By: Nina Samone
On Tuesday, the WNBA announced its 22-player roster, team captains and co-captains for the upcoming game on Sunday July 10th at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago.
A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart were selected as captains after receiving the most fan votes and will select from the pool of all-stars during the WNBA All-Star Draft on Saturday, July 2nd.
Sue Bird and Sylvia Fowles were named co-captains – both having announced their retirement at the end of the 2022 season.
The captains and co-captains will be starters, along with Sabrina Ionescu (New York Liberty), Kelsey Plum (Las Vegas Aces), Jackie Young (Las Vegas Aces), Jonquel Jones (Connecticut Sun), Nneka Ogwumike (Los Angeles Sparks) and Candace Parker (Chicago Sky).
Among the reserves for this all-star game are Ariel Atkins (Washington Mystics), Kahleah Copper (Chicago Sky), Skylar Diggins-Smith (Phoenix Mercury), Rhyne Howard (Atlanta Dream), Jewell Loyd (Seattle Storm), Arike Ogunbowale (Dallas Wings), Courtney Vandersloot (Chicago Sky) Dearica Hamby (Las Vegas Aces), Natasha Howard (New York Liberty), Brionna Jones (Connecticut Sun), Emma Meesseman (Chicago Sky) and Alyssa Thomas (Connecticut Sun).
Eleven of the 12 teams have at least one all-star, the exception being the Indiana Fever. A fever guard with All-Star skill is Kelsey Mitchell – fourth in the league in scoring and arguably one of the biggest snubs in the league this year.
Four players will make their debut as all-stars this year, including rookie Rhyne Howard with the Atlanta Dream. Among the others are Sabrina Ionescu, Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young.
Sources:
ESPN. June 2022. ESPN. “WNBA 2022 All-Star Game: Biggest roster surprises and snubs.” <https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/34162615/wnba-2022-all-star-game-biggest-roster-surprises-snubs>
Maloney, Jack. June 28th, 2022. CBS Sports. “2022 WNBA All-Star Game player pool: Finals MVP Kahleah Copper, No. 1 pick Rhyne Howard highlight reserves.” <https://www.cbssports.com/wnba/news/lynxs-moriah-jefferson-makes-triple-double-history-vs-wings-just-weeks-after-they-waived-her/>
