The 2026 WNBA All-Star Game is fast approaching. This season's festivities will take place in Chicago, with the Sky hosting for the second time in franchise history. All-Star Friday Night will take place on July 24, followed by the All-Star Game on July 25 at the United Center.
Earlier this week, the league announced the second round of fan voting returns, which were led by Indiana Fever stars Aliyah Boston and Caitlin Clark. There are no player captains for the All-Star Game this year, however, so the top two vote getters are not guaranteed to start as they were in the past.
Still, fan voting accounts for 50% of the final vote, while all current players and a media panel will account for 25 percent each. After all the votes have been counted, players will be ranked by position (guard and frontcourt) within each voting group. Each player will receive a score calculated by averaging their weighted rank from fan, player and media votes. The four guards and six frontcourt players with the best score will be named as starters.
The voting deadline for the media was Friday, and I am honored to once again have an official ballot. All media members were instructed to submit a ballot with four guards and six frontcourt players. In the interest of transparency, I have explained my selections below:
Guards
The 2025 Rookie of the Year has picked up right where she left off -- in fact, she's upped her scoring, assist and efficiency numbers -- and is on track to start the All-Star Game for the second time in as many seasons. And thanks in large part to her production, the Wings are on track to make the playoffs for the first time since 2023.
Bueckers is eighth in the league in scoring and seventh in assists, and is leading the Wings in both categories. She's also third in the league in offensive win shares (2.0), and one of just three players in the top-10 in scoring who are shooting at least 50% from the field, along with A'ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum.
In a dramatic overtime win over the Storm, Bueckers became the fourth-fastest player in league history to reach 1,000 career points, doing so in 52 games. In the same game, she became the fastest player in league history to reach 1,000 career points and 250 career assists.
Clark has once again been the WNBA's main character this season. She came under fire during an early-season slump, has dealt with nagging back issues and was on the receiving end of what her coach Stephanie White called "two cheap shots" on Wednesday, one of which resulted in a one-game suspension for Alyssa Thomas.
All of the drama has overshadowed the fact that Clark is playing the best basketball of her career. She's fifth in the league in scoring, second in assists and fifth in 3-pointers; no one else is in the top-five in all three categories. Her interior scoring repertoire is significantly improved, and she recently put up at least 20 points and five assists in six consecutive games, the longest such streak in WNBA history. (She also had a separate five-game streak earlier in the season.)
Most consecutive 20-point, five-assist games in WNBA history
| Player | Season | Games |
|---|---|---|
Caitlin Clark | 2026 | 6 |
Caitlin Clark | 2026 | 5 |
Kelsey Plum | 2025 | 5 |
Caitlin Clark | 2024 | 5 |
2019 | 5 | |
2008 | 5 |
Clark has either scored or assisted on an incredible 672 of the Fever's 1,583 points (42.5%) in the games she's played in. She's creating a league-leading 39.5 points per game.
Few rookies have ever entered the league as ready to dominate as Miles. Forget Rookie of the Year, which she's already locked up barring injury, the No. 2 overall pick in this year's draft class is in MVP and All-WNBA First Team conversations as we near the mid-way point of the season.
Miles is leading all rookies in scoring and assists, and is 12th and ninth in the league, respectively, in those categories. In a win over the Valkyries, she broke Caitlin Clark's rookie record for 3-pointers (eight) and has since surpassed Clark and Paige Bueckers to become the fastest player to 300 points and 100 assists (18 games) in league history.
Already one of the best pick-and-roll players in the league, Miles is fourth in win shares (3.1) and has been a driving force behind the Lynx's league-best 14-4 start without Napheesa Collier.
The Sparks announced Tuesday that Plum will be out for at least four weeks due to a left leg injury, which effectively rules her out of the 2026 All-Star Game, set for July 25 in Chicago. Even if she's healthy in exactly four weeks, the team isn't going to let her suit up in an exhibition game -- and that's if she even makes it. (She was 13th in fan voting in the latest return, which really hurts her chances of being named a starter, and it's hard to see the coaches selecting an injured player as a reserve.)
However, this exercise was about selecting the 10 most deserving players to this point of the season, and Plum is absolutely in that group. She scored a career-high 43 points against the Mercury in the league's first-ever 40-point duel, is second in the league in scoring and sixth in assists, and was in the middle of a historic season before she was shut down.
Her 23.9 points were on pace to be the sixth-highest single-season scoring average in league history, and she was also on pace to join Diana Taurasi as the only players in league history to average at least 20 points and five assists in multiple seasons. Furthermore, she was creating 39 points per game (between points and assists) for the Sparks, second only to Clark.
Frontcourt
The last time Howard made an All-Star appearance was 2022, and no one expected her to get back to the mid-season showcase at this point in her career. But after returning to Minnesota, where she played for two seasons early in her career and won a title in 2017, Howard has turned back the clock on both sides of the ball.
Howard is 14th in the league in scoring, 14th in rebounding, third in steals, second in field goal percentage and fifth in win shares (3.0). She's also on pace to join Sylvia Fowles, Nneka Ogwumike and Candice Dupree as the only players in league history to average at least 15 points on 60% shooting or better.
While Howard is not as good as Napheesa Collier, she has, in many respects, replaced the MVP candidate's production for the Lynx this season. She's second on the team in scoring and leads them in field goal percentage, rebounding and steals. This has been a remarkable late-career renaissance.
As part of their offseason overhaul, the Wings raided the Lynx's frontcourt to sign both 2025 co-Defensive Player of the Year Alanna Smith and Shepard. If one of those two was going to be in the mix to start the All-Star Game this season, everyone would have predicted Smith. Instead, it's Shepard, who has proven to be an incredible addition and well worth the $1 million salary some scoffed at.
Shepard is putting up career-highs across the board, is second in the league in rebounding, fifth in assists and one of only two players averaging a double-double (the other is Angel Reese). She's well within striking distance of joining Candace Parker as the only players in league history to average at least 15 points, 10 rebounds and five assists for a season, and is second in the league in win shares (3.4), behind only A'ja Wilson.
In a big win over Wilson and the Aces in May, Shepard put up 22 points, 20 rebounds and 10 assists to join Alyssa Thomas as the only players in WNBA history to record a 20/20/10 game, and she's the only player in the league to record a triple-double this season (she has two).
Jessica Shepard was on the grill today🍴
— WNBA (@WNBA) May 29, 2026
She dropped her second triple-double of the szn to help the @DallasWings defeat Vegas!
22 PTS | 20 REB (career-high) | 10 AST
She also joined Alyssa Thomas as the second player in league history to have a 20+ PT and 20+ REB triple… pic.twitter.com/5KbabKLVmj
Stewart hasn't missed an All-Star Game since 2019, when she was sidelined with a torn Achilles tendon, and her streak isn't going to end this season. This will be her eighth All-Star appearance, which will move her into a tie with Seimone Augustus, Tina Charles, Sylvia Fowles and Lisa Leslie for the seventh-most all-time.
Still one of the most versatile players in the league, Stewart is leading the Liberty in scoring, rebounding, steals and blocks, and is ninth, fifth, 15th and eighth in the league, respectively, in those categories. A'ja Wilson is the only other player in the league in the top-15 in all four categories. Stewart has also taken full advantage of the new freedom of movement rules, and is shooting a career-high 7.2 free throws per game, which ranks third in the league.
On a new-look Liberty team that has once again dealt with significant injury issues and a steady stream of moving parts, Stewart has been one of the few constants holding everything together.
This has been a frustrating season in Phoenix. The Mercury, who had a strange offseason, are just 6-13, and are in serious danger of becoming the first team since themselves in 2008 to miss the playoffs in the season immediately following a Finals appearance. You cannot blame Thomas for the Mercury's poor record, however, and the All-Star Game is ultimately about individual achievement.
Thomas has once again been filling up the stat sheet as one of the most productive players around, and her numbers are nearly identical to last season, when she finished third in MVP voting and made the All-WNBA and All-Defensive First Teams. She is leading the league in assists for the second season in a row, and is also 15th in rebounding and 12th in steals.
Williams enjoyed a breakout campaign with the Storm last season, when she made her first All-Star appearance. But with the Storm entering a rebuild, Williams decided to leave to find a more competitive environment. She eventually chose to sign with the Valkyries, and has helped the club build on their debut 2025 season.
Williams is leading the Valkyries in scoring and steals, and is 16th and ninth, respectively, in those categories. While Williams' raw numbers may not be as impressive as some of the other players in line to potentially start the All-Star Game, she has been incredible defensively in ways that don't show up on the stat sheet.
The Valkyries have the second-best defense in the league in large part thanks to Williams, who is in the mix for Defensive Player of the Year.
The reigning MVP is well on her way to winning her fifth such trophy and becoming the first player in league history to go back-to-back-to-back. And there's a good chance she adds her fourth Defensive Player of the Year honor as well. She is the best player in the world, and it's not particularly close.
Wilson is once again leading the league in scoring, which has her on pace for her third consecutive scoring title, and her 25.1 points per game would be the third-highest single-season scoring average ever. She's also fourth in rebounding and first in blocks, which means she'll likely lead the league in blocks for the fifth consecutive season.
Most 40-point games in WNBA history
| Player | Games |
|---|---|
A'ja Wilson | 5 |
4 | |
Diana Taurasi | 4 |
Maya Moore | 3 |
When she scored 45 points against the Sun, she became the only player in league history with multiple 45-point games and became the league's all-time leader in 40-point games. She's also broken Becky Hammon's all-time franchise scoring record and become the fastest player to 6,000 career points in league history. Not a bad start to the season.
