A’ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart Draft Rosters For WNBA All-Star Game
A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart drafted and finalized their rosters for their WNBA All-Star game, and the trio of Connecticut Sun All-Stars will get their chance to go against each other at Wintrust Arena.
Wilson and Stewart are co-captains of their teams along with Sylvia Fowles and Sue Bird, respectively — Fowles and Bird will be retiring at the end of the season. Interestingly, Bird and Wilson were originally co-captains, and Fowles and Stewart were co-captains. But after the completion of the draft, Wilson and Stewart agreed to trade co-captains.
The draft was held live on ESPN, and Wilson earned the No. 1 pick after receiving the most fan votes. With the first pick, the Las Vegas Aces star chose Candance Parker of the defending champion Chicago Sky. With the second pick, Stewart chose Wilson’s Aces teammate Jackie Young. Wilson, however, would end up drafting her other All-Star teammates: Kelsey Plum and Dearica Hamby.
Stewart also drafted her Seattle Storm teammate Jewell Loyd, who was among the pool of reserve All-Stars, thus keeping the trio of Storm All-Stars together.
The Sun had three players named All-Stars. Jonquel Jones was named a starter, and Alyssa Thomas and Brionna Jones were named reserves. Jonquel and Thomas were drafted to Team Stewart, while Brionna was drafted to Team Wilson. This unfortunately means Connecticut fans won’t get to see the trio on the same team, but Sun fans will get to see Jonquel and Thomas compete against Brionna and vice versa.
The full WNBA All-Star roster is as follows:
Team Wilson
Starters
Kelsey Plum (Las Vegas Aces)
Sabrina Ionescu (New York Liberty)
Candace Parker (Chicago Sky)
A’ja Wilson (Las Vegas Aces)
Sylvia Fowles (Minnesota Lynx)
Reserves
Ariel Atkins (Washington Mystics)
Rhyne Howard (Atlanta Dream)
Courtney Vandersloot (Chicago Sky)
Dearica Hamby (Las Vegas Aces)
Natasha Howard (New York Liberty)
Brionna Jones (Connecticut Sun)
Team Stewart
Starters
Sue Bird (Seattle Storm)
Jackie Young (Las Vegas Aces)
Breanna Stewart (Seattle Storm)
Jonquel Jones (Connecticut Sun)
Nneka Ogwumike (Los Angeles Sparks)
Reserves
Kahleah Copper (Chicago Sky)
Skylar Diggins-Smith (Phoenix Mercury)
Jewell Loyd (Seattle Storm)
Arike Ogunbowale (Dallas Wings)
Emma Meesseman (Chicago Sky)
Alyssa Thomas (Connecticut Sun)
After the draft, Wilson suggested trading Ogwumike for Ionescu. Stewart and Wilson also gave their assessments of their rosters.
“I think the strength of my team is our size and our versatility,” Stewart said, per ESPN’s Alexa Philippou. “We’re going to come out and make sure we set the tone early and try to get this win.”
“I look at my list and I see nothing but vet, vet, vet,” Wilson said. “When it comes to wisdom, I got ’em.”
Team Wilson will be coached by Aces coach Becky Hammon, Wilson’s coach on the Aces, and Team Stewart will be led by Sky coach James Wade.
The WNBA All-Star game will be on July 10 in Chicago. Tip off is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET.
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