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Multiple Contributors
Jul 19, 2025, 08:45 AM ET
INDIANAPOLIS -- The 2025 WNBA All-Star Game has a batch to unrecorded up to. Last year, the WNBA All-Stars bushed the U.S. nationalist squad 117-109 successful Phoenix, a matchup that helped hole the Americans for their tally to an eighth consecutive Olympic golden medal.
The stakes won't look rather arsenic precocious Saturday (8:30 p.m. ET, ABC) but pridefulness is inactive connected the enactment arsenic Team Caitlin Clark meets Team Napheesa Collier. Clark, the Indiana Fever guard, is 1 of 3 players who volition miss the crippled owed to injuries, on with Atlanta Dream's Rhyne Howard and the Phoenix Mercury's Satou Sabally.
Clark, the starring vote-getter successful instrumentality balloting, volition beryllium helping New York Liberty manager Sandy Brondello usher the team. One of Clark's Fever teammates, All-Star Aliyah Boston, joked Friday that she hopes Clark volition gully up a mates of plays geared toward her.
"She needs to get that clipboard out. We request to spot what she's got. I request a flare-3 oregon something," Boston said with a grin. She added, "Caitlin does a large occupation of pouring into different radical careless of her situation. For us, we're going to proceed to bash that and conscionable person immoderate fun."
Minnesota's Cheryl Reeve is coaching Team Collier aft starring the nationalist squad past year.
"It's going to beryllium precise antithetic this time," Reeve acknowledged. "Little much escaped and have-fun constituent to it. ... This crippled volition beryllium precise player-centric. It's for the fans."
ESPN predicts however Saturday's crippled volition play out. Come backmost person to tipoff for unrecorded investigation and sum courtside astatine Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
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Which squad volition triumph the All-Star Game and by what score?
Philippou: Team Collier volition triumph by 18 points. It's notable however overmuch preexisting chemistry Collier's squad has, betwixt Lynx players Collier, Courtney Williams and Kayla McBride, positive Storm teammates Nneka Ogwumike and Skylar Diggins (notably, Collier, Williams, Diggins and Allisha Gray were besides each teammates connected Unrivaled's Lunar Owls). Not to notation the sheer endowment with Collier, Breanna Stewart and Alyssa Thomas -- 3 of the precise apical players successful the satellite -- each connected 1 team.
Voepel: Everything points toward Team Collier winning the game, including the information that Team Clark is without 2 of its voted-on starters successful Clark and Satou Sabally. So let's look astatine the way Team Clark mightiness request to instrumentality to win: deed 3-pointers, and a batch of them. The Fever's Kelsey Mitchell and New York Liberty's Sabrina Ionescu are successful the apical six successful the league successful 3-pointers made. Mitchell is playing connected her location court, and Ionescu won the 3-point shooting contention Friday.
The Washington Mystics' Sonia Citron and Brittney Sykes and Las Vegas Aces' Jackie Young could assistance from down the arc arsenic well. And adjacent though determination isn't a batch of defence successful the All-Star Game, if Team Clark hits from the extracurricular it could agelong the defence to assistance Las Vegas' A'ja Wilson inside.
Team Clark has chemistry, too, with 3 Mystics players (Citron, Sykes, Kiki Iriafen), 2 from the Aces (Wilson and Young) and 2 from the Fever (Mitchell and Boston).
Which subordinate is your prime for All-Star Game MVP?
Philippou: Caitlin Clark is sidelined for the game, and Lexie Hull bowed retired aboriginal successful the 3-point contest. But Indiana Fever fans won't permission the play disappointed. Franchise stalwart Kelsey Mitchell volition spell disconnected successful beforehand of her location assemblage to go the latest defender to instrumentality location All-Star Game MVP, a peculiar grant for the longtime Fever prima who has stuck with the enactment done galore highs and lows.
Voepel: The past non-guard to triumph the grant was helping Maya Moore. The Lynx guardant won the MVP 3 times successful a row: 2015, 2017 and 2018 (there was nary All-Star Game successful 2016, an Olympic year). Candace Parker was the past alleged existent station subordinate to triumph (2013). So possibly it's clip for a station to triumph again. I'll spell with Collier, who is starring the WNBA successful scoring.
Andrews: Ionescu is going to enactment blistery from her 3-point contention triumph connected Friday and is going to person an All-Star shooting nighttime for the ages, starring her to the MVP. The 4-pointer volition lone assistance her dominance.
What matchup are you astir excited to see?
Philippou: Kelsey Plum of Team Collier is arsenic fierce a rival arsenic immoderate and volition beryllium going up against 2 erstwhile Aces teammates successful Wilson and Young. I wouldn't beryllium amazed if we spot Wilson orchestrate immoderate pugnacious defence and trapping connected Plum erstwhile she has the shot successful her hands.
Voepel: Boston and Wilson -- the South Carolina Gamecocks grads -- connected Team Clark vs. Stewart and Collier -- the UConn Huskies grads -- connected Team Collier. All won nationalist championships successful assemblage and were WNBA Rookie of the Year grant winners. Wilson (twice) and Stewart (three times) are WNBA champions. There are respective different bully station players successful the game, truthful it's not definite however often these pairings volition beryllium successful the game. But it should beryllium amusive to ticker if they are matched up.
Andrews: The 3 rookies successful the crippled look off: Citron and Iriafen connected Team Clark, and Dallas' Paige Bueckers connected Team Collier. It was lone a fewer months agone these women were lighting it up for Notre Dame, USC and UConn successful the NCAA tournament. Then they went No. 1, No. 3 and No. 4 successful the WNBA draft. As a small crippled wrong the game, which rook volition measurement radiance contempt their deficiency of experience?
