Basketball’s biggest stars are heading to Las Vegas this weekend — and not for the NBA Summer League. We are talking about WNBA All-Star Weekend, which culminates Saturday with the All-Star Game.
Team A’ja Wilson, which features four of the Las Vegas Aces’ starters, will face Team Breanna Stewart for the second straight year at Michelob ULTRA Arena. All eyes will be on captains Wilson and Stewart, but the competition is full of X-factors and stars who rightly deserve your attention.
Here are five players to watch during the WNBA All-Star Weekend in Las Vegas:
COMPLETE LISTS: A’ja Wilson recruits Aces teammates Aliyah Boston
Brittney Griner, Phoenix Mercury
This time last year, Griner was wrongly detained in Russia. She was named an honorary starter for the 2022 WNBA All-Star Game and attendees wore warm-up jerseys adorned with Griner’s name and the number 42, but this year she will be there in the flesh.
Griner, a nine-time All-Star, will start for Stewart’s team. Although the Phoenix Mercury are 4-15 this season, Griner has proven to be a shining light. She is averaging 19.5 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.9 blocks, while shooting a career-best 60.6% from the field, in her first season back on the court after a season of almost 10 months.
Look for Griner to bring the style. She scored his first dunk of the season against the Los Angeles Sparks on Sunday, the 25th WNBA dunk of her career. She dunk five times in the All-Star Games. Will she add another one? Stewart hopes so: “She’s a commanding presence inside. We need his dunks.
Sabrina Ionescu, Freedom of New York
The two-time All-Star will have her hands full this weekend – she’s ready to compete in all events. The New York Liberty guard will begin her weekend by defending her 2022 title in the WNBA Skills Challenge, alongside five-time All-Star Courtney Vandersloot. She also competes in the WNBA 3-point contest on Friday. If that’s not enough, Ionescu will replace teammate Stewart with Vandersloot in the All-Star Game on Saturday.
Ionescu is averaging 16.4 points, 5.8 rebounds and 5.1 assists, shooting 39.7% from the field and 44.6% from three.
Kelsey Plum, Las Vegas Ace
The Aces star was named 2022 WNBA All-Star Game MVP in her first All-Star appearance after dropping 30 points in Chicago, tying Maya Moore’s All-Star Game points record set in 2015. Can- Will she do it again and become the first woman to win back-to-back ASG MVP honors since Moore in 2017 and 2018? (Moore also won in 2015, but there was no game in 2016 because of the Olympics.) Plum is currently turning the lights out (she lost 40 points Sunday against the Lynx) and will have the local crowd at his side. It doesn’t hurt that she plays alongside teammates Wilson, Jackie Young and Chelsea Gray and is coached by Becky Hammon of the Aces.
Plum, who is averaging 19.1 points, 2.6 rebounds and 4.1 assists and shooting 50 percent from the field this season, will also participate in the WNBA Skills Challenge alongside Gray. Plum is looking to redeem herself after being eliminated in the semi-finals of last year’s skills challenge by Ionescu.
Jackie Young, Ace of Las Vegas
Allie Quigley has reigned over the WNBA 3-point contest since 2017, winning four of the last five shootouts. But Quigley won’t be on the court for Friday’s contest, meaning someone new will hoist the 3-point trophy. Young, the Aces goalkeeper, has a good chance of winning it.
Young leads the league shooting 48 percent from the 3-point line and has made 50 of 103 3-point attempts this season. She will face Ionescu, DiJonai Carrington of the Connecticut Sun, Kelsey Mitchell of the Indiana Fever, Arike Ogunbowale of the Dallas Wings and Sami Whitcomb of the Seattle Storm.
The 2022 WNBA Most Improved Player is averaging a career-high 19 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.9 assists this season. No wonder Wilson chose her Aces teammate third overall to start on her All-Star team.
Rhyne Howard, Atlanta Dream
The Atlanta Dream goalkeeper has a chip on his shoulder. The 2022 WNBA Rookie of the Year narrowly missed out on an All-Star nod, but was selected to replace injured Elena Delle Donne on Team Wilson in the All-Star Game, marking her second selection in as many years in the league. And she deserves this honor.
Atlanta is riding a six-game winning streak and Howard is heating up. Over the last five games, Howard has averaged 24.4 points, including a 43-point performance against the Los Angeles Sparks earlier this month. She joins teammates Allisha Gray and Cheyenne Parker on Team Wilson and might just show everyone why she should have been an All-Star to begin with.
