WNBA All-Star ballot picks, Aliyah Boston's immediate impact and Dream's monster week
Double-dog dare you to find a media member who believes filling out their All-Star ballot is an easy task. Sure, there are some names a voter scratches (or clicks) in immediately. Breanna Stewart, who is averaging a double-double, and A’ja Wilson, who is close to it, are in that class right now. But otherwise, it’s an arduous task with no right answer.
Filling out a WNBA All-Star ballot is particularly difficult because of the timeline. It feels as though the league tipped off last week. Teams have played 10 to 12 games, or about one-quarter of their newly expanded 40-game season. The sample size is so, so small.
For comparison, the NBA season tipped off Oct. 18 and All-Star voting didn’t close until Jan. 21, a three-month span that consisted of more than 45 games in an 82-game season. Now that’s a decent sample size.
It means beyond those few easy selections, there’s a pack of players with cases for being an All-Star starter. And it’s important to remember, the final All-Star selections are a combination of fan, player and media vote, which means it often isn’t a decision based on the best 10 players. Fans vote for their favorites or make ballots based on their own favorite team. Players are known to do similar things with their ballots, if they submit a ballot at all.
WNBA All-Star ballots consist of four guards and six frontcourt players (forwards and centers) without regard to conference affiliation. A player listed on the team roster as a guard-forward is considered a guard in terms of All-Star voting. A player listed as forward-guard is considered a forward for voting purposes. I am a voter and this is my ballot I submitted to the league by the Tuesday deadline.
Frontcourt
Breanna Stewart (Liberty) — 23.9 ppg, 10.8 rpg, 4 apg, 1.7 apg, 2.1 bpg. Shooting: 55.6 FG%/41.1 3FG%/84.5 FT%
A’ja Wilson (Aces) — 18.5 ppg, 9.1 rpg, 2.2 apg, 1.5 spg, 2.2 bpg. Shooting: 53.1/0/77.3
Alyssa Thomas (Sun) — 15 ppg, 10.2 rpg, 7.7 apg, 2 spg. Shooting: 45.5/—/73.8
Satou Sabally (Wings) — 20.9 ppg, 11 rpg, 3.1 apg, 1.5 spg. Shooting: 43.8/29.9/93.3
Nneka Ogwumike (Sparks) — 19.6 ppg, 9.8 rpg, 3.8 apg, 1.6 spg. Shooting: 51.4/29.4/86
Aliyah Boston (Fever) — 16 ppg, 7.7 rpg, 2.1 apg, 1.5 bpg. Shooting: 66.4/50/76.7
Stewart became the first player in WNBA history to have at least 200 points, 100 rebounds and 40 assists in her first 10 games of a season, per ESPN Stats and Information. Stewart, Sabally and Thomas are the only players averaging double-doubles. Thomas is nearly averaging a triple-double with her third-ranked rebounding and second-ranked assists. She would be the first player in history to average 15/10/7 over a season if it holds.
Wilson’s numbers are among the lower ones in this group, but she’s also playing the lowest number of minutes at 29.9 per game. Her 24.7 points per 40 minutes rank seventh.
Boston is playing like an established veteran and has the Fever in contention for a playoff spot early with both her offense and defense. She remains as efficient as she was at South Carolina and ranks 19th in scoring and 13th in rebounding. Everyone in this frontcourt group is an MVP of their team so far, with contributions that would significantly hurt their squad if missing or substituted by a backup.
Potential reserves: Napheesa Collier, Brittney Griner, Elena Delle Donne (who is close to another 50/40/90 season shooting 47.5/49.1/94.9), Brionna Jones, NaLyssa Smith.
Guards
Jackie Young (Aces) — 20.8 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 2.8 apg, 1.7 spg. Shooting: 59.5/46.8/82.7
Sabrina Ionescu (Liberty) — 16.5 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 4.3 apg, 1 spg. Shooting: 39.3/42.9/87.5
Allisha Gray (Dream) — 18.7 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 2.8 apg. Shooting: 49.2/36.7/86.2
Jewell Loyd (Storm) — 25.4 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 3.7 apg. Shooting: 41.2/40/81.7
Young is the Aces’ leading scorer and hitting nearly six out of every 10 shots from the guard position. Her 3-point percentage is second among players attempting at least three shots per game, trailing only Chelsea Gray’s 51.4% mark. Ionescu ranks third on 7.9 attempts per game, trailing only Arike Ogunbowale and Loyd, and rebounds the most of any guard in the league.
Gray has been the strong point for the Dream with career highs. It’s hard to leave Loyd, the league’s leading scorer, off an All-Star list for her own increases in production, including more efficient shooting clips on a sharp increase in shots, and the way she’s carried Seattle to recent wins. She’s also not receiving much help from teammates. But I strongly considered swapping her with Courtney Vandersloot, who is leading the Liberty’s offense at point guard with nearly a double-double of 10.3 ppg and 8.6 apg, shooting 44.6% overall.
Potential reserves: Vandersloot, Marina Mabrey, Kahleah Copper, Ogunbowale.
The starter selection is conducted through a combination of voting consisting of current WNBA players (25%), a national panel of sportswriters and broadcasters (25%) and fan voting (50%). Wilson and Stewart led in the first round of votes released June 13. The starting 10 based on those results would be Wilson, Stewart, Griner, Boston, Sabally and Delle Donne in the frontcourt. Young, Loyd, Ogunbowale and Kelsey Plum would be starters at guard.
The All-Star starters, led by the top two vote-getters, will be announced Sunday. The league’s head coaches vote for the 12 reserves consisting of three guards, five frontcourt players and four of either position. They cannot vote for their own players. Those will be announced July 1. The captains will draft their rosters during a WNBA All-Star Team Selection Special, airing on ESPN at 1 p.m. ET July 8.
Wicked Awesome Boston
Boston could own her own section of this notebook with new stat markers every week. In an upset win over the Washington Mystics on Tuesday, she had 23 points, 14 rebounds and six assists. The outputs led all players in the game, making her the first rookie in history to do so, per Elias Sports Bureau.
Boston added one steal and one block and was 11-of-14 (78.6%) from the floor. The only other rookies with such a line were Candace Parker and Wilson, per Across the Timeline. She is the only player of any experience level to do it while shooting at least 75%. And the second-youngest behind Penny Taylor with a 20/10/5 game shooting 75%.
The 87-66 win was the franchise’s first double-digit victory since 2021. Indiana followed it up with a two-point win over Chicago and a six-point loss to Atlanta. Of their seven losses, only one was by double digits and four were within five points.
A Dream week
Sound the alarms, because the Dream took down the Liberty, 86-79, and Sun, 92-88 (OT), in consecutive games last week. And on the road no less. They added a 100-94 win against the Fever on Sunday to ride a three-game winning streak into Dallas.
Atlanta is scoring on average seven more points from last season, when it finished 14-22, to rank second in the league in the category. And the Dream improved their offensive rating from 11th (93.9) to sixth (97.8). It’s their best ranking since 2014.
The addition of Gray from Dallas has been season-changing. She’s averaging 18.7 points per game, more than any Atlanta player since Tiffany Hayes and Angel McCoughtry each averaged about 24 in 2018. Gray is hitting career-highs in points per game, field-goal percentage (49.2%), rebounds per game (5.9) and assists per game (2.8). She put up a 27-point, 10-rebound double-double against Connecticut.
The win against the Liberty was a team effort. Six players scored in double digits, including 13 points and nine rebounds from rookie Haley Jones in her second career start. Her 3-pointer on an assist from reigning Rookie of the Year Rhyne Howard gave Atlanta the lead to start the fourth and she scored eight points in the fourth.
Weekly status report
The Mercury’s struggles deepened last week when Griner sustained a hip injury in a loss to the Storm. She has missed two games, as has Diana Taurasi. Taurasi is listed as out with a hamstring injury.
The Liberty remain without Ionescu, who missed her second straight game with a hamstring injury. Head coach Sandy Brondello said ahead of the first game it was more precautionary because it was early in the season.
Brittney Sykes (left eye), Natasha Cloud (right ankle) and Shakira Austin (right knee) were on the status report heading into the weekend, but all played in the win over the Sky.
The Sky returned Morgan Bertsch and guard Copper, who missed a game for personal reasons. They remain without Isabelle Harrison, Ruthy Hebard, Rebekah Gardner and Kristine Anigwe.
The Sparks are without Nia Clouden (knee) and Lexie Brown (illness) as well as Layshia Clarendon (foot) and Katie Lou Samuelson (pregnancy) long term.
There have been 154 total games missed by players due to injuries, according to data from The Next. The Sparks, Mercury and Mystics have been the most impacted. It accounts for approximately 14% of the total collective games played by WNBA athletes, per The Next.
Here's how total injuries and total games missed have broken down in the WNBA through 6/19. Sparks have been beset by illness. Sky have missed the most collective athlete-games @TheNextHoops pic.twitter.com/LnVC9Eu8Eg
— Lucas Seehafer (@seehafer_) June 20, 2023
Crystal Dangerfield, the 2020 Rookie of the Year, returned to play after missing four games with an ankle injury, necessitating the Wings' release of guard Odyssey Sims from her hardship contract. Teaira McCowan is also available for Dallas.
The Lynx added Emily Engstler on a hardship contract with injuries to Diamond Miller and Aerial Powers. The Mystics added Abby Meyers, a 2023 draftee out of Maryland, on a hardship contract while Li Meng is at the Asia Cup.
WNBA standings
Top four host playoff series — Aces (10-1), Sun (9-3), Liberty (7-3), Mystics (7-4)
The top four are still holding their spots from this time last week. The Aces added monster wins against the Storm and Lynx. The Sun and Liberty each went 1-1 with losses to the rising Dream. And the Mystics went 2-1, though they look less like the title-contending team most believed they would be.
Making the playoffs — Dream (5-5), Sparks (5-6), Wings (5-6), Sky (5-7)
This middle is always a packed affair. The top and bottom nearly did a full switch, with the Wings dropping from fifth to seventh and the Dream rising from eighth to fifth. The Wings are on a three-game losing streak that started with the Liberty, but extended to the Sparks (by 18) and a shootout against the Storm (six points). The Sky also went 0-2 this week, extending a four-game losing streak, and the Sparks were 1-2.
Lottery — Fever (4-7), Storm (3-7), Lynx (3-8), Mercury (2-8)
Dare we say, the Fever are flirting with a playoff spot early. They’ll face their biggest test when they play consecutive games in Las Vegas starting Saturday. They nearly upended the reigning champs at the beginning of the month. The Storm are looking better with league-leading scorer Loyd taking over, while the Mercury look to be a mess.
What to watch this week
The full schedule can be found here.
Tuesday — NBA TV night
The Dream and Wings face off at 8 p.m. ET from Arlington, followed by a lackluster-looking matchup between the Sun and Storm (10 p.m. ET). Lynx-Sparks tip at 10 p.m. ET on CBS Sports.
Wednesday matinee
The Mercury host the Aces (3:30 p.m. ET, NBA TV). At least kids scream for anything.
Thursday — Prime Video night
The Mystics and Sky (8 p.m. ET) will play for positioning in the middle tier. The Fever will look to further improve their record against the struggling Storm at 10 p.m. ET. Sun-Lynx also tip at 8 p.m. ET on CBS Sports.
Friday — ION
The Liberty will be out for revenge against the Dream in Atlanta (7:30 p.m. ET) and the Wings will do the same against the Sparks at 10 p.m. ET.
Saturday
The Fever nearly upset the Aces earlier this month and will get another shot in Las Vegas at 9 p.m. ET (NBA TV). They play again on a rare Monday game (10 p.m. ET, CBS Sports). Mercury-Storm tips at 9 p.m. ET on Twitter.
Sunday — ABC
The ABC doubleheader tips with Mystics and Liberty (1 p.m. ET) and features the third meeting in 11 days between the Wings and Sparks (3 p.m. ET). The Sky and Sun play at 1 p.m. ET on ESPN3.
