. Diana Taurasi, Guard (PHO) 29,712
17. Alyssa Thomas, Frontcourt (CON) 29,481
18. DeWanna Bonner, Frontcourt (CON) 28,763
19. Allisha Gray, Guard (ATL) 27,767
20. Kahleah Copper, Guard (CHI) 27,546
21. Shakira Austin, Frontcourt (WAS) 22,837
22. Kelsey Mitchell, Guard (IND) 20,627
23. Courtney Vandersloot, Guard (NYL) 20,252
24. NaLyssa Smith, Frontcourt (IND) 19,485
25. Rhyne Howard, Guard (ATL) 19,311
26. Marina Mabrey, Guard (CHI) 15,494
27. Alysha Clark, Frontcourt (LVA) 14,146
28. Brionna Jones, Frontcourt (CON) 13,668
29. Cheyenne Parker, Frontcourt (ATL) 13,637
30. Jonquel Jones, Frontcourt (NYL) 13,609
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