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Michel VoebelESPN.com
The WNBA announced Wednesday that Minnesota Center Silvia Fowles And the Seattle Protect So BirdBoth will retire at the end of this season, together they will be in charge Las vigas straight ahead Aja Wilson And Seattle striker Briana Stewart for the Major League All-Star Game on July 10 (ABC, 1 p.m. ET) in Chicago.
The league also said Phoenix Center Britney Greiner, who has been held in Russia since February, will be the honorary All-Star Champion. Griner was previously a seven-time All-Star.
This will be the thirteenth All-Star game for Fowls and eighth for Fowls. Wilson and Stewart, by virtue of having finished receiving the most fan votes, will be official team co-leaders and select their teams during ESPN’s WNBA All-Star Show on July 2 (3 p.m. ET). They will choose first from the remaining group of eight starters and then from a group of 12 reserves.
Together with the above four, the other novices Connecticut straight ahead Jonquil JonesAnd the Los Angeles straight ahead Nika OgomecAnd the Chicago forward center Candice Parker And the New York‘s Sabrina Unescuand colleagues in Las Vegas Kelsey Bloom And the Jacky Young, all guards. This is the All-Star’s first pick for previous firsts Ionescu (2020), Young (2019), and Plum (2017).
Fowles and Bird will be co-leaders; Bird will be paired with Wilson and Fowles with Stewart.
“The vote for icons like Sylvia and Sue in the AT&T WNBA All-Star Game as rookies in their 15th and 19th seasons, respectively, is exceptional,” said WNBA Commissioner Kathy Engelbert. And when you see the starting lineups strewn with all-stars for the first time like Sabrina Ionescu, Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young, it seems right that Sylvia and Sue – who have said this will be their last season – will join A’ja and Breanna as co-leaders of the all-star event It will in some ways symbolize the transmission of the torch to a new generation of WNBA stars.”
Engelbert added that the league wanted to honor Greiner, too.
“During every season of Britney’s career where there was an All-Star Game, she was selected as an All-Star,” Engelbert said. “It is not hard to imagine that if BG were with us this season, she would be selected again and would undoubtedly showcase her incredible talents. Therefore, it is only fitting that she be chosen as an honorary starter today as we continue to work on her safe return to the United States.”
Fans captured 50% of the vote for starters, while current WNBA players and the media panel took 25% each. Wilson was the leader in the fan vote, followed by Stewart.
After the votes were counted, players were ranked by position (goalkeeper and front yard) in each of the three voting groups – fan votes, player votes, and media votes. Each player’s score was calculated by calculating their weighted average ranking from fan votes, player votes, and media votes. This resulted in four guards and six front yard players being designated as junior players. The fan vote was a tie-breaker for the players in the group that got the same score.
While there was a fair amount of uniformity between fan voting, media and players, there was also some big disparities. Among the guards, Bird took third place with fans, seventh with players, and ninth with media. Among the front-court players, Parker ranked third with the fans, seventh with the media and thirteenth with the players.
Among those who did not make the starting line-up but are expected to be backups, is the Phoenix goalkeeper Skylar Diggins Smith The third place in the media, the fourth in the masses, and the fourth in the players. Dallas goalkeeper Eric Ogunpoel Fourth place in the media and players and eleventh in the masses.
The 12 reserves will be voted on by the league’s coaches and announced on Tuesday. Coaches will vote for three guards, five players in the front yard, and four players in either position regardless of the conference, and they are not allowed to vote for players. If a player cannot play an All-Star Game, Engelbert will choose an alternate.
