Elena Delle Donne and A’ja Wilson are All-Star captains
NEW YORK — Las Vegas will have a lot of its hometown players to root for at the WNBA AllStar Game on July 27.
Reigning rookie of the year A’ja Wilson is one of the team captains. She’ll be joined by Aces teammates Liz Cambage and Kayla McBride in the starting lineup. Wilson may feel pressure to draft her two teammates for the game when her team faces a group led by Elena Delle Donne, who is a captain for the second straight season.
Wilson and Delle Donne will select their teams from the other starters chosen by the fans, media and players.
Other frontcourt players include Phoenix’s Brittney Griner, Seattle’s Natasha Howard and Connecticut’s Jonquel Jones.
The four starting guards are Los Angeles’ Chelsea Gray, Seattle’s Jewell Loyd, McBride and New York’s Kia Nurse.
Fans make up 50 percent of the vote to determine the starters, while current WNBA players and a media panel accounted for 25 percent each.
The WNBA also announced Las Vegas’ Bill Laimbeer and Washington’s Mike Thibault as the coaches of the game.
The two teams have the best records in the league as of Thursday.
Laimbeer will coach Delle Donne’s team as the Aces have the best record in the league and Thibault will lead Wilson’s since the Mystics have the second-best mark.
The league’s coaches will vote for the 12 reserves — three guards, five frontcourt players and four utility choices. Those will be announced Monday. Coaches can’t vote for their own players.
Delle Donne and Wilson will pick their rosters beginning with the starters and then the reserves.
Delle Donne gets the first pick of the starters and Wilson gets first choice of the reserves. Delle Donne’s team lost to Candace Parker’s squad last year in the All-Star Game. The Washington Mystics star led the fan balloting, receiving 32,460 votes followed by Wilson with 26,475.
Griner tied with Mercury teammate DeWanna Bonner in the overall voting, but Griner was given the All-Star starting nod by having more fan votes.
Delle Donne and Griner were chosen for their sixth All-Star Game. Cambage, McBride and Gray have made it for the third time. Loyd, Jones and Wilson are All-Stars for the second time. Howard and Nurse will be making their All-Star debuts.
The WNBA added festivities for the night before the All-Star Game with a 3-point shootout, skills competition and beach party.