WNBA All-Star roster breakdown: Snubs, MVP predictions, what to watch in Indianapolis

The 2025 WNBA All-Star Game reserves were announced Sunday, and the coaches' choices seemed to prompt more controversy than when the starters -- chosen by fan, player and media balloting -- were released a week ago.

The 22 players selected for the July 19 game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis represent 12 of the WNBA's 13 teams -- the last-place Connecticut Sun have no All-Star -- and include three rookies.

The host Indiana Fever will have three representatives: Caitlin Clark, one of the team captains; Aliyah Boston; and Kelsey Mitchell. The Seattle Storm also have three All-Stars: Skylar Diggins, Nneka Ogwumike and Gabby Williams.

The league-leading Minnesota Lynx have two All-Stars: Napheesa Collier, the other team captain, and Courtney Williams. Same for the defending WNBA champion New York Liberty, whose two All-Stars are Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu.

Who were the biggest snubs? Whom might Clark and Collier pick in their roster draft Tuesday (7 p.m. ET, ESPN)? Which player will be MVP in Indianapolis? ESPN's Alexa Philippou, Kendra Andrews, Kevin Pelton and Michael Voepel weigh in on the All-Stars.

Who were the biggest snubs?

Kevin Pelton: Kayla McBride. Clearly the No. 2 player on the Lynx last season, when she was an All-Star, McBride is putting up nearly identical numbers in 2025. In fact, she has shot even better on 3s (45%) and free throws (46-of-47, 98%). That makes it surprising coaches favored backcourt-mate Courtney Williams, who has neither scored as prolifically nor as efficiently as McBride. Per Across the Timeline, McBride joins Hall of Famer Seimone Augustus in 2009 as the second player in league history not chosen as an All-Star after averaging at least 15 points with a true shooting percentage better than 64%.

Alexa Philippou: Aside from McBride, ESPN's All-Star reserve predictions also featured Brittney Sykes and Brionna Jones. Sykes is having a career year in scoring (17.9 PPG) and assists (4.6 APG), and while some detractors point to her inefficiency (36.8%) and how much of her scoring comes from the free throw line (a league-high 8.7 attempts per game), her production on an otherwise young team is a major reason the Washington Mystics have outperformed early expectations.

Jones is putting up better scoring (14.0 PPG), rebounding (8.1 RPG) and assist (2.2 APG) numbers in her first year with the Atlanta Dream than her All-Star campaign last year in Connecticut, while remaining one of the league's most efficient players (51%) and best interior defenders. She is the only player with at least seven double-doubles to not be tabbed an All-Star.

Kendra Andrews: Natasha Cloud. When we made our predictions last week, I wrote that Sonia Citron was the most difficult player to cut. But Cloud was a close second. She began the season on fire, and while she had a bit of an inconsistent June, she is third in the league in assists with 6.5 per game and also third in assist-to-turnover ratio at 3.17. She's also one of the league's premier guard defenders. Cloud has filled a facilitator hole for the Liberty, and while she's still striking the balance between facilitator and scorer, she made a strong case for an All-Star selection.

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Dearica Hamby rips it away for easy bucket

Dearica Hamby gets the steal and takes it coast to coast for a layup.

Michael Voepel: Los Angeles forward Dearica Hamby is another player who was hard to cut when we were projecting the reserves. Her stats -- averages of 17.0 points, 7.6 rebounds and 3.8 assists and 53.7% shooting -- validate her All-Star potential. She has been an All-Star three times previously. The Sparks' 6-13 record likely hurt her chances, although it's cringe-inducing to imagine where Los Angeles would be without her.

Who are you happiest to see make the All-Star team?

Pelton: It's easy to take for granted that Skylar Diggins would be a reserve given how well she has played this season, but we're a year removed from Diggins not even being considered the Storm's snub after averaging 13.1 points on 39% shooting before the 2024 All-Star Game. Now on what she semi-seriously calls her "third body" after giving birth twice, Diggins has consistently played at an All-Star level since last summer's Olympic break, and it's great to see her back in the game for the first time since 2022.

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Skylar Diggins-Smith wins it for Storm with late bucket

Skylar Diggins-Smith puts the Storm ahead for good with a few seconds remaining vs. the Dream.

Voepel: Kayla Thornton. This is her 10th season in the WNBA and first All-Star appearance. Players such as Thornton are still rarities in the WNBA. She's not from a college power conference; she played for her hometown school, UTEP. She appeared in just one NCAA tournament game, in her sophomore season in 2012. She wasn't drafted when she graduated in 2014, then was signed before the 2015 season by Washington, where she played 10 games. She didn't play in the WNBA in 2016. Then she found a home and was a fan favorite for six seasons in Dallas, followed by the past two in New York. She won a WNBA title with the Liberty last season and was taken by Golden State in the expansion draft.

Now, at age 32, she is seizing the opportunity to have a career year while establishing the Valkyries franchise. She will always be known as Golden State's first WNBA All-Star, and for someone who had to take a longer and harder road to get here, that's really cool.

Andrews: Thornton stands out to me, too. She is the most veteran first-time All-Star this year. Perhaps that's why she has had this kind of breakout season. Thornton is averaging a career-high 14.9 points per game while also getting a career-best 7.1 rebounds and 1.6 steals. On a team that prides itself in not having a superstar, Thornton has emerged as the Valkyries best player and is a massive reason they have outperformed their preseason expectations. Widely considered a top role player across the league before this season, having played a crucial part in the Liberty's title run last year, she is now a centerpiece in Golden State and has taken her game to a new level.

Philippou: Gabby Williams. Newer fans saw how impactful Williams can be on both ends of the floor during the 2024 Paris Olympics, when she helped lead France to a near upset of the USA Basketball dynasty. Now in her first full WNBA season since 2022, the former UConn star is flourishing, averaging a career high in scoring (13.4 PPG), assists (4.7) and 3-point shooting (35.2%) and leading the league in steals (2.6). Williams has long thrived in the international basketball scene -- showcasing how she didn't need the WNBA to have a robust, successful pro career -- but there's no question the WNBA is more fun with her in it, and her first All-Star bid is well deserved.

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Gabby Williams with the last basket of the period

Gabby Williams with the last basket of the period, 07/06/2025

Which player combinations do you most want to see in Indianapolis?

Pelton: We last saw Paige Bueckers and Clark play together for the 2019 U19 FIBA World Cup, when they helped lead a USA team that also featured two other All-Stars (Aliyah Boston and Rhyne Howard) to the gold medal before setting foot on college campuses. Bueckers and Clark will always be linked as star point guards from the same recruiting class, and their styles should prove complementary if Clark drafts Bueckers as captain.

Philippou: It's the first time since 2011 that there are three or more rookie All-Stars in the same year. It probably won't happen, but having Bueckers, Iriafen and Citron end up on the same team would be fun for vibes.

Voepel: It would be fun to see Clark passing to both former South Carolina superstar post players in the All-Star Game: Fever teammate Boston and the Las Vegas Aces' A'ja Wilson.

The 2025 WNBA All-Star reserves are set 💪 pic.twitter.com/uLW92a4CXc

Other than their WNBA teammates, which players might be the top choices for the captains?

Voepel: We can assume Clark might try to use her first two picks for Indiana's Boston and Mitchell, while Collier uses her first pick for fellow Lynx player Courtney Williams. If that's the case, Clark's next two might be Wilson and Ionescu, while Collier's might be Stewart and then Bueckers.

Wilson as a three-time MVP should be an easy choice for Clark if Collier doesn't get her first. And Ionescu is a player Clark watched closely while the Liberty guard was in college at Oregon and Clark was in high school. As for Collier, Stewart and Bueckers are, of course, the other former UConn players among the All-Stars, along with Gabby Williams.

Predict the All-Star Game MVP

Pelton: Boston. The All-Star Game in Indianapolis figured to be a showcase for Clark, but with her injury-marred first half, Boston has stepped up as the Fever's best player. Could running in transition with All-Star guards allow Boston to remind a national audience that she was an NCAA champion and No. 1 pick?

Philippou: I'm following Pelton's train of thought of the hometown stars showing up big. But guards have dominated All-Star Game MVP in recent years, and so I think it'll be one of Boston's Fever teammates, Clark or Mitchell, who will take home the trophy. Surely Indiana hopes Clark will be close to full health by the time All-Star Weekend rolls around, and we know she has a penchant for meeting the moment. It's also plausible that Mitchell will go off, which would be a nice reward for her after sticking things out with the Fever through the tough years before Boston and Clark got to town.

Voepel: Like Alexa, I lean toward a guard, as the position has won the honor the past five years, with wing Maya Moore winning it three times in a row before that. If it's not one of the Fever guards, then possibly Atlanta's Allisha Gray, who is having a career-best season, including shooting 41.5% from beyond the arc.

How will the captains mesh with their coaches?

Voepel: Liberty and Team Collier coach Sandy Brondello and Collier can get fired up, but that's not what we first think about with their personalities. They're more laid back, calm, chill and easygoing while still being intense competitors. Whereas Lynx and Team Clark coach Cheryl Reeve and Clark are more fiery and wear their competitive emotions more transparently. So even though Reeve is Collier's WNBA coach, these All-Star pairings are kind of fun.

We don't need to relitigate the entire debate from last year as to whether Clark should have been on the Olympic squad and how much Team USA coach Reeve -- who wasn't part of picking that team -- might have communicated to the selection committee that she wanted experience and no rookies going to Paris. Suffice to say, that was one of the many narratives of 2024. That said, the Lynx were the WNBA team closest to Clark growing up in West Des Moines, Iowa; she has talked about how Reeve's championship squads in Minnesota inspired her. Clark and Reeve will get along just fine, because they are both professionals with a lot in common in how passionate about basketball both are.