The WNBA introduced Wednesday that Minnesota middle Sylvia Fowles and Seattle guard Sue Fowl, who each will retire on the finish of this season, will probably be co-captains together with Las Vegas ahead A’ja Wilson and Seattle ahead Breanna Stewart for the league’s All-Star Sport on July 10 (ABC, 1 p.m. ET) in Chicago.
The league additionally mentioned Phoenix middle Brittney Griner, who has been detained in Russia since February, will probably be an honorary All-Star starter. Griner beforehand has been an All-Star seven instances.
This would be the thirteenth All-Star Sport for Fowl and the eighth for Fowles. Wilson and Stewart, by advantage of ending with probably the most fan votes, would be the official crew co-captains and decide their squads throughout ESPN’s WNBA All-Star Staff Choice Particular on July 2 (3 p.m. ET). They may select first from the remaining pool of eight starters after which from the pool of 12 reserves.
Together with the aforementioned 4, the opposite starters are Connecticut ahead Jonquel Jones, Los Angeles ahead Nneka Ogwumike, Chicago forward-center Candace Parker and New York’s Sabrina Ionescu, and Las Vegas teammates Kelsey Plum and Jackie Younger, all guards. That is the primary All-Star choice for former No. 1 picks Ionescu (2020), Younger (2019) and Plum (2017).
Fowles and Fowl may also be co-captains; Fowl will probably be paired with Wilson and Fowles with Stewart.
“For icons like Sylvia and Sue to be voted into the AT&T WNBA All-Star Sport as starters of their fifteenth and nineteenth seasons, respectively, is extraordinary,” WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert mentioned. “And while you see the beginning lineups dotted with first-time All-Stars like Sabrina Ionescu, Kelsey Plum, and Jackie Younger, it simply appears proper that Sylvia and Sue — who’ve mentioned this will probably be their ultimate season — be a part of A’ja and Breanna as co-captains for an All-Star occasion that may in some methods symbolize the passing of the torch to a brand new technology of WNBA stars.”
Engelbert added that the league wished to honor Griner as nicely.
“Throughout every season of Brittney’s profession by which there was an All-Star Sport, she has been chosen as an All-Star,” Engelbert mentioned. “It’s not troublesome to think about that if BG had been right here with us this season, she would as soon as once more be chosen and would, little doubt, exhibit her unbelievable abilities. So, it’s only becoming that she be named as an honorary starter in the present day and we proceed to work on her secure return to the U.S.”
Followers accounted for 50% of the vote for the starters, whereas present WNBA gamers and a media panel accounted for 25% every. Wilson was the chief in fan voting, adopted by Stewart.
After votes had been tallied, gamers had been ranked by place (guard and frontcourt) inside every of the three voting teams — fan votes, participant votes and media votes. Every participant’s rating was calculated by averaging her weighted rank from the fan votes, the participant votes and the media votes. That resulted in 4 guards and 6 frontcourt gamers named as starters. Fan voting served because the tiebreaker for gamers ready group with the identical rating.
Whereas there was a good quantity of uniformity between fan, media and participant voting, there have been additionally some huge disparities. Amongst guards, Fowl completed third with followers, seventh with gamers and ninth with media. Amongst frontcourt gamers, Parker was third with followers, seventh with media and thirteenth with gamers.
Amongst these those that didn’t make the beginning pool however are anticipated to be reserves, Phoenix guard Skylar Diggins-Smith was third with the media, fourth with the followers and 14th with the gamers. Dallas guard Arike Ogunbowale was fourth with the media and gamers and eleventh with followers.
The 12 reserves will probably be voted on by the league’s coaches and introduced Tuesday. Coaches will vote for 3 guards, 5 frontcourt gamers and 4 gamers at both place no matter convention, and they aren’t allowed to vote for their very own gamers. If a participant cannot play within the All-Star Sport, a substitute will probably be picked by Engelbert.
