2023 WNBA All-Star Game

2023 WNBA All-Star Game

1 2 3 4 Total Team Stewart 29 44 37 33 143 Team Wilson 27 36 30 34 127
Date	July 15, 2023
Arena	Michelob Ultra Arena
City	Las Vegas, Nevada
MVP	Jewell Loyd
Attendance	9,472
Network	United States: ABC Canada: TSN4/SN360
Announcers	Ryan Ruocco, Rebecca Lobo, Holly Rowe, LaChina Robinson, Carolyn Peck
WNBA All-Star Game
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The 2023 WNBA All-Star Game was an exhibition basketball game played on July 15, 2023, at Michelob Ultra Arena. The Las Vegas Aces hosted the game and related events for the third time - the previous games being in 2019 and 2021. ^[1]

A'ja Wilson, of the Las Vegas Aces was the overall leader in fan votes with 95,860, with Breanna Stewart, of the New York Liberty, finishing in 2nd with 87,586 votes. ^[2]

On July 13, 2023, it was announced that Kehlani would be performing the Half-Time Show. ^[3]

Rosters

Selection

On June 5, the WNBA announced that 2023 would have a similar roster selection process to the 2022 WNBA All-Star Game. Fans, WNBA players, head coaches, sports writers, and broadcasters would all be able to vote for All Stars. All groups could fill out a ballot of four guards and six front court players. Players and coaches could not vote for members of their own team. Voting began on June 7 at 2 p.m. ET and concluded on Wednesday, June 21 at 11:59 p.m. ET. ^[4]

The voting was weighted as follows:

Voting group	Vote weight
Fans	50%
WNBA players	25%
Sports media	25%

Players were not allowed to vote for their own teammates. The top 10 players receiving votes based on this weighting would be selected to the All-Star Game. These ten players would be deemed the starters. After the announcement of the starters, the WNBA's head coaches will select the 12 reserves. Coaches will vote for three guards, five frontcourt players, and four players at either position regardless of conference. They could not vote for their own players. The top two vote-getters will be captains of the two All-Star teams and will select their teams from the pool of 8 remaining starters and the 12 reserves. The captains will draft their respective rosters by selecting first from the remaining eight players in the pool of starters and then from the pool of 12 reserves. ESPN may broadcast the WNBA All-Star Team Selection Special.

Fan vote results

The following is the top 30 players based on fan voting alone. ^[5]

Rank Player Number of Votes 1 A'ja Wilson 95,860 2 Breanna Stewart 87,586 3 Brittney Griner 72,637 4 Aliyah Boston 72,294 5 Jackie Young 63,262 6 Satou Sabally 60,738 7 Jewell Loyd 59,312 8 Nneka Ogwumike 50,753 9 Elena Delle Donne 49,137 10 Arike Ogunbowale 46,609 11 Kelsey Plum 44,014 12 Chelsea Gray 43,165 13 Candace Parker 42,617 14 Sabrina Ionescu 36,709 15 Napheesa Collier 30,680

Rank Player Number of Votes 16 Diana Taurasi 29,712 17 Alyssa Thomas 29,481 18 DeWanna Bonner 28,763 19 Allisha Gray 27,767 20 Kahleah Copper 27,546 21 Shakira Austin 22,837 22 Kelsey Mitchell 20,627 23 Courtney Vandersloot 20,252 24 NaLyssa Smith 19,485 25 Rhyne Howard 19,311 26 Marina Mabrey 15,494 27 Alysha Clark 14,146 28 Brionna Jones 13,668 29 Cheyenne Parker 13,637 30 Jonquel Jones 13,609

Full voting results

The following are the overall scores for the Top 10 finishers – based on the results from all three voting groups. The fans votes are weighed at 50%, while votes from the media and players are weighed 25%. The players are sorted by their positions. The top four players at the guards and the top 6 players at the frontcourt positions were deemed the starters for the game. After the release of the voting results, the leagues head coaches will select the twelve All-Star reserves by voting for three guards, five frontcourt players, and four players at either position. The results of this vote was announced on July 1, 2023. ^[6]

Guards Position Player Team Fan Rank Media Rank Player Rank Weighted Score 1 Jackie Young Las Vegas Aces 1 1 2 1.25 2 Jewell Loyd Seattle Storm 2 2 1 1.75 3 Arike Ogunbowale Dallas Wings 3 3 3 3.0 4 Chelsea Gray Las Vegas Aces 5 4 4 4.5 5 Kelsey Plum Las Vegas Aces 4 7 8 5.75 6 Allisha Gray Atlanta Dream 8 5 6 6.75 7 Kahleah Copper Chicago Sky 9 7 9 8.5 8 Sabrina Ionescu New York Liberty 6 6 19 9.25 9 Diana Taurasi Phoenix Mercury 7 10 14 9.5 10 Kelsey Mitchell Indiana Fever 10 13 5 9.5

Frontcourt Position Player Team Fan Rank Media Rank Player Rank Weighted Score 1 A'ja Wilson Las Vegas Aces 1 2 2 1.5 2 Breanna Stewart New York Liberty 2 1 1 1.5 3 Brittney Griner Phoenix Mercury 3 6 3 3.75 4 Satou Sabally Dallas Wings 5 3 4 4.25 5 Aliyah Boston Indiana Fever 4 7 6 5.25 6 Nneka Ogwumike Los Angeles 6 5 5 5.5 7 Alyssa Thomas Connecticut Sun 10 4 7 7.75 8 Elena Delle Donne Washington 7 9 9 8.0 9 Napheesa Collier Minnesota 9 8 8 8.5 10 DeWanna Bonner Connecticut Sun 11 10 10 10.5

Head coaches

The head coaches for the AT&T WNBA All-Star 2023 will be the head coaches of the two teams regardless of conference with the best records following games on Friday, June 30. The head coach with the best record as of that date will coach the team whose captain earned the most fan votes.

Becky Hammon, coach of the Las Vegas Aces, and Stephanie White, coach of the Connecticut Sun, qualified to be the two head coaches for the 2023 All-Star Game. ^{[7] [8]} They earned the right to be the coaches as they guided their teams to the top two spots in the standings as of that date. This is Hammon's second time and White first time as head coaches in the All-Star game. White had previous been an assistant coach for the Western Conference Team in the 2013 game. Hammon coached Team Wilson due to having the best record at the date coaches were chosen and Wilson having the most votes. White coached Team Stewart.

All-Star pool

The players for the all-star Game were selected by the voting process described above. The starters for the game were announced on June 25, 2023, with A'ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces and Breanna Stewart of the New York Liberty leading in fan votes. Those two were named captains for the game. This was Wilson and Stewarts fifth time being named to the All-Star team. ^[9]

The Western Conference provided the majority of the all-star starters with eight of the starters being from that conference. Brittney Griner of the Phoenix Mercury was selected for the ninth time, and she was joined the in starting front court by Satou Sabally of the Dallas Wings, Aliyah Boston of the Indiana Fever, and Nneka Ogwumike of the Los Angeles Sparks. This was Sabally's second selection, Boston's first, and Ogwumike's eighth. The starting front court consisted of Jackie Young and Chelsea Gray of the Las Vegas Aces, Jewell Loyd of the Seattle Storm and Arike Ogunbowale of the Dallas Wings. Gray, and Loyd have earned five all-star game selections, while it was Ogunbowale's third and Young's second selections. ^[9]

Opposite of the starters, the Eastern Conference provide the majority of the All-Star reserves with nine of the twelve reserves coming from that conference. Elena Delle Donne of the Washington Mystics was selected for the seventh time, joined in the front court by Alyssa Thomas and DeWanna Bonner of the Connecticut Sun, Cheyenne Parker of the Atlanta Dream, Napheesa Collier of the Minnesota Lynx, and Ezi Magbegor of the Seattle Storm. This was Thomas's fourth selection, Bonner's fifth, Collier's third, and Parker and Magbegor's first. The backcourt reserves consisted of Kahleah Copper of the Chicago Sky, Allisha Gray of the Atlanta Dream, Sabrina Ionescu and Courtney Vandersloot of the New York Liberty, Kelsey Mitchell of the Indiana Fever, and Kelsey Plum of the Las Vegas Aces. Vandersloot earned her fifth All-Star selection, Cooper earned her third, while Ionescu and Plum earned their second. Gray and Mitchell were named to their first All-Star game. ^[10]

Delle Donne was announced out for the game following an ankle injury on July 11. Rhyne Howard of the Atlanta Dream was selected as her replacement. This is Howard's second All-Star selection. ^[11]

Eastern Conference All-Stars Pos Player Team No. of selections Starters C Aliyah Boston Indiana Fever 1 F Breanna Stewart New York Liberty 5 Reserves G Kahleah Copper Chicago Sky 3 G Allisha Gray Atlanta Dream 1 G Sabrina Ionescu New York Liberty 2 G Kelsey Mitchell Indiana Fever 1 G Courtney Vandersloot New York Liberty 5 F Alyssa Thomas Connecticut Sun 4 F Elena Delle Donne INJ1 Washington Mystics 7 F DeWanna Bonner Connecticut Sun 5 F Cheyenne Parker Atlanta Dream 1 F Rhyne Howard REP1 Atlanta Dream 2

Western Conference All-Stars Pos Player Team No. of selections Players C Brittney Griner Phoenix Mercury 9 F Nneka Ogwumike Los Angeles Sparks 8 F Satou Sabally Dallas Wings 2 G Chelsea Gray Las Vegas Aces 5 G Jewell Loyd Seattle Storm 5 F A'ja Wilson Las Vegas Aces 5 G Arike Ogunbowale Dallas Wings 3 G Jackie Young Las Vegas Aces 2 Reserves G Kelsey Plum Las Vegas Aces 2 F Napheesa Collier Minnesota Lynx 3 F Ezi Magbegor Seattle Storm 1

All-Star selections per team

Number of All-Star players per team

Team	Number of players
Atlanta Dream	3
Chicago Sky	1
Connecticut Sun	2
Indiana Fever	2
New York Liberty	3
Washington Mystics	1
Dallas Wings	2
Las Vegas Aces	4
Los Angeles Sparks	1
Minnesota Lynx	1
Phoenix Mercury	1
Seattle Storm	2

Draft

The WNBA-All Star draft took place on July 8, 2023. ^[12] A'ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart were named captain respectively as they received the most fan votes. The first six players to be drafted were starters. The next 12 players, chosen by WNBA head coaches were then drafted. Wilson began the draft of the starters due to her having the most votes, while Stewart began the draft of the reserves. ^[13]

2023 All-Star Draft

Pick	Player	Team
1	Chelsea Gray	Wilson
2	Brittney Griner	Stewart
3	Jackie Young	Wilson
4	Jewell Loyd	Stewart
5	Aliyah Boston	Wilson
6	Satou Sabally	Stewart
7	Arike Ogunbowale	Wilson
8	Nneka Ogwumike	Stewart
9	Courtney Vandersloot	Stewart
10	Kelsey Plum	Wilson
11	Sabrina Ionescu	Stewart
12	Allisha Gray	Wilson
13	Ezi Magbegor	Stewart
14	Alyssa Thomas	Wilson
15	Napheesa Collier	Stewart
16	Cheyenne Parker	Wilson
17	Kelsey Mitchell	Stewart
18	DeWanna Bonner	Wilson
19	Kahleah Copper	Stewart
20	Elena Delle Donne	Wilson

Final rosters

Team Stewart Pos Player Team No. of selections Starters G Jewell Loyd Seattle Storm 5 F Satou Sabally Dallas Wings 2 F Breanna Stewart New York Liberty 5 F Nneka Ogwumike Los Angeles Sparks 8 C Brittney Griner Phoenix Mercury 9 Reserves G Kahleah Copper Chicago Sky 3 G Sabrina Ionescu New York Liberty 2 G Kelsey Mitchell Indiana Fever 1 G Courtney Vandersloot New York Liberty 5 F Napheesa Collier Minnesota Lynx 3 F Ezi Magbegor Seattle Storm 1 Head coach: Stephanie White (Connecticut Sun)

Team Wilson Pos Player Team No. of selections Starters G Chelsea Gray Las Vegas Aces 5 G Jackie Young Las Vegas Aces 2 G Arike Ogunbowale Dallas Wings 3 F A'ja Wilson Las Vegas Aces 5 C Aliyah Boston Indiana Fever 1 Reserves G Allisha Gray Atlanta Dream 1 G Kelsey Plum Las Vegas Aces 2 F DeWanna Bonner Connecticut Sun 5 F Elena Delle Donne INJ1 Washington Mystics 7 F Cheyenne Parker Atlanta Dream 1 F Alyssa Thomas Connecticut Sun 4 F Rhyne Howard REP1 Atlanta Dream 1 Head coach: Becky Hammon (Las Vegas Aces)

^INJ1 Elena Delle Donne was injured during her July 9 game against the Connecticut Sun and was ruled out of the All-Star Game. ^[14]
^REP1 Rhyne Howard was selected as a replacement for Elena Delle Donne on July 11, 2023. ^[14]

Game

ABC, TSN4/SN360

July 15, 2023 8:30 p.m. ET

Report

Team Wilson 127, Team Stewart143
Scoring by quarter: 27-29, 36-44, 30-37, 34-33
Pts: Kelsey Plum (30) Rebs: Aliyah Boston (11) Asts: Chelsea Gray (7)		Pts: Jewell Loyd (31) Rebs: Brittney Griner (13) Asts: Breanna Stewart (9)

Michelob Ultra Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada Attendance: 9,472 Referees: Eric Brewton, Ashley Gloss, Randy Richardson

Rule changes

The WNBA put in three new rules for the 2022 All-Star Game and brought them back for the 2023 All-Star Game: ^[15]

• 4-Point Shot
  • Four circles – two at each end of the court – were placed above the current three-point line
• 20-Second Shot Clock
• Automatic Points for Free-Throw Attempts: “No Free-Throws”

Three-Point Contest & Skills Challenge

On January 12, 2023, it was announced that there will be a Three-Point Contest and Skills Challenge on July 14, the night before the All-Star game. It will be televised on ESPN in the US and on TSN1/4/5 in Canada. ^[1] The Three-Point Contest is presented by Starry, while the WNBA Skills Challenge is presented by Kia.

Three-Point Contest

The contestants for the three-point contest were announced on July 13, 2023. ^[16] DiJonai Carrington and Sami Whitcomb were not selected to the All-Star game, but were selected to participate in the three point contest. The competition is two rounds, with the top three finishers from the first round advancing. Competitors have one minute & 10 seconds & 27 balls to accumulate points. Four racks contain four regular balls worth one point and one "money ball" worth two points. One rack is all money balls. In the event of ties, there will be multiple 30-second tiebreakers before a winner is determined. ^[17]

Sabrina Ionescu won the three point contest by virtue of scoring 37 of a possible 40 points in the final round. She made 20 consecutive shots during the round and only missed 2 total shots. Ionescu's 37-point final round was the highest-scoring round by a WNBA or NBA player – the previous WNBA record was 30, which Allie Quigley set in Chicago in 2022, while the previous NBA record was 31, which Stephen Curry set in Atlanta in 2021 and which Tyrese Haliburton equaled in Salt Lake City in 2023. ^[18]

Position	Player	From	2023 Season 3-point statistics			1st Round	2nd Round
			Made	Attempted	Percent
G	Sabrina Ionescu	New York	54	121	44.6	26	37
G	Sami Whitcomb	Seattle	37	101	36.6	28	24
G	Arike Ogunbowale	Dallas	51	171	29.8	21	11
G	DiJonai Carrington	Connecticut	14	36	38.9	18	DNQ
G	Kelsey Mitchell	Indiana	48	129	37.2	15
G	Jackie Young	Las Vegas	50	103	48.5	15

Skills Challenge

On July 11, the WNBA announced that the skills challenge will consist of four teams of two players. Each team will consist of players selected for the All-Star Game from the same team. Teams will compete in a two-round, timed, obstacle course, relay competition that tests agility, dribbling, passing, and shooting skills. The first round will feature all four teams competing one at a time in a race against the clock. As each team goes on the clock, Player 1 will complete the obstacle course and will be followed by their teammate, Player 2. The two teams that successfully complete the course with the fastest times will advance to the final round and compete on the same course for the championship. In the event of a tie, if necessary to determine a team that will advance to the final round or determine the champion, the tied teams shall repeat the course. ^[19]

Team Aces and Team Liberty advanced following the First Round of Action with Team Aces having the best time. During the Final Round, Team Liberty went first and posted 58.0 seconds. Team Aces went second and had no problem beating the Team Liberty time. Team Aces posted a 45.9 second final round time - beating the Liberty by 13.7 seconds. Kelsey Plum and Chelsea Gray were crowned the winners of the WNBA Skills Challenge. ^[20]

Skills Competitors

Position	Player	Team
G	Chelsea Gray	Las Vegas
	Kelsey Plum
G	Allisha Gray	Atlanta
F	Cheyenne Parker
G	Sabrina Ionescu	New York
	Courtney Vandersloot
G	Arike Ogunbowale	Dallas
F	Satou Sabally

Skills Challenge Results

Team	Round 1	Round 2
Team Aces	45.9	44.3
Team Liberty	47.8	58.0
Team Wings	52.6	DNQ
Team Dream	58.7

References

1. "Defending WNBA Champion Las Vegas Aces To Host AT&T WNBA All-Star 2023 Events". wnba.com. WNBA. January 12, 2023. Retrieved June 19, 2023.
2. Pickman, Ben. "Wilson, Stewart named 2023 WNBA All-Star Game captains: Biggest omission, surprises among starters". theathletic.com. The Athletic. Retrieved July 8, 2023.
3. "Grammy®-Nominated Artist Kehlani to Perform at WNBA All-Star Halftime Presented By AT&T During 2023 AT&T WNBA All-Star Game". www.wnba.com. WNBA. July 13, 2023. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
4. "WNBA All-Star Voting 2023 tips off June 7". pr.nba.com. WNBA. June 5, 2023. Retrieved June 19, 2023.
5. "Fan Voting Results: 2023 AT&T WNBA All-Star Game". wnba.com. WNBA. June 25, 2023. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
6. "Las Vegas Aces' A'ja Wilson and New York Liberty's Breanna Stewart Named Starters and Captains for 2023 AT&T WNBA All-Star Game". wnba.com. WNBA. June 25, 2023. Retrieved June 26, 2023.
7. Sinatra, Alex (July 2, 2023). "WNBA All-Star Game reserves and head coaches announced". therookiewire.usatoday.com. Rookie Wire. Retrieved July 8, 2023.
8. "2022 All-Star MVP Kelsey Plum Named A 2023 All-Star Reserve". aces.wnba.com. WNBA. Retrieved July 8, 2023.
9. M.A. Voepel (June 25, 2023). "Brittney Griner, Aliyah Boston named WNBA All-Star starters". ESPN . Retrieved June 23, 2023.
10. "Connecticut Sun's Alyssa Thomas, Washington Mystics' Elena Delle Donne Highlight Reserves For 2023 AT&T WNBA All-Star Game". wnba.com. WNBA. Retrieved July 1, 2023.
11. "Atlanta Dream's Rhyne Howard to Replace Washington Mystics' Elena Delle Donne in 2023 AT&T WNBA All-Star Game". wnba.com. WNBA. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
12. "Las Vegas Aces' A'ja Wilson and New York Liberty's Breanna Stewart Lead After First Returns of Fan Voting For AT&T WNBA All-Star 2023". wnba.com. WNBA. June 13, 2023. Retrieved June 19, 2023.
13. Maloney, Jack. "2023 WNBA All-Star Game draft results: Full rosters for Team A'ja Wilson and Team Breanna Stewart". CBS Sports. Retrieved July 8, 2023.
14. "Atlanta Dream's Rhyne Howard to Replace Washington Mystics' Elena Delle Donne in 2023 AT&T WNBA All-Star Game". wnba.com. WNBA. July 11, 2023. Retrieved July 11, 2023.
15. "Return of 4-Point Shot and Shorter Shot Clock Highlight Special Rules For AT&T WNBA All-Star 2023". wnba.com. WNBA. Retrieved July 15, 2023.
16. "Star-Studded Starry®WNBA 3-Point Contest to Feature Las Vegas Aces' Jackie Young and New York Liberty's Sabrina Ionescu". wnba.com. WNBA. July 13, 2023. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
17. M.A. Voepel (July 13, 2023). "Four WNBA All-Stars among six players in 3-point contest". ESPN . Retrieved July 13, 2023.
18. Philippou, Alexa (July 14, 2023). "Sabrina Ionescu scores record 37 points to win WNBA 3-point contest". ESPN . Retrieved July 15, 2023.
19. "Kia WNBA Skills Challenge To Feature Four Sets of 2023 All-Star Teammates". wnba.com. WNBA. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
20. "WNBA All-Star: Sabrina Ionescu sets 3-Point Contest record; Team Aces win Skills Challenge". sports.yahoo.com. Yahoo Sports. July 15, 2023. Retrieved July 15, 2023.