The WNBA All-Star rosters are officially set! On Tuesday night, team captains Elena Delle Donne and A’Ja Wilson selected their teammates through the WNBA All-Star Draft.
Delle Donne and Wilson select their teams
The draft is an annual event that allows the players that got the most votes to choose their rosters for the star-studded game on Saturday. The event took place on ESPN2 and featured both team captains as they made their picks.
The draft began with Delle Donne making the first pick of the draft. Delle Donne was the leading vote-getter this year with 32,460 fan votes. For her first pick, Delle Donne selected Phoenix Mercury center, Brittney Griner.
After Delle Donne selected Griner, Wilson selected Chelsea Gray of the Los Angeles Sparks.
The team captains went back and forth selecting from the other All-Star starters. Delle Donne selected Jewell Loyd, Jonquel Jones and Kia Nurse. Wilson selected her Aces teammates in Kayla McBride and Liz Cambage, but she also selected Natasha Howard of Seattle.
Wilson had the first choice of the reserves as Delle Donne had the first choice of starters. She chose Sylvia Fowles. Delle Donne chose her Mystics teammate Kristi Toliver with her first reserve pick. Then, both players went back and forth in picking reserves.
Wilson chose Diamond DeShields, Allie Quigley, Tina Charles (who she traded), Erica Wheeler, Candice Dupree and Odyssey Sims. She traded Charles to Delle Donne in exchange for Naphessa Collier (who will replace Wilson in the All-Star Game) . Delle Donne selected DeWanna Bonner, Nneka Ogwumike, Courtney Vandersloot, Naphessa Collier (who she traded) and Alyssa Thomas.
The team captains also traded coaches, Bill Laimbeer (head coach of the Las Vegas Aces) will coach Team Wilson, and Mike Thibault (head coach of the Washington Mystics) will coach Team Delle Donne. So, both players’ coaches are going to coach their All-Star teams.
All-Star Festivities Begin
The All-Star Game takes place on Saturday at 3:30 PM ET. It will be televised on ABC. The Skills challenge and 3 Point Contest takes place on Friday.
The team captains selected extremely talented players, who will come together and put on a show on Saturday.
With the rosters set, it is only a matter of waiting for the weekend. Fans are in for a treat.