The 2018 WNBA All-Star Game will be played under a new set of rules this season. Similar to the NBA’s format, two leading vote-getters will become captains and get to select their own teams. Without being restricted by conference, they will pick from the 20 other players who are selected for the All-Star Game via media, fan, and player and coaches’ votes.
The 2018 WNBA All-Star Game includes 2 captains selecting their own teams
This is going to be fun!
Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images
If this rule was in play last year, Lynx guard Maya Moore and Mystics forward Elena Delle Donne would’ve been captains free to select stars from whichever team they’d like.
The All-Star Game will be played on July 28 at the Target Center in Minnesota.
Here’s all of the news you need to know about the game:
- Two captains will draft the teams
- The captains will be the all-stars who receive the most votes, regardless of conference
- Voting will be regardless of conference
- The voting will be made up of the fan vote (40 percent), WNBA players and coaches (20 percent), and a panel of sportswriters and sportscasters (20 percent)
- Players and coaches can’t vote for members of their own teams, will choose 13 forwards and nine guards
- The fan vote will allow selection of 10 players regardless of position or conference
- The pool of all-stars will be announced on July 17. Captains will select from that pool in the following days
- Head coaches will be from the teams with the best records on July 13. The coach with the best record will lead the team captained by the highest vote-getter
- Starters will be determined by both the captain and head coach the night before the game
- Voting begins on June 19 at 2 p.m. ET
This is the first time in 15 WNBA All-Star events that players from different conferences can play on the same team. Last season, the WNBA eliminated conferences from consideration in playoff seedings, so this change coming to an All-Star Game is no surprise.
Under the new rule changes, we could see Diana Taurasi form a backcourt with Angel McCoughtry, or Brittney Griner team up with Elena Delle Donne. We could even see a pair of Lynx stars like Sylvia Fowles and Moore go head-to-head as captains. The game could feel like Team USA reuniting (or competing) in a number of ways.
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